The climate problem is a coal problem

Via theWatt, we learn of an article in Harvard Magazine about the world's future energy needs and their supply. Starting from a 100 year demand scenario, in which energy demand goes up almost as high as 2000 EJ, and with no sign of levelling off towards the end of this century, Prof Daniel Schrag enters the possible contributions from oil, gas, nuclear and renewables, concluding that the bulk from our energy supply will have to come from coal. Under such scenario, if we don't take action, CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere would go up as high as 990 ppm.

The innovative idea in the article is to use deep-water sediments to inject CO₂. Under high pressure and at low temperatures, CO₂ is denser than seawater, and is likely to remain there forever. The US coastline has the capacity to store thousands of years of current US carbon emissions.