Sunday Jun 15, 2025

7. Let's Talk About Carbon Capture Utilization Sequestration

In Episode 7, I explore carbon capture, utilization, and storage or CCUS. It’s a term that’s been showing up in more and more climate conversations, but what does it actually mean? How does it work? And is it really a solution or just a distraction? This episode covers the basics of CCUS, how the technology works, and why it's gaining traction now. I also look at the case for and against it. If you’d like to learn more, check out the resources included below.

00:00 Introduction
02:48 What is CCUS?
03:41 How Carbon Capture Works (Capture, Transport, Storage)
08:17 Why It’s Gaining Traction Now
14:38 The Case Against and For CCUS
18:37 Closing Thoughts

Want to learn more? Check out the resources I used for this episode below.

International Energy Agency. Tracking Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage. Accessed May 2025.
International Energy Agency. Net Zero Roadmap: A Global Pathway to Keep the 1.5 °C Goal in Reach - 2023 Update. Accessed May 2025.
World Resources Institute. 2023 IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report: What it Says, Why it Matters. March 2023.
Global CCS Institute. Global Status of CCS Report 2024. November 2024.
Reuters. U.S. Carbon Capture Storage Hit by Inflation, Trump-Era Investment Drop. April 30, 2025.
Heidelberg Materials. We Decarbonize the Construction Industry: Carbon Capture in Brevik. Accessed May 2025.
World Resources Institute (WRI). Carbon Capture Technology 101: What It Is and Why We Need It. April 2024.
Statista. Global CO₂ Emissions from Fossil Fuels and Industry (1940–2024). Accessed May 2025.
University of Texas at Austin. UT Energy Symposium: Sanjay Bishnoi (Entropy Inc.) on the Future of Carbon Capture. YouTube. Published April 2025.

Projects Worth Checking out

Entropy’s Glacier Power Plant (Alberta, Canada): Capturing CO₂ directly at a natural gas facility and reusing it on-site without pipeline transport.
Heidelberg Materials Brevik Plant (Norway): One of the world’s first full-scale carbon capture systems at a cement plant, targeting 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ captured annually.
Petra Nova (Texas, USA): A coal-fired power plant that captured over 3 million tonnes of CO₂ during its initial run; recently restarted with updated systems.
Climeworks Mammoth Plant (Iceland): The world’s largest direct air capture plant, designed to remove 36,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year and store it permanently in volcanic rock.
1PointFive (Texas, USA): Backed by Occidental Petroleum, this project is building one of the first commercial-scale direct air capture hubs with plans to capture up to 500,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year.
Northern Lights (Norway): A joint venture by Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, aiming to transport and store CO₂ captured from across Europe under the North Sea.