because we don't.
Richard Martin, MIT Technology Review:
Richard Martin, MIT Technology Review:
Spelled out in a 31-page document that will be published in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish, the [Paris Climate Agreement] calls for the signatory countries to assess their progress toward emissions reduction goals every five years and adjust their efforts accordingly, while urging increased investment in research and development on clean energy technologies as well as an international fund of $100 billion to help the worst-affected countries adapt and survive. If the Paris agreement is implemented, the world would reach net-zero emissions before the end of this century.
Unfortunately, it also relies on emerging technologies that are barely proven, yet to be successfully commercialized, or downright illusory. Limiting the temperature rise to 2 °C or less is likely to require dramatic advances in three critical technologies: energy storage, advanced nuclear reactors, and carbon capture and storage. The first two are feasible given massive investment in both basic science and commercialization. The last is probably not.
[...]
According to the IEA's road map for carbon capture and storage, we must remove and store more than two billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year from smokestacks by 2030 in order to avoid catastrophic warming, and seven billion metric tons by 2050. Barring a major technological advance that is not currently foreseeable, those targets are unreachable. According to the Global CCS Institute, there are 22 significant carbon capture and storage projects under way around the world, with the capacity to sequester a total of 40 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Several major projects, including the $1.65 billion FutureGen project in the U.S. and a billion-pound ($1.5 billion) CCS project led by the U.K. government, have been scrapped. Simply put, the technology for separating carbon dioxide from power-plant emissions--not to mention the infrastructure to transport it and store it underground--is too expensive and too cumbersome for commercial deployment. While there is intriguing research going on, there is no prospect on the immediate horizon for making it economical.
We Don't Need No Stinking Unicorn Fartcatchers - Small Dead AnimalsUnfortunately, it also relies on emerging technologies that are barely proven, yet to be successfully commercialized, or downright illusory. Limiting the temperature rise to 2 °C or less is likely to require dramatic advances in three critical technologies: energy storage, advanced nuclear reactors, and carbon capture and storage. The first two are feasible given massive investment in both basic science and commercialization. The last is probably not.
[...]
According to the IEA's road map for carbon capture and storage, we must remove and store more than two billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year from smokestacks by 2030 in order to avoid catastrophic warming, and seven billion metric tons by 2050. Barring a major technological advance that is not currently foreseeable, those targets are unreachable. According to the Global CCS Institute, there are 22 significant carbon capture and storage projects under way around the world, with the capacity to sequester a total of 40 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Several major projects, including the $1.65 billion FutureGen project in the U.S. and a billion-pound ($1.5 billion) CCS project led by the U.K. government, have been scrapped. Simply put, the technology for separating carbon dioxide from power-plant emissions--not to mention the infrastructure to transport it and store it underground--is too expensive and too cumbersome for commercial deployment. While there is intriguing research going on, there is no prospect on the immediate horizon for making it economical.
