Today's New York Times has an article about a planned carbon sequestration demonstration by American Electric Power. The aim is to demonstrate a technology that can be used to remove carbon dioxide from coal emissions so that the CO2 can be buried in the ground. According to the story, the project "will use a new process — so far tested only at laboratory scale — that uses chilled ammonia to absorb the gas for collection. The process was developed by Alstom, a major manufacturer of generating equipment, and aims to reduce the amount of energy required to capture the carbon dioxide."

The primary question the project will answer is not whether it is possible to remove carbon from coal emissions at a reasonable cost. The primary cost from this form of carbon sequestration comes from the energy required for the process itself. Reports the Times, "Some experts have estimated that nearly a third of a power plant's energy output might be needed to pull carbon dioxide from the waste stream. Alstom hopes to hold it to 15 percent." If successful, the sequestration technology could find wide use if, as some expect, Congress adopts some sort of binding limits on carbon emissions in the next two years.