Thirty years ago, on this day, March 27th, 1990,
On this day, the publication Greenweek has a news article titled
“Radical way to take carbon dioxide from power stations”
“A dramatic fall in greenhouse gas emissions in the industrialised Hunter Valley in NSW could come about if the Hunter Technology Group can proceed with studies of a radical method of removing carbon dioxide emissions from power stations.
“The group is seeking $150,000 from the NSW Government to study a proposal whereby carbon dioxide emissions would be pumped along ground-level pipelines to rural and forest areas, rather than be sent through smokestacks into the atmosphere.”
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 354ppm. As of 2026 it is 428ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The broader context was that Green Week had been set up by an enterprising journalist, I think in the beginning of 1989 and was doing exactly what it said, publicising events and policy discussions, etc. And here we see discussion in its early stages of quote, carbon capture and storage a fantasy, if ever there were one.
The specific context was that all sorts of bullshit was being bullshitted at this time.
What I think we can learn from this is that the carbon capture and storage thing, which had started in the mid 1970s as a putative solution to CO2 build up, was there in the undergrowth in the 90s.
What happened next
The fantasy technology staggers on. The amount of CO2 actually captured is pitiful, especially if you take out the stuff that is used for enhanced oil recovery.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
References
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Also on this day:
March 27, 1966 – The “Conservation Society” to be launched
March 27, 1971 – Norwegian Tabloid talks about the climate threat
March 27th, 1977- what we can learn from Dutch arrogance and aviation disasters