By Richard Foster For Virginia Business A key method of fighting
global warming might lie inside the Earth. Dr. Michael Karmis of
Virginia Tech says that while it’s an admirable goal to reduce
the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming,
the problem won’t be fixed until those emissions are prevented
from entering the atmosphere. “I do not believe anybody can
reduce emissions without having some kind of significant CO2
storage capability,” says Karmis, director of Virginia Tech’s
Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. Karmis is heading
up an $11 million-plus research project to develop technologies
for carbon sequestration — the storing of captured carbon
dioxide emissions from activities such as burning coal, one of
the most abundant energy sources on the planet. “Methods like
efficiency, conservation and renewables, all of these are
important and should be done. However, without massive
sequestration you won’t be able to have much of an impact” on
global warming, says Karmis. Questi