The key is depth. Whereas other plans to sequester carbon in the ocean were plagued by fears that the CO2 would escape, House advocates going much deeper—at least three thousand meters, or two miles below sea level into the seabed.

At that depth, House hypothesizes that the extreme water pressure and low temperature will turn the carbon into a liquid denser than the surrounding water, forming a layer that will prevent it from rising back up into the ocean.

And they're binding up something in the order of 25% of the carbon that's produced. So they're a huge carbon sink. We get rid of those and we're in big trouble." Alan Millar

For the full interview

Dutch-sponsored researcher Yann Bozec calculated that coastal seas such as the North Sea remove about three times as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than would be expected on the basis of their small surface area.

For More

The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals. A reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010.

For More

For More

The natural gas produced at Sleipner contains unusually high levels (about 9%) of carbon dioxide (CO2), but the customers buying the gas from Statoil need less than 2.5%. A special platform, Sleipner-T, has been built to support a 20-m-high (65-ft), 8,000-ton treatment plant that separates CO2 from the natural gas. The Sleipner-T plant produces about 1 million tons of CO2 per year.

To encourage companies to reduce their carbon emissions, the Norwegian government imposes a carbon tax equivalent to about $50 per ton of CO2 released into the atmosphere. To avoid paying this tax, and as a test of alternative technology, all of the CO2 extracted since 1996, when gas production started at Sleipner, has been pumped back deep underground.