What is "carbon sequestration"?

What is "carbon sequestration"?

Terry Tamminen (Author & Environmental Policy Advisor) gives expert video advice on: What is a "fossil fuel"?; How does our use of fossil fuels cause global warming?; What are "carbon emissions"? and more...

Carbon sequestration is the idea that carbon dioxide can be captured and stored, back in the earth, or in some other way. One method of carbon sequestration is taking carbon dioxide and injecting it back into an oil well. It creates pressure in the oil well, which can push more oil to the surface than otherwise might be able to be recovered, and at the same time, it stores the CO2. Another method of carbon sequestration is to pump CO2 into an aquifer, or underground lake, which is where, in many cases, we get our drinking water from. But some aquifers are very saline, very salty, and can't be used for human drinking purposes, and so that might be an appropriate place to pump carbon dioxide (CO2), as a way of storing it, or sequestering it.