Too much in the air but not enough where it should be: manage CO2 better

In this era of endless, unfettered communication and an unmistakable — though not correlated — rise in pollutants, paucity of gas is the last thing people fear. No wonder news that an imminent carbon dioxide (CO2) shortage in Europe taking the fizz out of celebratory libations during the World Cup has led to bewildered burps. Carbon dioxide has long been identified as one of the villains of global warming and just Europe belches out 4.4 billion metric tonnes annually by burning fossil fuels. So, it is natural to believe our planet has too much of it, if anything.

But as science journals have been pointing out ever since word of this ‘gas crisis’ spread, it is quite uneconomical to “capture” CO2 from the air that is mostly made up of nitrogen and oxygen. Therefore, to cater to its multiple commercial uses from bubbly drinks and spongy confectionary to crude oil retrieval and refrigeration, companies actually mine CO2 from gasfields or source it from fertiliser or ethanol facilities where it is a by-product.

It is about time governments around the world step on the gas when it comes to development of more efficient and viable CO2“ capturing” technology. That would take care of many problems simultaneously, from clearing up the atmosphere to maintaining the fizz in our beer and colas and the air in our fairy cakes.