{"id":41188,"date":"2025-12-02T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=41188"},"modified":"2025-12-02T22:32:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:32:59","slug":"google-plans-to-power-a-new-data-center-with-fossil-fuels-yet-release-almost-no-emissions-heres-how-its-carbon-capture-tech-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/google-plans-to-power-a-new-data-center-with-fossil-fuels-yet-release-almost-no-emissions-heres-how-its-carbon-capture-tech-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Google plans to power a new data center with fossil fuels, yet release almost no emissions \u2013 here\u2019s how its carbon capture tech works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ramesh Agarwal<\/a>, Washington University in St. Louis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As AI data centers spring up across the country, their energy demand and resulting greenhouse gas emissions are raising concerns. With servers and energy-intensive cooling systems constantly running, these buildings can use anywhere from a few megawatts of power for a small data center to more than 100 megawatts<\/a> for a hyperscale data center. To put that in perspective, the average large natural gas power plant built in the U.S. generates less than 1,000 megawatts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the power for these data centers comes from fossil fuels, they can become major sources of climate-warming emissions in the atmosphere \u2013 unless the power plants capture their greenhouse gases first and then lock them away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google recently entered into a unique corporate power purchase agreement to support the construction of a natural gas power plant<\/a> in Illinois designed to do exactly that through carbon capture and storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how does carbon capture and storage, or CCS, work for a project like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am an engineer who wrote a 2024 book about various types of carbon storage<\/a>. Here\u2019s the short version of what you need to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How CCS works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity, they release carbon dioxide<\/a>, a powerful greenhouse gas that remains in the atmosphere for centuries. As these gases accumulate in the atmosphere, they act like a blanket<\/a>, holding heat close to the Earth\u2019s surface. Too high of a concentration heats up the Earth too much, setting off climate changes<\/a>, including worsening heat waves, rising sea levels and intensifying storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon capture and storage involves capturing carbon dioxide from power plants, industrial processes or even directly from the air and then transporting it, often through pipelines, to sites where it can be safely injected underground for permanent storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
A snapshot of some of the ways carbon capture and storage works. The pipelines into the oil layer, in black, and the oil well illustrate enhanced oil recovery. Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Federal Government<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The carbon dioxide might be transported as a supercritical gas<\/a> \u2013 which is right at the phase change from liquid to gas and has the properties of both \u2013 or dissolved in a liquid. Once injected deep underground, the carbon dioxide can become permanently trapped in the geologic structure, dissolve in brine or become mineralized, turning it to rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of carbon storage is to ensure that carbon dioxide can be kept out of the atmosphere for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of underground carbon storage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are several options for storing carbon dioxide underground<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs<\/a> have plentiful storage space and the added benefit that most are already mapped and their limits understood. They already held hydrocarbons in place for millions of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon dioxide can also be injected into working oil or gas reservoirs to push out more of those fossil fuels while leaving most of the carbon dioxide behind. This method, known as enhanced oil and gas recovery<\/a>, is the most common one<\/a> used by carbon capture and storage projects in the U.S. today, and one reason CCS draws complaints<\/a> from environmental groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volcanic basalt rock<\/a> and carbonate formations<\/a> are considered good candidates for safe and long-term geological storage because they contain calcium and magnesium ions that interact with carbon dioxide, turning it into minerals<\/a>. Iceland pioneered this method<\/a> using its bedrock of volcanic basalt for carbon storage. Basalt also covers most of the oceanic crust, and scientists have been exploring the potential for sub-seafloor storage reservoirs<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., a fourth option likely has the most potential<\/a> for industrial carbon dioxide storage \u2013 deep saline aquifers, which is what Google plans to use. These widely distributed aquifers are porous and permeable sediment formations consisting of sandstone, limestone or dolostone. They\u2019re filled with highly mineralized groundwater that cannot be used directly for drinking water but is very suitable for storing CO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep saline aquifers also have large storage capacities, ranging from about 1,000 to 20,000 gigatons. In comparison, the nation\u2019s total carbon emissions from fossil fuels in 2024<\/a> were about 4.9 gigatons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of fall 2025, 21 industrial facilities<\/a> across the U.S. used carbon capture and storage, including industries producing natural gas, fertilizer and biofuels, according to the Global CCS Institute\u2019s 2025 report. Five of those use deep saline aquifers, and the rest involve enhanced oil or gas recovery. Eight more industrial carbon capture facilities were under construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google\u2019s plan is unique because it involves a power purchase agreement that makes building the power plant with carbon capture and storage possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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