美国能源部支持这项技术的开发使用，并报告说已取得1000万吨成效。能源部4月宣布，“碳捕集和封存”项目防止了大量空气污染——相当于以汽油为燃料的200万辆小轿车一年的排放量。

能源部部长厄内斯特·莫尼兹（Ernest Moniz）说，“美国在带头向世界显示碳捕集和 封存能够奏效”。他说：“在所有国家中我们的政府对碳捕集和封存的投资最大。”

美国能源部在通过与美国和加拿大的400多个机构和公司的合作关系作出努力。

这些项目捕集炼油厂、造纸厂以及水泥和化工厂的二氧化碳排放物，防止它们被释放到大气中。这些二氧化碳或被封存在地下 ，或被输送到其他地方供另一行业使用。

莫尼兹说：碳封存手段对美国减少温室气体排放“不可或缺”。

一些合作伙伴已经不仅限于识别碳捕集封存的最佳方式，而是也在努力捕捉含在燃料、塑料，水泥和化肥中的二氧化碳。

11月，根据马萨诸塞州一家公司的网站（company website）介绍，这家公司目前正在开发以50%二氧化碳物作原料的塑料材料，从而“将环境中的有害温室气体永久封存”。公司的目标是以这种更廉价、更有利于环境的材料取代目前制造业使用的其他产品。

倡导和资助碳捕集技术开发是美国基于奥巴马政府的气候行动计划（Climate Action Plan）开展的实现减排目标的多项努力之一。


Capture the carbon, clean the air

Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere contribute to climate change. One of the newest technologies to ease the problem is called carbon capture. It extracts the CO2 from its source before it enters the atmosphere and stashes it in the ground.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supports this technology and reports 10 million metric tons of success. DOE announced in April that “carbon capture and storage” (CCS) projects have prevented a whole lot of pollution from entering the atmosphere — the equivalent of what 2 million gasoline-powered cars would emit in a year.

“The U.S. is taking the lead in showing the world CCS can work,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “We have made the largest government investment in carbon capture and storage of any nation.”

DOE works in partnerships with more than 400 organizations and businesses across the United States and Canada.

The projects capture pollutants emitted by refineries, paper mills, and cement and chemical plants and prevent them from entering the atmosphere. Instead, the carbon is stored in geologic formations or, in some cases, piped elsewhere for another industrial use.

Moniz said the carbon storage methods are “indispensable” to U.S. efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Some partners have moved beyond identifying the best capture and storage methods and now work on using captured CO2 in products like fuel, plastics, cement and fertilizers.

Novomer, a Massachusetts-based company, is developing plastic materials made from 50 percent CO2 that “will sequester harmful greenhouse gases permanently from the environment,” according to the company website. The goal is lower-cost and more environmentally friendly substitutes for other products currently used in manufacturing.

Promoting and funding technological development for carbon capture is just one of many projects the United States is developing in its goal to reduce emissions as part of the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan.