Then carbon capture can come in," says Mr Christensen.
Several of this year's cohort remained in the Bay Area, interning on projects to improve agricultural-crop characteristics at Berkeley's Joint BioEnergy Institute, researching carbon-capture strategies at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and developing novel battery technologies at Alameda-based startup Imprint Energy.
It is generally accepted that carbon capture and storage strategies will play a crucial role for mitigating CO2 emissions at short- and mid-term scenarios.
In addition, carbon capture and utilization (CCU) strategy, the elegant combination of carbon capture and subsequent conversion, has also been summarized, which is designed to obviate the high energy input associated with carbon capture and storage/sequestration (CCS) process.
In our approach we follow the carbon capture and utilization (CCU) strategy, in which useful chemicals and alternative synthetic fuels are produced by photochemically or electrochemically recycling CO2, for example, by using solar or wind energy.
The approach is a form of carbon capture, which also includes strategies for grabbing CO2 before it gets into the air, from smokestacks, for example.
The competitor also has carbon capture facilities but applies a different strategy to earn profits.
Carbon capture and storage is a mitigation strategy that can be used to aid the reduction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions.
Another strategy, known as carbon capture and storage, would continue the use of fossil fuels but trap the carbon dioxide and then pipe it underground where it would not affect the climate.
His interests include cybersecurity of electric utilities and other energy systems; low-carbon energy including solar, other renewable energy generation, and nuclear; gas and coal production and carbon capture and utilization; information technology; and strategy.
