CHEYENNE - Scientists and economists are discussing future energy needs, in part because world oil supply leads world oil demand by only 1 percent.

And they're talking about the implications of global warming because China is adding about one new coal-fired power plant per week.

"This is not just an interesting academic challenge," said Carl Bauer. "It is a troublesome thing."

Bauer, director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, gave the keynote address Wednesday at the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Resource symposium; "CO2 Sequestration: Opportunities for Wyoming." It was sponsored by the Western Research Institute.

Bauer said Wyoming's vast capacity for storing carbon dioxide in its coal seams and in its oil and saline water formations can play a critical role in addressing both energy demand and combating global warming.

"So you are involved in very important things when you talk about carbon sequestration. Things that change the nation and the world," Bauer said.

Storing, or "sequestering," carbon dioxide underground that otherwise would be vented into the atmosphere is one key component in combating global warming.

Sequestering CO2 in oil reservoirs has the added benefit of sweeping oil that would otherwise be left behind by conventional recovery methods - perhaps as much as 4.15 billion barrels, according to the Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute.

And sequestering CO2 in coal seams has the added benefit of producing methane gas that otherwise might be left behind - an estimated 19.6 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to Mike Godec, of Advanced Resources International, Inc.

In fact, the high permeability of coals in the Powder River Basin make it possible to hold significantly more CO2 than other coals in the nation. Godec said Powder River Basin coals may have the capacity to sequester 13.6 billion metric tons of CO2.

Wyoming's highly developed oil and gas industries have already made carbon dioxide a hot commodity because of the potential for enhanced oil recovery. Some presenters agreed that fact should help develop the pipeline infrastructure needed for large-scale sequestration, while others worried that demand might stifle efforts to demonstrate CO2 sequestration in non-producing zones.

"The nice thing about Wyoming is you have a lot of established information because of the developed oil and gas industries," said Susan Capalbo, director of the Big Sky Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership.

A complete understanding of geologic zones is necessary in determining whether CO2 sequestration will work in a particular area, especially when discussing impermeable caps to keep it from leaking to the surface. Capalbo said much of the energy industry's geologic database will be essential in that work.

Other challenges will be dealing with split-estate issues, liability and how to regulate carbon sequestration. Capalbo said perhaps the biggest challenge will be developing a work force for large-scale CO2 sequestration.

"Wyoming is far out ahead in terms of trying to get us to a clean energy work force with the School of Energy," Capalbo said.

Capalbo said the Big Sky partnership is currently working on pilot projects with Merit Energy at Baroil and ExxonMobil in southwestern Wyoming.

Wyoming is involved in the Big Sky partnership, as well as two other similar partnerships with Western states.

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@casperstartribune.net.