Carbon capture is a process that gets some attention in the discussion of climate change. It is exactly as it sounds, capturing carbon that is released from the process of burning fuels. The UK carbon capture process has kicked off and hopefully it proves successful.

This flagship project is taking place at DRAX, a wood burning plant. Wood burning, as it turns out, is a carbon neutral process, which is to say it doesn’t add any more carbon to the air. This does not mean that there is no carbon at all, it just means that the carbon that is released is sets the scales at zero instead of plus as trees remove the CO2 from the air naturally. This process would capture the carbon the was stored by the trees setting it at negative. Good right?

The process still has some critics. The burning of wood for energy presents some other issues for the environment and the carbon capture process also creates more demands for power. This first run will help researchers and planners really see if this is a viable option for the future.