As the world's largest emitters of carbon dioxide -- including Japan -- struggle to find quick and effective ways of cutting emissions to curb global warming, projects to store the gas underground are attracting public attention.
Research and development of technology to capture and isolate carbon dioxide started in the early 1990s in Japan. But field tests in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, that were started in July have fueled new hopes that the technology may be a breakthrough in efforts to combat climate change, yet still enable the country to meet its energy needs.
Nagaoka's experiment -- the first project in Japan to store carbon dioxide underground -- is designed to establish technology by 2015 that enables the gas to be captured from large-scale emission sources, such as energy plants, factories and steelworks.