Looking For Fresh Air
Earth’s atmosphere is about to get cleaner.
The world’s largest facility to capture carbon dioxide and turn it into rock began operating last week in Iceland, Reuters reported.
The Swiss startup Climeworks AG, in cooperation with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix, has developed an industrial facility that can suck more than 4,400 tons of CO2 from the air per year.
The Orca – which is named for the Icelandic word for “energy” – is made up of eight large containers that use high-tech filters and fans to extract the greenhouse gas. The gas is then mixed with water and placed deep underground where it slowly becomes rock.
To maximize its impact, it is powered by renewable energy taken from a nearby geothermal power plant.
The Orca is just one out of 15 similar plants that capture more than 9,900 tons of CO2 per year. Scientists said that technologies such as direct air capture are vital in limiting the effects of global warming, such as heatwaves, wildfires and rising sea levels.
However, such technology doesn’t come cheap, and the currently operating plants only capture a fraction of the global CO2 emissions – which last year totaled nearly 35 billion tons, according to the International Energy Agency.
Climeworks hopes that costs will become lower as more companies and consumers try to reduce their carbon footprint.
No comments:
Post a Comment