US Department of Energy to Invest $1.2 Billion in Carbon-Sucking Facilities
The US Department of Energy has announced its plans to invest up to $1.2 billion in two Direct Air Capture (DAC) facilities, located in Texas and Louisiana. These facilities aim to suck carbon from the air and contribute to the fight against climate change.
Each site will be equipped with carbon-sucking vacuums capable of eliminating up to one million tons of carbon dioxide annually. To put this into perspective, the yearly emissions of 445,000 gas-powered cars are equivalent to this amount. This substantial effort to reduce carbon emissions aligns with the department’s goal of combating the growing impacts of climate change.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm emphasized the need for carbon removal alongside cutting emissions. She stated, “Cutting back on our carbon emissions alone won’t reverse the growing impacts of climate change. We also need to remove the CO2 that we’ve already put in the atmosphere.”
Direct Air Capture (DAC), also known as Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), employs chemical reactions to extract CO2 from the air. The captured carbon dioxide can then be stored underground or utilized in products such as concrete or aviation fuel. Although the technology for direct air capture machines is relatively untested, a few operational systems exist globally. However, for it to have a significant impact on the planet, it must become more affordable at scale.
Granholm believes that DAC technology can aid in achieving the net-zero emissions goals while simultaneously expanding clean energy deployment. She expressed, “If we deploy this at scale, this technology can help us make serious headway toward our net-zero emissions goals while we are still focused on deploying, deploying, deploying more clean energy at the same time.”
The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognizes the direct capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as one of the necessary methods to combat global warming.
The contractors responsible for the two DAC facilities are US non-profit Battelle in partnership with Heirloom Carbon Technology and Swiss firm Climeworks for Project Cypress in Louisiana. Climeworks already operates a DAC plant in Iceland. Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks director and founder, expressed his hope for the first capture to occur in 2025/2026.
The Texas project will be led by American company Occidental and other partners, including Carbon Engineering. Occidental stated that the project could potentially eliminate up to 30 million tons of CO2 per year.
With such significant investments in carbon-sucking technology, the US Department of Energy is taking a substantial step towards combating climate change and pursuing a more sustainable future.
Sources: AFP, Reuters