I found this article in The Guardian interesting. Oliver Milman reports on a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) plant under construction:
The advent of the 65-acre (26-hectare) site, which will be marked by a vast network of pipes, buildings and fans to scrub CO2 from the air and then inject it into underground rock formations, was solemnly likened to the Apollo 13 moon mission by Lori Guetre, vice-president of Carbon Engineering, the Canadian-founded company spearheading Stratos, during the groundbreaking.
“This time the Earth has some serious complications, and it needs the brightest minds,†Guetre said, adding that “that the world is watching and counting on us … The team’s will to overcome is quiet, steady and unwavering.â€
This milestone was followed, in August, by Biden’s energy department announcing that two facilities – one a separate venture by Carbon Engineering, in the southern reaches of Texas – will be given $1.2bn to act as DAC “hubs†to help jumpstart the carbon-removal industry in the US while also purging more than 2m tons of CO2 from the atmosphere between them. A further two hubs will be chosen by the federal government, as part of a $3.5bn effort to help create a market for carbon that will be “crucial to tackling climate changeâ€, according to Jennifer Granholm, the US secretary of energy.
It will be interesting to see whether this enterprise turns out to be an effective way of removing carbon from the air or a sham and rent-seeking strategy. It could be both.
