The Biden administration announced on Friday its first major investment to kickstart the US carbon removal industry – something energy experts say is key to getting the country’s planet-warming emissions under control.
What are carbon-sucking vacuums?
Carbon-sucking vacuums are machines that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, using chemicals or filters to separate the greenhouse gas. Once captured, CO2 can be stored underground, or used in industrial materials like cement or synthetic fuels.
Carbon-sucking vacuums are also known as direct air capture (DAC) technology, and they are considered a form of negative emissions, meaning they remove more CO2 from the atmosphere than they emit.
Why are they important for climate action?
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world needs to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This means that any remaining emissions must be balanced by removing an equivalent amount of CO2 from the air.
However, some sectors, such as aviation, agriculture, and heavy industry, are hard to decarbonize with existing technologies. Therefore, carbon-sucking vacuums could play a vital role in offsetting these emissions and reaching the net-zero goal.
Moreover, carbon-sucking vacuums could also help reduce the amount of CO2 that has already accumulated in the atmosphere over decades of fossil fuel burning. This could lower the risk of triggering dangerous tipping points in the Earth’s climate system, such as melting ice sheets, permafrost thawing, and ocean acidification.
How is the Biden administration supporting them?
On Friday, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is spending $1.2 billion to fund two new demonstration projects in Texas and Louisiana – the South Texas Direct Air Capture hub and Project Cypress in Louisiana.
These projects are expected to remove more than 2 million metric tons of CO2 from the air annually once they are up and running – the equivalent of removing nearly 500,000 gas cars off the road.
The projects will also create regional hubs that link everything from capture to processing to deep underground storage, all in one seamless process.
The funding comes from a $3.5 billion fund dedicated to developing carbon-sucking vacuums and other carbon capture technologies, which was authorized by Congress in 2020 as part of a bipartisan energy bill.
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said these projects will make the US a leader in carbon removal innovation and create thousands of jobs in the process.
“These two projects are going to build these regional direct air capture hubs,” Granholm said. “That means they’re going to link everything from capture to processing to deep underground storage, all in one seamless process.”
White House senior adviser Mitch Landrieu said these will be the first direct air capture projects at this scale in the US and “will be the largest in the world.”
What are the challenges and opportunities for carbon-sucking vacuums?
One of the main challenges for carbon-sucking vacuums is their high cost and energy demand. According to a 2018 study by researchers at MIT and Harvard University, capturing one ton of CO2 from the air could cost between $94 and $232, depending on the technology and location.
The study also estimated that capturing 1% of global emissions would require 30% of global energy production. Therefore, scaling up carbon-sucking vacuums would require significant investments in renewable energy sources and infrastructure.
Another challenge is ensuring that the captured CO2 is permanently stored or used in a way that does not release it back into the atmosphere. For instance, some critics have argued that using captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery – a method where carbon is injected into the ground to release more oil – would negate the climate benefits of carbon removal.
However, there are also many opportunities for carbon-sucking vacuums to create new markets and revenue streams. For example, some companies are already using captured CO2 to make products such as carbon-neutral fuels, fertilizers, plastics, and building materials.
Additionally, carbon-sucking vacuums could generate income from selling carbon credits or receiving subsidies from governments or corporations that want to offset their emissions or meet their climate targets.
Sasha Stashwick, policy director at Carbon180 – an independent nonprofit focused on carbon removal – said these projects are a very big deal for the industry and the climate.
“The industry’s very nascent at the moment,” Stashwick said. “These are meant to be the first commercial-scale deployments at the mega-ton scale. It’s a very, very big deal.”
