Technology

Our ongoing failure to reign in carbon emissions makes technological climate solutions increasingly critical, but there are limits to what they can do.  While carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are critical parts of a suite of climate solutions, petrostates and the fossil fuel industry are asking the impossible of these fledgling technologies.  Although many operating pilot plants have proven the concept, there is a yawning gulf between what they say they can do and what they can deliver. Versions of carbon capture have been around for decades, but the technology has yet to be proven...

Along with reduction and adaptation, technologies that remove carbon from the atmosphere or capture it at source are the third pillar of climate action. These technologies (sometimes called negative emissions technologies or NETs) can be broadly subdivided into carbon dioxide removal (CDR), also known simply as carbon removal (CR), which removes CO2 from the air, and carbon technologies (carbon tech), which remove carbon from source emissions. Once the carbon is either captured or removed it can be kept out of the atmosphere in a process known as sequestration. One of the most effective approaches to carbon sequestration involves leveraging the...

There are 7 technological approaches to removing carbon, sometimes referred to as negative emissions technology (NETs), and they are divided into two major groupings. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) takes CO2 out of the ambient air and carbon technologies (carbon tech) refers to the removal of emissions at source. While carbon capture (CC) reduces carbon emissions at the point of production (eg the flue gases in smoke stacks), direct air capture (DAC).siphons CO2 out of the ambient air. According to the IPCC, technologies that capture and sequester carbon (eg geosequestration which stores captured carbon) are a critical part of the required...

Here is a succinct yet comprehensive primer on carbon dioxide removal (CDR)*. This short video presentation was prepared and narrated by CDR researcher Richard Matthews. After reviewing the three major categories of CDR (natural climate solutions, carbon capture, and direct air capture) Richard explains that while CDR has become critical to climate mitigation efforts, we need to deploy a suite of strategies if we are to succeed in keeping temperatures below the upper limit thresholds. The presentation concludes with a brief summary of factors that contribute to or detract from the uptake of CDR. *Sometimes referred to as negative emissions...

There is a massive environmental toll associated with gift-giving, but what if you could give a gift that not only generates no waste but actually improves the state of the climate? Thanks to what is described as "the world’s most sustainable gift" you can. Climeworks' Climate Pioneers Program empowers people by enabling them to siphon climate change-causing carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere. The need to draw down carbon is supported by a plethora of research documenting the veracity of anthropogenic climate change and its wide-ranging catastrophic impacts. The situation is made even more urgent by inadequate government efforts...

We are on the cusp of surpassing climate tipping points from which we may not be able to recover. There have been thousands of studies documenting the veracity of anthropogenic climate change and its wide-ranging catastrophic impacts have been extensively investigated by researchers. There is a clear and unequivocal consensus that human-generated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are driving the climate crisis.  Atmospheric carbon emissions have been steadily rising since the Industrial Revolution and along with these increases, we have seen consistent increases in global average temperatures. A sizable body of evidence on current and projected GHG emissions clearly shows that...

Electric bikes (e-bikes) have come a long way in recent years. There are now many options that include everything from foldable utilitarian commuters to powerful off-roaders. E-bikes are the fastest-growing two-wheeled vehicle segment in the world today. They are an efficient way to get around in urban environments and they are emissions-free so they don't contribute to the pollution that so often plagues big cities. They also offer a great way to circumnavigate the gridlock that has become commonplace in metropolitan centers. Below you will find a representative suite of 18 e-bikes from basic models to futuristic designs. This list...

We need a carbon removal portfolio (CRP)* to keep temperatures from breaching the limits contained in the Paris Agreement (2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial norms). Even if we were to stop emitting carbon into the atmosphere today we would still need to siphon carbon out of the atmosphere to keep global average temperatures from surpassing the upper threshold temperature limits. Given the scope of the required drawdown, we will need to deploy a full range of carbon removal strategies that include established technologies as well as innovative approaches. We must simultaneously explore new research directions. An assessment of CRP technologies...

Calls for more research into carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and carbon capture applications are coming from many quarters (Amann and Hartmann, 2019; Landau, 2018; Nekuda, 2019; Bipartisan Policy Center report, 2019; Budinis et al, 2016). We need to build on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report that recommended financial support for a detailed portfolio of NETs R&D totaling $1 billion annually (NAS, 2019) and the 10-year, $10.7 billion R&D commercial readiness innovation program from the think tank Energy Futures Initiative (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2019). We need quantitative approaches that will help us to further refine research...

Carbon removal technologies (CRT)* also know as technological carbon solutions, are essential for climate mitigation however, there are a host of factors that are impeding its implementation. One of the impediments to deploying CRT is cost related to the technology’s vast energy requirements. CRT at scale would consume vast amounts of energy, it is estimated that the large-scale deployment of DAC will require as much as a quarter of the world’s total energy demands by 2100 (Realmonte, 2019). There are also concerns that the energy required to power CRT at scale would generate emissions. Although some have suggested that this...