BrainStuff Classics: How Close Are We to Recycling Carbon Dioxide Emissions?

Earth's climate. You and I live in the future he saw coming. So far, the twenty one century has witnessed seventeen of the eighteen hottest years on record, and just as Arena is suspected, the main cause of this warming trend is all the CEO two we keep pumping into the atmosphere. The scale of the problem is jaw dropping. In the year seventeen alone, human beings un leased forty point five billion tons about thirty six point eight billion

metric tons of this world altering greenhouse gas. Much of the blame falls on our transportation infrastructure. Around twenty of global CEO two emissions are made by cars, trucks, airplanes, and other vehicles, though, just out of saying when cow is another farm animals burper fart, they're contributing to climate change too. The methane and livestocks belches and flatulence makes up thirty of all agriculture related greenhouse gas emissions. But

back to carbon dioxide. Wouldn't it be nice if we could pull CEO two out of thin air and incorporate it into a new kind of vehicular fuel that's better for the environment. We may be ready to start doing just that. In June, the energy research journal Jewel published a study led by Harvard professor David Keith, an experimental physicist and public policy expert. Keith founded the company Carbon

Engineering in two thousand nine. The organization's mission is to quote develop and commercial is technology that captures industrial scale quantities of CO two directly from the air. With the help of Bill Gates and other investors, Carbon Engineering was able to open a nine million dollar direct air capture plant in twenty Located in Squamish, British Columbia. The facility uses large fans to pull outside air through filters coated

with liquid solution that traps carbon dioxide. Then the captured gases converted into small pellets of calcium carbonate. Using these pellets, carbon engineering has made synthetic gasoline, diesel, and even jet fuel. The advantages of this air to fuel process are considerable. Whereas naturally occurring fossil fuels are notoriously finite, these man made liquids are renewable, and since they're produced with recycled

c O two, they don't contribute to mankind's carbon footprint. Plus, our existing vehicles wouldn't need to be modified in any way to start running on these synthetic fuels. Over in Switzerland there's another carbon capture plant run by Climb Works, a separate come any which now sells recycled CEO two. But if this technology is going to make a significant dent in our carbon emissions problem, will need a lot of new plants. So how cost effective is that going

to be? Last year, m I T engineer Howard Herzog estimated that it would cost an air capture facility a thousand dollars to generate a single U S ton that's about point nine metric tons of usable carbon dioxide. Keith's

new paper begs to differ. According to his calculations, the process costs a more reasonable ninety four dollars to two and forty two dollars per U. S ton Keith said in a press statement, we can confidently say that while air capture is not some magical, cheap solution, it is a viable and buildable technology for producing carbon neutral fuels in the immediate future and for removing carbon in the

long run. Today's episode is based on the article carbon Captured a fuel is Almost here on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Mark Nancini. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio in partnership with has stuffworks dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.