بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
I have written a blog post on waste oil as biofuel. Now I am writing on a similar topic hope reader like it. Yeah, I have written truth in heading. Co2 in atmosphere can be used as a fuel source. Known as Carbon fuel.
Starting from the main point. If humans failed to avoid increase in 2 degrees Celsius the world and our future generations might face catastrophic events. Carbon fuel can be one of the hurdles in it. Today’s scenario such as increase in tsunamis, storms, draught, flood etc.
Draught, famine, flood being the most common. Draught as water scarcity in areas where once upon a time there was not. Then draught results in famine. Flood is due to large dams first stopping water and then leaving it in large quantity. And wildfire have also increased due to global warming. I will certainly cover it in other blog post.
Carbon Fuel-
Climate damage is not easy to control and but reducing the damage is far easy than that. And what can be better when Co2 is not only controlled but also become a climate neutral fuel.
First from the captured air Co2 is extracted with the help of giant fans. One of the famous company in it is Carbon engineering. In Squamish, British Columbia it is based it uses a combination of giant fans and complex chemical processes to remove carbon dioxide from the air in a procedure known as Direct Air Capture.
Direct air capture is not a new concept. But this time this company makes a financial sense. The company is backed by Bill Gates and by the oil giants Chevron, BHP, and Occidental. These partnerships would be beneficial for Carbon Engineering’s tech to the market with use of captured carbon to make synthetic fuels and to help extract more oil from the ground.
It is presently using Natural gas and clean electricity in its operation but are planning to use renewable electricity. The most interesting thing is that it is costing up to 60% approx. less than what was expected attracting financers. Now even studies have shown that without carbon removal it is not possible to control climate.
With different techniques direct air carbon capture and storage is being done. Either with collecting it in storage facilities from biomass to directly from chimneys. The basic demand arises from the people. And it is increasing as people prefer more eco-friendly products.
Finance-
Direct air capture companies are in present partnering with oil companies which some people are opposing. As both are on different sides one promotes green energy the other one clean energy. But what can they do when Government are not supporting them?
Carbon doesn’t have a good price to sell so until then it is impossible to fund these projects. But Norway has found a way for it. Governments especially in Europe are subsidizing Carbon fuel with certain ways to increase its value in the market and to make it possible. But there is a lot more it as people generally prefer solar and air energy than carbon fuel.
More-
The people who are against it say that there are much better solutions like afforestation, renew greenery etc. Afforestation is a good step as a lot less cost would be incurred to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.
But carbon engineering supporters say their project is far more significant than it appears. A single large project can do work of 40 million trees if carbon is stored inside ground and not with extraction. Although I don’t believe it’s a good idea to store Carbon under the soil.
Conclusion-
According to me Direct air capture is a good concept of study but to make it work practically. Other things such as Finance, tech efficiency and effectiveness and profitability also matter. There are other things also other than capturing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. Such as solar, wind, thermal etc. Which are also important as well as successful?
But we never know what future can bring upon us. People never believed in smartphones just 30 years back but now they are here.