Air Capture in The Guardian

June 3rd, 2008

Posted by: Roger Pielke, Jr.

Saturday’s Guardian has a story about a potentially important breakthrough in air capture technology:

It has long been the holy grail for those who believe that technology can save us from catastrophic climate change: a device that can “suck” carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, reducing the warming effect of the billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas produced each year.

Now a group of US scientists say they have made a breakthrough towards creating such a machine. Led by Klaus Lackner, a physicist at Columbia University in New York, they plan to build and demonstrate a prototype within two years that could economically capture a tonne of CO2 a day from the air, about the same per passenger as a flight from London to New York.

The prototype so-called scrubber will be small enough to fit inside a shipping container. Lackner estimates it will initially cost around £100,000 to build, but the carbon cost of making each device would be “small potatoes” compared with the amount each would capture, he said.

The scientists stress their invention is not a magic bullet to solve climate change. It would take millions of the devices to soak up the world’s carbon emissions, and the CO2 trapped would still need to be disposed of. But the team says the technology may be the best way to avert dangerous temperature rises, as fossil fuel use is predicted to increase sharply in coming decades despite international efforts. Climate experts at a monitoring station in Hawaii this month reported CO2 levels in the atmosphere have reached a record 387 parts per million (ppm) – 40% higher than before the industrial revolution.

The quest for a machine that could reverse the trend by “scrubbing” carbon from the air is seen as one of the greatest challenges in climate science. Richard Branson has promised $25m (£12.6m) to anyone who succeeds.

Lackner told the Guardian: “I wouldn’t write across the front page that the problem is solved, but this will help. We are in a hurry to deal with climate change and will be very hard pressed to stop the train before we get to 450ppm [CO2 in the atmosphere]. This can help stop the train.”

My recent paper on the economics and politics of air capture is going to be obsolete before I even get the reviews back!! (Anyone wanting a copy of the paper as submitted just send me an email: pielke@colorado.edu.)

4 Responses to “Air Capture in The Guardian”

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  1. James Annan Says:

    Actually, that was last week’s Guardian, and as William said last week, there is no hint as to the costs of operating it (financial or energy).

    http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2008/06/75.php

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  3. Roger Pielke, Jr. Says:

    Thank you James, now corrected.

    The paper that I have written that I refer to in this post conducts a review of published estimates of the economic costs of air capture. I would assume that an approach 10% as energy intensive will cost less (perhaps much less) than the estimates that I reviewed. We shall see.

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  5. James Annan Says:

    The *possible* 90% reduction in energy usage is a comparison with their previous prototype, not directly relevant to other published estimates. I don’t see any actual details of the energy used, either for this version or the previous. But if you have looked into this may you know more than is written here…please share.

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  7. Roger Pielke, Jr. Says:

    Lackner’s previous cost estimates based on his earlier prototype(s) — at Columbia and GRT — were included in my analysis (which is still under review, so certainly not final).