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Direct Air Capture can be used to pump CO2 underground and store it permanently underground. It is also possible that captured CO2 can be used to create aviation fuel.
2021
January 11 Carbon capture and storage is a costly “distraction” that cannot be relied on to help meet climate targets, according to research published by Global Witness and Friends of the Earth Scotland said reliance on CCS, to decarbonise the energy system, was “not a solution” to global warming. The research was undertaken by the Tyndall Centr at Manchester Victoria University. They concluded that "CCS deployment is likely now too slow to participate substantively in this part of the transition. Concerns about residual emissions from capture and fuel supply stages of fossil fuel CCS for power and hydrogen in the context of constrained carbon budgets suggest a limited role is possible in the energy system post 2030 where 2050 net-zero targets exist." Full Report
Global Witness and Friends of the Earth Scotland said that this research proves that " CCS has a “history of over-promising and under-delivering”. The FT reported that "CCS was first developed in Norway in 1996 but there are only 26 commercial projects in operation globally, none of which are in the UK or EU. To date most carbon capture has been used to extract difficult-to-reach oil. Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh wrote in a letter to the FT 26 January "either the oil industry can co-operate and develop CCS today to counteract their hydrocarbon production, or the taxpayer will have to ban fossil fuel extraction and develop CCS in a panic in the 2040s."
2020
Dec 10, 2020 United Airlines announced that they plan to be 100% green by reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 100% by 2050. They plan to advance towards carbon neutrality by committing to a multimillion-dollar investment in revolutionary atmospheric carbon capture technology known as Direct Air Capture. Scott Kirby, United's chief executive officer. said "These game-changing technologies will significantly reduce our emissions, and measurably reduce the speed of climate change – because buying carbon offsets alone is just not enough. Perhaps most importantly, we're not just doing it to meet our own sustainability goal; we're doing it to drive the positive change our entire industry requires so that every airline can eventually join us and do the same." Rather than simply taking a conventional approach to decarbonization by relying solely on the purchase of carbon offsets, United intends to make a multimillion-dollar investment in 1PointFive, Inc., a partnership between Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Occidental (NYSE:OXY), and Rusheen Capital Management. 1PointFive's mission is to curb the rise in global temperatures by physically removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air using Direct Air Capture technology licensed from Carbon Engineering. more
June 2o20 the International Energy Agency reviewed progress on DAC.
The CO2 can be permanently stored in deep geological formations or used in the production of fuels, chemicals, building materials and other products containing CO2. When CO2 is geologically stored, it is permanently removed from the atmosphere, resulting in negative emissions. There are currently 15 direct air capture plants operating worldwide, capturing more than 9 000 tCO2/year, with a 1 MtCO2/year capture plant in advanced development in the United States. In the SDS, direct air capture is scaled up to capture almost 10 MtCO2/year by 2030. This is within reach but will require several more large-scale demonstrations to refine the technology and reduce capture costs. more
