In the concluding weeks of what’s shaping up to be the hottest year on record, world leaders met at the U.N.’s annual climate conference to discuss ways to curb climate change.
One of the proposed solutions discussed there could be especially effective in the Ohio River Valley.
It’s called carbon capture, utilization and storage, or CCUS.
“Carbon capture and storage is a set of technologies that allow anybody to capture carbon dioxide from the smokestack of the industrial plant, isolate the carbon dioxide molecule, capture it, and then store it underground,” said Aniruddha Sharma, the chair and CEO of Carbon Clean, a company that develops this technology.
Essentially, it aims to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or preventing it from even entering the atmosphere in the first place.
Here’s why that’s important
Right now, carbon dioxide emissions from the industrial sector make up about a quarter of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Critics of carbon capture argue those industries should focus on cutting back emissions in the first place rather than trying to catch and store them after they’re produced. They say large-scale carbon capture is untested and unfeasible.
Sharma advocates for capture, he said, because cutting back isn’t easy, especially when it comes to the production of materials like steel and cement.
“We need these commodities to progress and go forward, and you would always have process emissions from them,” he explained.
CCUS technologies wouldn’t force industries to reduce their fossil fuel intake, but the technology does offer a means of limiting CO2 output into the atmosphere.
In fact, it’s one of four ways the U.S. Department of Energy identified to reduce industrial emissions.
But up until the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, it hasn’t made economic sense for many small and mid-sized industries to invest in the technology.
Source: wyso.org
Photo Credit: pexels-sharath
Categories: Ohio, Energy