Climeworks has just opened the world’s largest direct carbon capture plant. It can suck around 36,000 tons of CO2 from the air each year, burying it underground.
The problem is, projects like this turn our heads away from the real problems. Politicians and investors will justify not reducing greenhouse gas emissions because we have this new technology which will save us all.
Fact is, climate change has already been solved, we know what we have to do since decades. It is not a problem which will be solved by technology, it is a political problem.
In addition to that people will say that they are doing enough by investing in carbon capture but will not address the biodiversity crisis which can only be addressed by proposing real environmental policy change.
It should be called C02 capture (make the CO2 part specific). The carbon which was burned was already safely captured in the ground, where it should have stayed. Then it was burned and partly turned into CO2. Lots of it. Who is being -paid- to concentrate the stuff? and bury the stuff? And keep an eye on it? Who will pay that bill?
Once you’ve captured this particular form of carbon, you have to store it somewhere. FOREVER. Unlike nuclear waste, it’s only visible when it’s compressed. Does this mean you have to take someone’s word that it was captured? It -does- mean you have to accept that it’s safely and securely stored. FOREVER. ‘We promise.’
The whole thing is at best sketchy. The same money could be invested in real, tangible generation of renewable energy. Without having to take some sketchy industry’s word for it. And without potentially endangering the lives of the people who’ll have to live with it next door. Would you rather live near a windmill, or a hole with 36,000 tons of CO2 in it?
The problem is, projects like this turn our heads away from the real problems. Politicians and investors will justify not reducing greenhouse gas emissions because we have this new technology which will save us all. Fact is, climate change has already been solved, we know what we have to do since decades. It is not a problem which will be solved by technology, it is a political problem. In addition to that people will say that they are doing enough by investing in carbon capture but will not address the biodiversity crisis which can only be addressed by proposing real environmental policy change.
It should be called C02 capture (make the CO2 part specific). The carbon which was burned was already safely captured in the ground, where it should have stayed. Then it was burned and partly turned into CO2. Lots of it. Who is being -paid- to concentrate the stuff? and bury the stuff? And keep an eye on it? Who will pay that bill?
In Satartia Mississippi on February 22 2020, a CO2 pipeline broke because of a mud slide. 45 people were hospitalized after the 21,600 barrels of liquid CO2 rolled downhill towards their town. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2022/09/11/here-minute-details-2020-mississippi-co-2-pipeline-leak-rupture-denbury-gulf-coast/8015510001/
Once you’ve captured this particular form of carbon, you have to store it somewhere. FOREVER. Unlike nuclear waste, it’s only visible when it’s compressed. Does this mean you have to take someone’s word that it was captured? It -does- mean you have to accept that it’s safely and securely stored. FOREVER. ‘We promise.’
The whole thing is at best sketchy. The same money could be invested in real, tangible generation of renewable energy. Without having to take some sketchy industry’s word for it. And without potentially endangering the lives of the people who’ll have to live with it next door. Would you rather live near a windmill, or a hole with 36,000 tons of CO2 in it?