The struggle to cut emissions is real.
The struggle to cut emissions is real.
Last year, the world emitted more than 37 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, setting a new record high. As a result, sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere has become an increasingly popular idea. Governments worldwide are banking on this technology, called direct air capture, to help them achieve climate goals and avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
But despite more than a dozen direct air capture facilities being up and running around the globe already, the technology still faces major technological hurdles—including its own high energy use.
In a study published May 1 in the journal ACS Energy Letters, researchers at CU Boulder and collaborators revealed that a popular approach many engineers are exploring to reduce those energy costs would, in reality, fail. The team, including scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, also proposed an alternative, more sustainable design for capturing CO2 and converting it to fuels.
Read more at University of Colorado at Boulder
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