The US Department of Energy (DOE) has chosen the first two sites, located in Louisiana and Texas, to host facilities aimed at capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and storing it underground. These sites will be funded through the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed early in President Biden’s term.
Unlike previous carbon capture methods tied to specific emissions sources, these sites will directly remove CO2 from the air, making them significant for both the US and global efforts against climate change. Each facility is expected to have a capacity 250 times larger than the largest current operation.
These facilities hold the promise of reversing a century of carbon emissions, but there is concern that they might be used to justify continued fossil fuel use. Unlike carbon capture from exhausts, which is tied to ongoing fossil fuel burning, these new facilities will extract CO2 directly from the atmosphere, making them versatile for addressing emissions from various sources and even handling past “legacy” emissions.
The DOE’s goal is to cut the cost of capturing and storing a tonne of CO2 to less than $100 within a decade. While these developments are promising, they face challenges due to the vast scale required to achieve net-zero emissions and concerns about maintaining focus on climate goals across changing administrations.
The DOE’s initiative includes plans beyond the initial two sites, with funding for 19 exploratory projects. These projects explore different approaches and technologies, and the government is also launching a procurement program to become a significant buyer of carbon removal services. The urgent need for carbon removal is increasingly evident as extreme events and ongoing litigation underscore the impacts of existing carbon emissions on the climate. However, achieving the necessary capacity to combat climate change will be an enormous challenge, and sustaining efforts across changing political landscapes will prove difficult.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/us-picks-the-first-two-sites-for-carbon-capture-hubs/