![]() ![]() "On top of that, we also must take down the carbon that we've already put up in the atmosphere. That's what we need to do right now," Helgason said. "We must stop the emissions and wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. Kari Helgason of Carbfix, which is the Icelandic company that pioneered the method to inject captured carbon into the ground, told 60 Minutes that carbon capture can never be an excuse for doing business as usual. It's called enhanced oil recovery and it has many in the carbon capture industry wary that this technology will give oil companies cover to pump more oil. Oil companies have been capturing and injecting CO2 for decades, not to bury the CO2, but to flush out more oil. It has set aside more than $1 billion to build what will be the world's largest direct air capture plant, CEO Vicki Hollub said. Occidental Petroleum has staked out the lead in the direct air capture business in the U.S. Direct air capture is a new technology that vacuums carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Governments in Europe and the United States have dangled billions of dollars of subsidies and tax incentives to encourage companies to take the plunge. In Iceland, where ORCA is located, that energy is geo-thermal- renewable and green. The heat-trapping effects of carbon dioxide make it by far the most damaging greenhouse gas and contributor to climate change, NOAA said in a 2022 report.Īs it exists now, direct air capture is expensive and energy intensive. Nearly 40 billion tons of oil and gas emissions are spewing into the atmosphere every year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA.) It's primarily emitted from the transportation, construction and power industries. He told Whitaker that technically the scaling up process can be done, but that it's not a decision that one company can make alone. In Iceland, that energy is geo-thermal- renewable and green.Ĭarolos Haertel is the chief technology officer at Climeworks, the Swiss company that built ORCA. As it exists now, direct air capture is expensive and energy intensive. Scaling direct air capture is a gargantuan challenge. ORCA, which CBS news correspondent Bill Whitaker visited in Iceland, can take out the emissions of about 800 cars, or 4,000 tons of CO2. Scientists estimate carbon capture needs to remove 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, at the same time as there are drastic cuts in fossil fuels. In Iceland, home to the world's first commercial direct air capture plant, CO2 is then sent to be buried deep underground in porous volcanic rock, where it hardens to stone in less than two years. The CO2 is trapped by a special filter inside a giant collector – each the size of a shipping container. There's been a stampede of investment into direct air capture, but some advocates worry the carbon capture process may not be scaled up fast enough to make an impact.ĭirect air capture is a new technology that vacuums carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Inside efforts to scale direct air capture to slow climate change | 60 Minutes 12:57 ![]()
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