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SQUAMISH (British Columbia) – Everyone knows that an electric fan can cool people on a sunny day. But could fans moderate the rise in temperatures on the planet?
Some of the world's largest fossil fuel companies would like to know.
Chevron, Occidental Petroleum and the Australian mining giant BHP have invested this year in Carbon Engineering, a small Canadian company that claims to be poised to make a breakthrough in solving the crucial problem of climate change: eliminating the carbon already present in the world. # 39; s atmosphere.
As part of its pilot project at Squamish, a former lumber industry town located about 30 miles north of Vancouver, the company uses a huge fan to draw in large amounts of water. air in a sewage boat designed to extract carbon dioxide. The gas can then be buried or converted to a clean burning synthetic fuel, although expensive.
Investing in carbon engineering and other carbon reduction initiatives is part of the fossil fuel industry's ongoing efforts to remain relevant and profitable in a warming world. As electric cars and solar and wind energy become more affordable, executives recognize that the status quo could put their business at risk.
Fossil fuel companies are already facing numerous lawsuits, investor resolutions and regulations that encourage them to invest more in clean energy. Pressure groups are also urging companies and legislators to keep oil and natural gas in the ground by defying hydraulic fracturing, particularly in Europe, and fighting against pipelines to transport oil sands production from Canada.
"It's about recognizing that climate change poses significant risks for all economic sectors," said Fiona Wild, BHP Vice President for Sustainability and Climate Change, about the $ 6 million investment. dollars of Carbon Engineering in Carbon Engineering. "Climate change is no longer seen as a marginal problem. It is a business risk that requires a response from the company. "
Of course, large energy companies continue to drill for oil and gas and are pushing the Trump administration and other governments to open more territory for exploration.
But some companies have reported that they are changing. Some companies, including Royal Dutch Shell and BP, combine compensation with emission reductions. Equinor, the Norwegian oil company, plans to increase its capital expenditure by 15 to 20% by 2030, against 5% now.
The Carbon Engineering pilot project on the rocky shores of Howe Sound is One of the many attempts to "carbon direct air" attempted around the world. It's still a small effort, but his supporters say that it could play an important role in the fight against climate change.
Much of the work is done in a former industrial corrugated iron warehouse decorated with faded graffiti, a structure formerly used by a company that manufactured chemicals for the pulp industry. The temporary offices are decidedly makeshift, the bathrooms being entered from the outside. No carbon is actually extracted from the atmosphere permanently because the business is still in test mode.
Chevron and Occidental, each of whom sat on the board of directors of Carbon Engineering, refused to disclose their investments. The company claims to have raised a total of $ 68 million in its latest round of funding to expand the pilot project and develop its first commercial plant.
Critics of fossil fuel companies claim that these investments are so modest that they are little more than a stunt of public relations.
"It's a radical change for these guys," said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate campaign, an environmental organization in Washington. "I do not see an epiphany."
But other experts do not agree. "It could be greenwashing, but so what?" Said Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at Oxford and author of "Burn Out: The Final Strategy for Fossil Fuels". "If money is spent on research and development, sequestering carbon is a good thing.
Carbon Engineering executives said they welcomed the fossil fuel companies' investments, not only for the money but also for their engineering and lobbying skills.
"I now have big brothers taking care of me," said Steve Oldham, general manager of Carbon Engineering. "Initially, companies wanted to show that they envisioned being green. Now you see action. "
The company said its commercial plants would have large fans 33 feet in diameter to collect the air and make it follow a complex chemical process.
The air will be pushed through plastic honeycomb channels covered with potassium hydroxide that attaches to carbon dioxide. Other chemicals will be added to produce tiny white granules containing carbon. The pellets will then be heated to over 1600 degrees to form carbon dioxide.
In a type of plant that the company hopes to build, the captured carbon dioxide could be injected underground, where it would be harmless, unless some of its quantities leak into the atmosphere. Mr Oldham says that every facility of this type could possibly annually eliminate as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as 40 million trees.
In another type of facility, captured carbon dioxide would be combined with hydrogen extracted from the water to produce a synthetic fuel that can be converted into gasoline, diesel or kerosene. The energy needed to produce hydrogen would come from wind turbines and solar panels to limit emissions.
The synthetic fuel of the company would be more expensive than conventional gasoline. Production costs could rise to about $ 4 per gallon, according to Carbon Engineering, compared to an average retail price of over $ 2.70 per gallon in the United States. But it could still be of interest to countries that spend tens of billions of dollars on crude imports, like India and Japan. Carbon regulations could also make fuel more attractive.
The company says its synthetic fuels could be used in standard cars, trucks and aircraft engines, and would cause less air pollution than traditional fuels.
The fuel used by Burning Carbon Engineering would release carbon dioxide, but it would not increase, if at all, the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere because this process would recycle the carbon already present in the air said leaders.
Early investors in Carbon Engineering include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and N. Murray Edwards, executive chairman of Canadian Natural Resources, a major oil sands producer, a heavy oil with a significant carbon footprint.
"Oil and gas companies need to question their future," said Michael Webber, professor of energy at the University of Texas at Austin. "They know that one day, the energy mix will be different. So, there are a lot of motivations for this investment. "
Occidental wants to use this technology to find a sustainable supply of carbon dioxide that it can use to inject into its oil fields to increase pressure and extract more oil while trapping carbon. The company is already the biggest injector in the industry, but it is now re-injecting the carbon found in natural underground deposits, which has little or no benefit to the environment. By recycling the carbon extracted from the air, he hopes to bury as much carbon as his fuels emit, or even more. An additional benefit is a federal tax credit for carbon sequestration.
"Every oil company should strive to become carbon neutral," said Vicki Hollub, general manager of Occidental. "In the end, we think we can be carbon negative. The fight against climate change is a turning point for the industry. ''
Chevron seeks to meet a different immediate need. California requires refiners and other distributors to meet their carbon decline targets by 2030. Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., Has two large refineries in the state that could use the fuel. synthetic.
"We need low-carbon fuels," said Barbara Burger, president of Chevron Technology Ventures. "The world needs transportation fuels and the public wants them, but they expect us to reduce the carbon content. And that's one of the options to do it. "
However, to realize the ambitious ideas put forward by Carbon Engineering and other companies in projects large enough to have a significant impact on the environment, considerable investment will be needed.
Oldham said one of its carbon capture and sequestration plants would eliminate one million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, a small fraction of the 33 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted by the company. In the course of a year. The sequestration process would cost about $ 100 per tonne, which, in the Western model, could be offset in part by the increase in oil production that it would allow. Carbon could also be used to make cement and other building materials.
However, in case of a serious global climate emergency, governments should probably step in to accelerate the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. Oldham said the cost of capturing and sequestering all the carbon needed to fight climate change would require billions of dollars.
The company's synthetic fuel may also struggle to find markets because of its cost.
David Keith, Harvard-based physicist who founded Carbon Engineering and sits on his board, said synthetic fuel would be more useful for trucks, ships and planes, while cars and other vehicles smaller ones would probably be powered by batteries.
"It's impossible for us to beat oil from the ground in a competition without competition, without regulation," said Keith, referring to carbon taxes and other environmental policies. If there is sufficient political will to cut emissions deeply, he added, "I think you will see a lot of this technology in the next ten or two years."
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