Given the utter incompetence of greenhouse gas management, direct air capture (DAC) is emerging as at least immediately doable and cost-viable. New options are emerging for high-volume air cleaning to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.
DAC was initially considered too expensive, and too technically difficult. As usual, these cost-based non-responses were wrong. DAC is now taking up a lot of space in headlines and new options are also coming on stream, like using wind farms to capture CO2.
The bottom line is that nothing like enough is being done fast enough to manage soaring CO2 levels. DAC allows measurable volumes of CO2 to be extracted in real time frameworks. It’s not any sort of substitute for rebuilding the severely damaged global ecosystem, but it can do a lot, quickly, to remediate the ongoing buildup of CO2.
According to the IEA, DAC is “…one of few technology options available to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.” That simple statement says volumes about the lack of work done on remediation solutions worldwide. A much healthier situation would be personalized CO2 removal, systemic infrastructure, and similar no-brainer options.
(Anyone remember when basic environmental management was simply about keeping things clean, not making people rich?)
DAC can pay for itself
DAC can simply be installed wherever required. Politicians can do their usual “ain’t we great” schtick and go along with it. No real clash of interests, because the polluters don’t have to pay for anything.
(These antiquated clowns won’t even pay for basic filters for their pollution-spewing fossils, for god’s sake, and that’s fine with everyone, somehow. Air pollution is killing about 4 million people per year worldwide, but god forbid these ridiculous little plutobrats having to pay for 10c filters. Libertarians, rejoice. Totally irresponsible anti-government is now the norm, like the right to be infectious, etc.)
The mechanics of DAC are also very simple. It’s a two-stage process, allowing CO2 to be captured and stored. In bulk-buy scenarios, the cost of DAC can be made very easily manageable.
CO2 can also be used as a commercial resource. The sheer range of industrial uses alone is truly astonishing. DAC can easily pay for itself, or even profit, supplying captured CO2 for all kinds of valuable purposes. If you think how common CO2 fire extinguishers are, multiply that by a few thousand times. That’s how useful CO2 is in industry worldwide. That’s also the perfect cycle of use and reuse.
The question is whether our duly elected ignoramuses and corporate buffoons are able to get this message.
The current climate situation was entirely avoidable. It could have been fixed 30 years ago, simply by doing the basics. The predictions of climate anomalies have been coming true with monotonous regularity.
To quote an Australian State Emergency Services worker, “…one in 100 year events’ and a lot of similar type things happening in the last couple of years all of a sudden”(sic). These anomalies cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage, but again, that’s OK with someone.
Someday, proper efficient global management will be the reality. Until then, any and every option should be explored to remediate the mess and minimize the damage. DAC can at the very least mitigate, and to at least some degree, remediate the CO2 catastrophe.
No-brainer?
Yes.
