An important step, but don't rely on this.
The world's largest direct air collection (DIRECT AIR CAPTURE) facility has started in Iceland.This must be an important step in carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration reduction technology, but at the same time, it also has various questions about what to do with this technology.
4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year
The newly launched DAC facility, "ORCA", is located about 30 km southeast of the Iceland capital, Raykavik, and removes carbon dioxide from the air with a huge suction device. According to a startup company called CLIMEWORKS in Switzerland, which owns and operates ORCA, ORCA can remove 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year using water heat energy. CLIMEWORKS is partnered with a carbon retirement company to store the collected carbon dioxide deep underground, but in about two years, carbon dioxide will become stones. Many other carbon dioxide recovery technologies are the mainstream that stops carbon dioxide in the air in the first place, and is often installed in fossil fuel facilities. On the other hand, DAC facilities such as ORCA can remove damage in the world now. If you spread the DAC facility all over the earth, at least on the desk, it is possible to "negative emissions" to make the amount of carbon dioxide negative. This technology is not yet large enough to be deployed on a large scale, but the inter -government panel (IPCC) related to climate change is an important technology to keep global warming within two times the temperature rises in the Paris Agreement. (However, after reducing the emission itself). "This is a major step towards the permanent and secure storage of the already generated carbon dioxide." David Morrow, a director of the American University Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy, said by email. "This technology will be an important complementary technology for reducing emissions to stabilize the climate ... ORCA is still smaller than the size of the task, but is an important step in the right direction."
Individuals can also use sub -schools
CLIMEWORKS has created a straight business model as it is very expensive to collect carbon, including DAC technology. In other words, let the cost of that cost to an organization with goals, such as companies. Some famous companies have already invested in ORCA, and according to Climeworks website, Microsoft (Microsoft) is said to be the main element of our carbon removal initiatives, and the insurance company Swiss Re is also Climeworks. By contracting, it seems that the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and absorption is made to make plus or minus zero. Even smaller companies and individuals can collect carbon in a sub -skook system (although the benefits are only their own feelings because the general public does not have a PR effect). The website has an application link to a sub -school of $ 8 to 55 per month (about 880-6,000 yen), and praise from the "Climate Positive" (carbon dioxide collection amount is higher than the emission). It is listed.
Water on the burnt stone
Orcaが予定通り稼働すれば、E&Eの試算によれば、世界の二酸化炭素回収量は40％以上増加し、毎年1万3000トンに達する見込みです。ただ、二酸化炭素1万3000トンって、石炭火力発電所ひとつが1年間に発生する分の1％以下に過ぎません。ちなみにOrcaプラントが回収する4,000トンっていうのは、自動車800台の年間排出量よりちょっと少ないくらいです。 しかもこのDAC、スケールアップも簡単じゃないんです。｢コストがどう変化するか、予測は難しい｣とMorrow氏は言います。Orcaは複数の小さなDACユニットで構成されていて、Climeworksはこれら小さなユニットを低コストで作ることに重点を置いています。
If you depend on it, the cost will be enormous
However, other companies are trying to build DAC technology at a larger industrial level. CLIMEWORKS and the competition, Carbon Engineering, are aiming to collect carbon dioxide for $ 100 per ton, but the global carbon dioxide emissions in 2019 are 35 billion tons. I have. If all of them were collected with this technology, the cost was $ 3.5 trillion (about 380 trillion yen). Even if the emissions can be reduced in the future, the cost will be enormous if they depend on the collection on DAC. "Some companies that develop other technologies claim that the collection costs per ton will be less than $ 100, but I can't say how much that prospect can be believed," Morrow says. These numbers pierce us the reality of carbon dioxide level reduction technology. The world's billionaire, tech companies, and huge companies have expressed expectations for carbon dioxide recovery technology, including DACs, but there are still many things to prove in terms of scalability and cost. The operation of a plant like ORCA requires a lot of energy itself, but if you use oil fuel, you will have to increase the capacity of renewable energy because it will fall down.
In addition, there is a concern that such a technology will be a story like "If the company pays for the money, it can be carbon dioxide."The US Biden administration has assigned $ 8 billion (about 880 billion yen) to carbon dioxide recovery technology in the infrastructure investment bill recently established, but environmental protection organizations and others are "deep concern" to the US administration.I'm sending a document that expresses.
Large -scale DAC facility construction continues
But the period is the world's largest DAC facility, not so long. CARBON ENGINEERING, Canada, is building a facility in Scotland, England that can collect 500,000 to 1 million tons a year, aiming to start operations in 2026. OcCidental, an oil company, has also announced that it will build up to 1 million tons of DAC plants a year in the Permian basin in the United States. According to OCCIDENTAL, the collected carbon dioxide is put into the ground, which is useful for further oil excavation ... "The most important thing about carbon removal is that it doesn't substitute for carbon emissions," Morrow says. "It is an important complement to the discharge reduction, but it is not an alternative ... DAC costs are naturally reduced, but that is the same for renewable energy and emission reduction."
