WEBVTT - How Close Are We to Recycling Carbon Dioxide Emissions?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogue obamb Here's Fonte Arenas was a Swedish electrochemist

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<v Speaker 1>who in eight predicted that man made carbon dioxide emissions

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<v Speaker 1>would dramatically transform Earth's climate. You and I live in

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<v Speaker 1>the future he saw coming. So far, the twenty one

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<v Speaker 1>century has witnessed seventeen of the eighteen hottest years on record,

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<v Speaker 1>and just as Arenas suspected, the main cause of this

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<v Speaker 1>warming trend is all the CEO two we keep pumping

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<v Speaker 1>into the atmosphere. The scale of the problem is jaw dropping.

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<v Speaker 1>In the year seventeen alone, human beings unleashed forty point

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<v Speaker 1>five billion tons about thirty six point eight billion metric

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<v Speaker 1>tons of this world altering greenhouse gas. Much of the

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<v Speaker 1>blame Faulds on our transportation infrastructure. Around twenty of global

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<v Speaker 1>CEO two emissions are made by cars, trucks, airplanes, and

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<v Speaker 1>other vehicles, though just out of saying when cows and

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<v Speaker 1>other farm animals up or fart, they're contributing to climate

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<v Speaker 1>change too. The methane and livestocks belches and flatulence makes

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<v Speaker 1>up of all agriculture related greenhouse gas emissions, but back

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<v Speaker 1>to carbon dioxide. Wouldn't it be nice if we could

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<v Speaker 1>pull CEO two out of thin air and incorporate it

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<v Speaker 1>into a new kind of vehicular fuel that's better for

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<v Speaker 1>the environment. We may be ready to start doing just that.

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<v Speaker 1>In June, the energy research journal Jewel published a study

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<v Speaker 1>led by Harvard professor David Keith, an experimental physicist and

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<v Speaker 1>public policy expert. Keith founded the company Carbon Engineering in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand nine. The organization's mission is to quote develop

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<v Speaker 1>and commercialized technology that captures industrial scale quantities of c

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<v Speaker 1>O two directly from the air. With the help of

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<v Speaker 1>Bill Gates and other investors, Carbon Engineering was able to

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<v Speaker 1>open a nine million dollar direct air capture plant in

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<v Speaker 1>tw Located in Squamish, British Columbia. The facility uses large

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<v Speaker 1>fans to pull outside air through filters coated with the

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<v Speaker 1>liquid solution that traps carbon dioxide. Then the captured gas

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<v Speaker 1>is converted into small pellets of calcium carbonate. Using these pellets,

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<v Speaker 1>Carbon Engineering has made synthetic gasoline, diesel, and even jet fuel.

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<v Speaker 1>The advantages of this air to fuel process are considerable,

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<v Speaker 1>whereas naturally occurring fossil fuels are notoriously finite. These man

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<v Speaker 1>made liquids are renewable, and since they're produced with recycled

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<v Speaker 1>c O two, they don't contribute to mankind's carbon footprint. Plus,

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<v Speaker 1>our existing vehicles wouldn't need to be modified in any

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<v Speaker 1>way to start running on these synthetic fuels. Over in

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<v Speaker 1>Switzerland there's another carbon capture plant run by climb Works,

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<v Speaker 1>a separate company which now sells recycled c O two.

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<v Speaker 1>But if this technology is going to make a significant

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<v Speaker 1>dent in our carbon emissions problem, will need a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of new plants. So how cost effective is that going

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<v Speaker 1>to be? Last year, m I T engineer Howard Herzog

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<v Speaker 1>estimated that it would cost an air capture facility a

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars to generate a single US that's about point

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<v Speaker 1>nine metric tons of usable carbon dioxide. Keith's new paper

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<v Speaker 1>begs to differ. According to his calculations, the process costs

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<v Speaker 1>a more reasonable nine dollars to two dollars per U

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<v Speaker 1>s ton. Keith said in a press statement, we can

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<v Speaker 1>confidently say that while air capture is not some magical,

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<v Speaker 1>cheap solution, it is a viable and buildable technology for

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<v Speaker 1>producing carbon neutral fuels in the immediate future and for

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<v Speaker 1>removing carbon in the long run. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Mark Mancini and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other topics that will capture

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<v Speaker 1>your attention, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com.