Were you to ask a layman would they mind a 1.5°C increase, the person would most likely shrug it off. The same question presented to an environmental scientist might terrify them. They may claim it to be the end of the world, and it might very well mean so.
This is because the temperature increase refers to the ‘average temperature increase’. This means that hotter regions become unbearable. Already heatwaves are causing droughts and wiping out crops; storms and hurricanes are getting stronger.
But Why The Number 1.5?
At about 1.5°C global temperature increase, there’s enough heat to push many of the natural systems that sustain us past a critical turning point. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that to keep the rise in global temperatures below 1.5°C this century; we need to get the world on a path to net-zero CO2 emissions by mid-century (2050).
While this may still seem like a long time, the fossil fuel energy industry is the most pervasive and prevalent. The switch up from the trillion-dollar fossil fuel-based industry to renewable cannot simply happen overnight. It is largely influenced by politics, investor sentiment, and public opinion.
This is where ‘Carbon capture’ and storage come in.
Put simply, this consists of 3 steps:
- Trapping and separating the CO2 from other gases
- Transporting this captured CO2 to a storage location, and
- Storing that CO2 far away from the atmosphere (underground or deep in the ocean).
In fact, estimates project that the planet can store up to 10 trillion tons of carbon dioxide. This would allow 100 years of storage of all human-created emissions. With powerful corporations and governments supporting the movement, technological innovation in renewable systems gets better by the day.
Carbon Engineering, the company that has been backed by Mr Bill Gates himself, has constructed a prototype plant, installed large fans, and has been extracting around one ton of pure CO2 every day for a year.
What’s more: it has now begun directly synthesizing a mixture of petrol and diesel, using only the CO2 captured from the air and hydrogen split from water with clean electricity — a process they call Air to Fuels (A2F). The idea is very simple: extract CO2 straight from the air, using arrays of giant fans and chemicals to aid the process; and then use the gas to make clean, carbon-neutral synthetic diesel and petrol to drive the world’s ships, planes, and trucks.
What Are The Challenges?
Carbon capture isn’t all bells and whistles.
Current Carbon Capture technologies actually require a ‘lot of energy’ to implement. Additional energy is also needed to transport the captured CO2 by truck or ship, and those vehicles will require fuel, which is all provided by fossil fuel, thus invalidating the entire process. Other forms of energy like nuclear energy are being explored in conjunction with Carbon capture systems.
Experts fear the consequences of discharging carbon dioxide in the environment. What if carbon dioxide leaks out into the ocean? A natural volcanic eruption of carbon dioxide from a lake in Cameroon killed nearly 2,000 people. They died of asphyxiation from being in close vicinity to the release of CO2. Thus, it is important to consider the ecological aspects of storing carbon dioxide.
All things considered, CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) looks like a promising piece of technology that needs to be refined and optimized. More work needs to be done to reduces costs and for it to prove viable to investors and governments.
About the author: Vignesh is an engineering student who’s curious about everything above and below the sun. An Engineer by the day and electronic musician by night.