Can a Carbon 'Vacuum Cleaner' Save the Planet?

We humans are really, really good at making carbon dioxide. Last year our smokestacks and tailpipes puffed out more than 60 trillion pounds of the greenhouse gas, monkeying with the planet’s climate and acidifying the oceans.

What we’re not so good at is cleaning up our mess. Most efforts at shrinking our carbon footprint have focused on cutting emissions: switching to renewable energy, for instance, and making transportation and manufacturing more efficient.

But those efforts are moving too slowly to stabilize the climate, so now engineers are also working the problem from the other side. What if we could scrub carbon dioxide out of the air, removing some of what we’ve already put out there?

Direct-air capture

Around the world, several companies are working feverishly to develop so-called “direct-air capture” technology, including New York City-based Global Thermostat, Canada-based Carbon Engineering, and a Swiss startup called Climeworks.

This year, Climeworks reached a milestone, opening the world’s first commercial-scale direct-air capture facility outside Zurich. Global Thermostat is right behind, with a research operation running now and its own commercial plant scheduled to open in Huntsville, Alabama in 2018.

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