SAN FRANCISCO – As world leaders, activists and academics meet in Glasgow for COP26, the UN’s premier climate summit, CNET Science has been examining some of the technological advances being developed to help tackle the climate crisis. While technology might help us adapt or mitigate the effects of climate change, alone it’s not a solution to the problem.
With direct air capture facilities coming online and looking to expand, can we expect them to be a viable tool to reverse carbon emissions? Or are we getting sucked into the spin?
If humans have pumped all that excess carbon dioxide into the air, why don’t we just try to vacuum it back up? Literally. Why not suck carbon dioxide out of the air? This concept, known as “direct air capture,” or DAC, has been discussed for decades, but testing and deploying machines to perform the task has proven challenging, mostly because they are costly and inefficient.
Let’s hope because the most recent report, published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in August, revealed that our excess carbon dioxide emissions have resulted in a 1.1 degree Celsius increase in temperatures since preindustrial times. Scientists say temperatures will continue to rise as carbon dioxide levels increase, resulting in more extreme weather events, more heat, more drought and a catastrophic decline in biodiversity.
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