CBC.CA
September 30, 2008
by Sharon Oosthoek
University of Calgary climate change scientist David Keith with his CO2 scrubber. (University of Calgary)
University of Calgary climate change researchers say they are close to figuring out how to commercialize the capture of carbon dioxide directly from the air with a simple system that could be set up anywhere in the world.
If they can make it work, it would allow greenhouse gas to be removed from ambient air and reduce the effect of emissions from transportation sources such as cars and airplanes.
“That’s the excitement about it. It’s a tool for dealing with diffuse CO2 emissions from transportation that account for roughly half of emissions,” physicist and climate change scientist David Keith said Tuesday in a phone interview from his Calgary office.
That’s important given how conventional systems for capturing CO2 work. Most involve installing “scrubbing” equipment at, for example, a coal-fired power plant to capture carbon dioxide produced during the burning of coal. But a system that can take CO2 out of ambient air is attractive because cars and airplanes aren’t equipped with such scrubbers.