USA Today: Reverse global warming by scrubbing the air? That's what carbon capture aims to do.
Get ready to hear a lot about climate-change-fighting "carbon capture" in the coming months as private businesses and nonprofits race to qualify for tens of billions of dollars in new federal tax credits and funding.
The modern world's release of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels is causing the planet's climate to warm. Carbon dioxide acts like a blanket in the atmosphere, keeping the heat in. Before the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere were about 280 parts per million. Today, they’ve reached about 420 ppm.
New technology offers the possibility of not just reducing carbon emissions but rolling them back by vacuuming CO2 out of the air. The federal government is investing heavily in this technology, including funding four new national centers to develop it.
"It's nothing less than saving our planet and our way of life," said Colorado Gov. Jared Polis…
The new Global Thermostat plant near Denver can capture about 1,000 tons of CO2 a year, or the equivalent emissions of 217 passenger cars. The plant is a pilot project demonstrating that the technology can work on a large scale.