3/18/2024 0 Comments Carbon capture companies sWe’re also leading the creation of a new industry that actually didn’t exist. I think the issue is much deeper: How does the energy transition in general impact the population and the people being affected by it? When these companies start reducing their production, there will be more jobs available and you can reorient a lot of them towards decarbonization. How do you make sure the removal project doesn’t negatively impact the local communities adjacent to the carbon capture? ![]() If they have the biggest footprint today, they’re the ones that need the most help decarbonizing. Chevron has committed $10 billion to Chevron New Energies, which is solely working on decarbonization. So I think people realize that there is a need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and reduce carbon dioxide emissions and work towards the energy transition.įrom our perspective, whenever you partner with companies like Chevron, we always look for proof in the pudding. President Biden is asking oil and gas companies to produce more oil, but they’re not necessarily producing that much oil because the market doesn’t necessarily see producing fossil fuels as a good thing to do. How do you make sure your work isn’t just a way for them to pay to continue polluting? A bulk of your investment comes from fossil fuel companies, including Saudi Aramco and Equinor. You just raised a $150 million series C led by Chevron. So we’re spending a lot of time on how we scale up both the supply chain and the equipment and the delivery capability. But in the current atmosphere, that’s not something that’s necessarily available. Once you’ve got the materials, then you need a workshop or machining capacity capability that can actually produce the equipment specifically for you. Going from here to the next level of scale up, maybe 10 times bigger, is going to be interesting and challenging, both because you’re trying to increase the equipment size and you’re trying to increase our supply chain. What’s the most challenging part of carbon capture that you’re still working through? This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. He spoke to Protocol about what Carbon Clean has learned, the future of point-source CCS, as well as the role of companies like his in battling the climate crisis. “No one,” he told him, and thus Carbon Clean was born. Bumb had done a five-month internship in Italy studying decarbonization science, and Sharma asked him who was doing that work in India. ![]() Along with co-founder and CTO Prateek Bumb, he started working on Carbon Clean’s technology out of university. Sharma, for his part, said he has “done nothing else but carbon capture” his professional life. CCS also does nothing to help with other forms of local air pollution, which is a major public health concern. While technologies like CCS hold a lot of promise, helping the world potentially address that issue while still meeting net zero goals, the risks of locking in more fossil fuel use are real, especially if Carbon Clean and other CCS companies can’t scale as promised. Carbon Clean CEO Aniruddha Sharma told Protocol that fossil fuels are necessary, at least in the near term, to lift the living standards of those who don’t have access to cars and electricity. It’s against this backdrop that Carbon Clean is striving to clean up CCS’ image and deliver on its promise. The Government Accountability Office has also lambasted the Department of Energy for investing $1.1 billion in projects that largely failed to live up to expectations. That includes an infamous case last year involving none other than Chevron in Western Australia, in which the company missed its targets, and a Shell blue hydrogen project that emitted more carbon than it captured. The technology has also been criticized for not delivering the emissions reductions it promises. Carbon Clean’s latest funding round was led by Chevron, and the technology is seen as a potential lifeline for the fossil fuel industry, despite there being readily available alternatives like renewables and electric vehicles. ![]() This year, it raised a $150 million series C round, which the startup said is the largest-ever funding round for a point-source carbon capture company.Ĭarbon capture and storage is controversial in part due to the industries it serves while cement and steel makers are among the industries that all but require CCS to lower emissions, oil and gas companies have also shown great interest. U.K.-based company Carbon Clean is leading the charge to bring down costs. Yet it’s proven incredibly challenging to scale the technology, which captures carbon pollution at the source. For hard-to-abate industries like cement and steel production, it’s one of the few options that exist to help them get there. Carbon capture and storage has taken on increasing importance as companies with stubborn emissions look for new ways to meet their net zero goals.
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