Biden administration earmarks $1.2 billion for two large-scale carbon capture projects
The Department of Energy is giving grants of up to $1.2 billion to two direct air capture (DAC) projects that aim to remove more than 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The agency says that’s equivalent to the annual emissions of around 445,000 gas-powered cars. The DOE notes that the projects in Texas and Louisiana will “create 4,800 good-paying jobs” as well.
DAC employs a chemical process to separate CO2 from the air. Facilities can then store CO2 underground or put it into carbon-containing products like concrete that prevent the gas from getting back into the atmosphere.
These are the first commercial-scale DAC projects in the US. They’ll each be capable of removing more than 250 times as much CO2 from the atmosphere than the current largest DAC location, according to the DOE. Occidental Petroleum subsidiary 1PointFive and its partners are building the Texas facility. The company’s CEO says that, when the project is fully operational, it has the potential to remove up to 30 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
The two projects are the first selections from the Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program, which the Bipartisan Infrastructure …read more
