5/12/2019

CLIMATE CHANGE : CARBON REMOVAL

Carbon Engineering’s carbon capture plant in Squamish. 

Everyone knows, an electric fan can make people cooler on a steamy day. But could fans moderate the planets rising temperatures?

Some of the world's biggest fossil fuel companies would like to find out. Chevron,Occidental Petroleum, and the Australian mining giant BHP this year have invested in Carbon  Engineering :

Carbon Engineering a small Canadian company that claims to be on the verge of a breakthrough in solving a critical climate change puzzle : removing carbon already in the atmosphere. .

At its pilot project in Squamish, an old lumber town about 30 miles north of Vancouver, the company is using an enormous fan to suck large amount of air into a scrubbing vessel designed to extract carbon dioxide.

The gas can then be buried or converted into a clean burning - though expensive - synthetic fuel.

Investing in Carbon Engineering and other carbon reduction initiatives is part of an emergency effort by fossil-fuel industries to remain relevant and profitable in a warming world.

With electric cars and solar and wind power becoming increasingly affordable, executives acknowledge that business as usual could put their companies at risk.

Already fossil-fuel companies face barrage of lawsuits, investor resolutions, and regulations prompting them to invest more in clean energy.

Advocacy groups are also pressing companies and lawmakers to keep oil and natural gas in the ground by challenging hydraulic fracturing, especially in Europe, and fighting pipelines meant to transport production from Canada's oil sands.

This is about recognizing that climate change poses significant risks to all economic sectors,'' Fiona Wild, BHP's vice president for sustainability and  climate change, said about the company's $6 million investment in Carbon Engineering.

''Climate Change'' is no longer seen as a fringe issue. It's a business risk that requires a business response.''

Of course, big energy companies continue to drill for oil and gas and are pushing the trump administration and other governments to open more territory to exploration.

But most businesses have signaled that they are changing. A few companies including Royal Dutch Shell and BP  are linking compensation to emissions reductions.

Equinor, the Norwegian Oil company, plans to increase spending on clean energy to 15 to 20 percent of its capital investment by 2030, up from 5 percent now.

The honor and serving of the latest global operational research on Climate Change and Carbon Emissions,  continues. The World Students Society thanks author and researcher Clifford Krauss.

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