Can We Pull Carbon Out of the Air?

The Paris Climate Agreement says we need to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050. That means for every new carbon molecule we put in the air, we have to take one out. Even the most optimistic forecasts still anticipate burning fossil fuels well past that date. So how do we balance the carbon books? Enter direct air capture, or DAC — a mechanical process that sucks carbon out of the atmosphere — which many believe will be crucial to controlling climate change. Right now the technology is extremely expensive, energy intensive, and has never been deployed at the scale necessary to make a difference. Host Arielle Duhaime-Ross speaks with the Dr. Klaus Lackner, known as the “godfather of carbon removal”; Dr. Susan Hovorka, a professor of geology who has been burying carbon underground for decades; and Dr. Emily Grubert, associate professor of sustainable energy policy at Notre Dame. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Om Podcasten

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you are part of one of the most ambitious projects we as humans have ever attempted: Rebuilding the world, pretty much from the ground up, in order to switch from fossil fuels to clean energy sources. It’s a major undertaking, one that will require staggering financial investment and the success of technologies many people have never heard of. In this season of The World as You'll Know It, science journalist Arielle Duhaime-Ross goes deep inside the world of cutting-edge climate technologies and asks: How is this all going to work? The answers — from some of the world’s most innovative and audacious thinkers, builders and investors — reveal the promise, obstacles and tradeoffs of a new clean-energy landscape that will shape the way we live.