Sick of hearing about carbon emissions and global warming? Well, researchers at Ohio State University have cooked up a pretty clever way to tackle both problems at once.
They call their new system DACCUS. Rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? Basically, DACCUS captures carbon dioxide straight from the air and stores it safely underground. This helps reduce existing greenhouse gases floating around up there. But wait – there’s more!
DACCUS also uses the stored CO2 to give a boost to geothermal power plants tapping into heat beneath Earth’s surface. See, when they pump that captured carbon dioxide deep underground, it helps conduct more geothermal heat up closer to the surface where power plants can access it. More heat means more renewable energy. Pretty smart, right?
The researchers think the Gulf Coast region would be an ideal spot to build the first DACCUS facility. That area has the right underground geology and heat levels to get the system up and running.
Of course this stuff doesn’t happen overnight. First the facility would need 5 years to store some CO2 from big emitters like factories. After that priming period it could start sucking CO2 directly out of the sky. Assuming everything goes smoothly, DACCUS could be actively removing and storing carbon by 2030.
And get this – the study says 25 DACCUS sites could be operational just in the Gulf Coast area by 2050! That’s some serious carbon capture potential.
So in a nutshell, DACCUS could help us rein in rising CO2 levels while generating clean geothermal energy at the same time. A win-win in the fight against climate change! The technology still needs more testing, but it hints at the solutions made possible when bright minds from different fields come together. The future is looking brighter thanks to innovations like this!
