Climate change is a significant concern, and a major solution was recently unveiled this week in Hellisheiði, Iceland. This solution is essentially a large-scale air capture facility, resembling a vacuum cleaner for pollutants in the atmosphere.
The colossal device, appropriately named the “Mammoth” and developed by the Swiss-based company Climeworks, is engineered to capture carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global warming. The process employed is known as direct air capture, in which the facility draws in air that then passes through filters designed to trap the CO2. Once these filters are saturated, the captured carbon is transported underground and securely stored in basalt chambers to prevent its release back into the atmosphere. One of the notable aspects of the plant is that it is powered by Iceland’s abundant natural geothermal energy, thereby avoiding the addition of further emissions into the environment.
Following two years of development, the Mammoth plant is now operational and projected to capture an impressive 36,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually. Despite this achievement, in the broader context, this represents only a fraction of the 35 billion metric tons of CO2 produced by humanity each year.
Nevertheless, the inauguration of the Mammoth plant remains a noteworthy advancement in the fight against climate change. The objective is to reduce the cost of carbon capture to enable companies to offset their emissions affordably. Notably, major corporations such as Microsoft and H&M Group have already committed to utilizing this service, with the goal of making it accessible for both large corporations and individual consumers.
However, the reality is that in order to significantly reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, an astonishing 555,555 Mammoth plants would be required. The ultimate aim is to drive the cost of carbon capture down to a mere $100 per metric ton, and Climeworks has set a target to achieve this by 2050.
Although the Mammoth plant represents a small step in the grand scheme of things, it is a significant feat with promising implications for the future. While it is still early days, this development signifies a major stride towards a cleaner, more sustainable future.