Can This Company Reverse Global Climate Change?

Earlier this decade Graciela Chichilnisky and Peter Eisenberger founded Global Thermostat, which now is in the process of testing a new technology the two of them invented. If it does what they claim, that technology not only will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but turn a profit in the process.

A younger Chichilnisky (center) and Eisenberger (right) - image from columbia.edu

Chichilnisky, who holds Ph.D.s in economics and mathematics, and Eisenberger, who holds a Ph.D. in physics, created a system that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) already in the air. In theory, then, development of enough of these systems could capture all of the new CO2 being emitted around the globe, thereby allowing the world to continue burning fossil fuels without impacting our air or climate.

What a dramatic change this would bring to the world's energy options! Assuming it could be produced at a competitive price, even coal would no longer be viewed as a threat to the Earth's ecosystem.

The profitability potential of this technology is due to the fact that the CO2 the system captures is so pure, it can be sold for industrial uses. According to the article we read (referenced below), some of these uses include plastics manufacturing, biofertilizers, biofuels, greenhouses, desalination for water, and making soda pop fizzy.

So how does this technology work and what are the chances that it actually will succeed in its mission? At a very high level, here are the steps involved in Global Thermostat's process:

Air passes through a large filter which, through the use of water vapor and solvents, collects the CO2. When the filter is full, it is cleaned through a steaming process which removes the CO2 and captures it. Although these devices could be placed anywhere in the world, the closer one of them is to a carbon-emitting source, the more carbon the device can capture.

A 40-foot high prototype of the system, located at SRI International's natural-gas-driven power plant in Menlo Park, California, currently is providing test data for review and analysis. This particular unit is designed to extract up to 10k tons of carbon per year but, based on the current design, it is believed that larger units could extract as much as 100k tons.

Global Thermostat prototype in California - image from newyorktimes.com

Ok, so how many of these units would be needed to stabilize the level of CO2 in the atmosphere at current levels? Well, let's say we group ten of the above-mentioned larger units together into a cluster. This cluster, then, could capture one million tons of CO2 per year, with a footprint requirement of only one acre of land. Given the estimates that 30 billion tons of CO2 are emitted into the sky each year, it would take 30,000 clusters of these devices, spread around the globe, to keep pace with the world's annual CO2 emissions.

Before we get too excited about this opportunity, however, there is plenty of skepticism regarding Global Thermostat's venture. Some of the critics question the technology, while other skeptics question the economics. We'll have to wait and see how the testing pans out first, but we love the concept and would encourage the Congress to provide funding for the study and enhancement of the technology, just as the federal government did in the 1970's and 1980's for shale rock fracking - see our Science & Technology article "Fracking Now Viable Thanks to...the Feds?" for details on that subject.

{For those of you who would like to read more about this topic, the source of our article was a story that ran in the August 23rd issue of Forbes magazine, written by Leonard Brody.}