How modularity will supercharge growth in Direct Air Capture (DAC)

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Estimated reading time ~ 11 mins

“Using CDR today builds future capacity, it does not deplete it.” -

Robert Höglund

An ideal carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology requires three important attributes.

It must store carbon in a way that can be monitored and is easily verified. It must be scalable so that it can meet the multi-gigatonne scale required to not only meet net zero, but to go beyond this and deliver negative net zero emissions. Last but not least, the cost of the carbon removal must be affordable.

Achieving more than two out of the three attributes is very hard for any of the existing CDR technologies. Herein lies the problem known as the carbon removal trilemma.

At over $500 per tonne, DAC currently sits in the verifiable, scalable, but expensive camp. The technology enables the captured CO2 to be easily monitored and verified, whether it is used for permanent carbon storage or for other end uses. DAC only uses a small area of land, and doesn’t place additional pressure on the environment (e.g. water, resources) other than it’s energy needs. As such it is almost infinitely scalable, if only the cost could be brought down (see Scrubbing the skies: Direct Air Capture (DAC) offers a scalable route to net zero).

The key to achieving that is modularity, and learning by doing.