The defossilization of our energy system is the biggest transformation of our economic-technological base since the invention of the steam engine and the start of massive burning of fossil fuel. It is urgent, required, and worldwide. And it brings up an interesting historical experiment: The observable competition between market-liberal systems like in the U.S. and …
Continue reading “Energy transition: the race of different political systems”
The necessity of negative emission technologies (NETs)/Carbon removal seems undoubtful. Even if we concede best efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, returning to pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 levels will require a reduction of the current CO2 level in the atmosphere – and the oceans, too. Different technologies are competing, and the voluntary carbon offset market offers a …
Continue reading “Carbon removal: Cleaning up the atmosphere”
The technology is there. Companies like https://carbonengineering.com/ or https://www.climeworks.com/ develop filters for sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere. With their project in Island Climeworks claims to reduce the costs of currently around 500 US$/t CO2 towards a goal of 100 US$/t. With an estimated total of around 43,1 Gt CO2 emissions per year (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_Earth%27s_atmosphere#Anthropogenic_CO2_emissions), even a price …
