A new facility will suck carbon dioxide from the air, showcasing the potential of a nascent industry that some say is crucial to fighting climate change
CLIMATEWIRE | TRACY, Calif. — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm used a pair of oversized red scissors Thursday to cut the ribbon on a potentially significant achievement in the battle against climate change: the first commercial direct air capture facility in the United States.
"We have been polluting with carbon our atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution and you cannot unpollute. Except with this," Granholm said in a speech before she was handed the ceremonial shears. "We see such promise in this company, and in this technology and in what it does for the world." On Thursday, Wilcox was sitting in the front row to applaud both her boss and former student. Other attendees included executives from JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Mitsubishi and other companies that are major purchasers of carbon dioxide removal credits. Heirloom has also received investments from Microsoft and a grant from DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy.
In August, Heirloom was one of three direct air capture companies selected by the Energy Department to begin building a pair of industrial hubs intended to eventually withdraw 2 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere annually. The other firms are Climeworks, which removes 4,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year at the world's largest direct air capture facility in Iceland, and Carbon Engineering, a Canadian startup that Occidental Petroleum has moved to purchase for $1.1 billion.
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