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Technology aimed at tackling climate change; company announces Colorado as its base

By JUDITH KOHLER | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | The Denver Post

PUBLISHED: April 4, 2023 at 1:10 p.m. | UPDATED: April 5, 2023 at 1:18 p.m.

One of the world’s largest plants built to remove carbon dioxide from the air in the struggle to lessen the impacts of climate change is operating in Adams County. Global Thermostat, the facility’s owner, said it’s ready to take its technology to market.

The company, which announced Tuesday that Colorado is now its official headquarters, has developed and refined its process since 2010 and has run a research and development facility and pilot plants about 30 miles northeast of Denver since 2020.

Company officials said the plant shown off during a news conference can remove 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over a year and is a milestone in efforts to reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gasses.

“This is a commercial-scale unit. It’s still small (compared) to the climate change task, but it’s a necessary and notable step on that pathway,” said Nicholas Eisenberg, head of Global Thermostat’s market development, policy and engagement.

The plant uses technology called direct air capture, which uses big fans to pull in outside air. The carbon dioxide is then separated out in the process, which includes using proprietary material to bind the molecules.

The carbon dioxide can be stored underground or used to make cement, synthetic aviation fuel or other products that normally would use carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels.

Global Thermostat CEO Paul Nahi said the company’s decision to locate in Colorado was based on the state’s policies and the presence of engineering and high-tech professionals and the oil and gas industry, whose workers have skills that could transfer to what he believes will be a growing sector.

“As a veteran of the renewable energy industry, I’ve seen and helped build multiple markets and what I see today in direct air capture reminds me a lot of the early days of solar,” Nahi said.

In coordination with government, “as a catalyst, not a crutch,” Nahi said carbon-removal technology can help create a sustainable environment and millions of jobs. He said the company is talking to potential customers for its technology.

Sarah Forbes ,with the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, said to reach President Joe Biden’s goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the country must remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well as reduce its levels. She said she was glad to attend the unveiling of the first commercial-scale direct air capture facility “in North America built by an American company.”

Global Thermostat is using a Department of Energy grant to design a module that eventually could  pull 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere.

Gov. Jared Polis and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also spoke during the news conference and tour of the 2-acre site south of Brighton. Other speakers credited Pelosi with successfully shepherding bills through Congress that have dramatically boosted money for addressing climate change.

“I’m so happy to be here today to see what is happening,” Pelosi said. “When the story of humanity’s victory over the climate crisis is written, today will be a defining moment.”

Companies around the world have been working on technology to remove carbon dioxide directly from the air to tackle climate change. The 2021 federal infrastructure law included billions of dollars for companies developing the systems and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act tripled tax credits for direct air capture technology.

Efforts to make carbon removal part of the arsenal to fight climate change has drawn fire from environmentalists who question its feasibility and want to move more quickly to renewable energy sources and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

However, climate scientists worldwide agree there is a need for carbon dioxide removal on a large scale to fend off the worst effects of a warming world, said Guy Wohl, an associate on the strategy team at RMI, a Colorado-based research and consulting organization.

“According to climate scientists, we are talking billions of tons of removal per year,” Wohl said.

Using plants is just one way to remove carbon dioxide from the air, Wohl said. Other methods include restoring ecosystems and managing agricultural lands to better absorb carbon.