Why can't we just suck all of the C02 out of the atmosphere and get it over with? This is a question that people- from elementary school children to top energy researchers-have asked in the pursuit of new climate-solving technologies. Researchers at Columbia University responded with a resounding YES! last year in their unveiling of the world's first successful demonstration of air capture technology.
A new "air extractor" technology presented by Klaus Lackner, a professor of Geophysics at Columbia's Earth Institute, offers something no other carbon capture technology on the drawing board has.
Unlike conventional carbon capture and storage (also known as geosequestration), which absorbs C02 on-site ( ie. the affluent stream of emissions from power plants), air extractors absorb carbon dioxide from any location on the planet. This means that CO2 emissions can be captured from nearly all large-emitting sources-from stationary factories and power plants to cars and planes in motion. Airplane emissions can be captured next to the runway, or China's emissions can be captured on the coasts of Los Angeles! These synthetic trees can "thrive" in any location.