By Corbin Hiar | 11/10/2023 6:47 AM EST
(From left to right) California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis; Shashank Samala, CEO of Heirloom; Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm; and Noah McQueen, director of Heirloom, in front of the company’s new direct capture of advertising air, the first in the country. Corbin Hiar/POLITICO’S E
TRACY, Calif. (AP) — Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm used an oversized pair of red scissors Thursday to cut the ribbon on a potential achievement in the fight against climate change: the first direct-to-air capture advertising installation in the United States.
The new plant, built through Heirloom Carbon Technologies, is relatively small in terms of its direct impact on the planet. Heirloom estimates that, when fully operational in the coming months, the facility will be able to cut 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the environment per year. That’s roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of just 62 average Americans, according to pollutant data analyzed by the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit.
But the plant’s real importance lies in the future it represents for a fledgling industry that weather scientists say will be needed for the worst effects of climate change. This shows that a local direct air capture company can go from concept to market in just three years. with even more ambitious plans on the horizon.
“We’ve been polluting our environment with carbon since the Industrial Revolution and we can’t cover it up. Except with this,” Granholm said in a speech before receiving the ceremonial scissors. “We see a lot of promise in this company, in this generation, and in what it does for the world. “
California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, along with Heirloom co-founders Shashank Samala and Noah McQueen, joined Granholm for the photo shoot at the dusty commercial site.
Samala, a veteran startup, founded Heirloom in 2020 with McQueen, who at the time had a PhD. in chemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Jennifer Wilcox, McQueen’s advisor at the University of Pennsylvania, who now heads the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.
On Thursday, Wilcox sat in the front row applauding his boss and former student. Other attendees included executives from JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Mitsubishi and corporations that are major customers of carbon dioxide removal credits. Heirloom also secured investment from Microsoft and a grant from the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
Heirloom’s new facility in Tracy uses limestone sheets stacked about 40 feet high to pull carbon out of the atmosphere. When the sheet has absorbed the maximum amount of CO2, a robotic arm removes it from the battery and charges it into a Roomba-like device that automatically transports the coal-soaked limestone to an electric furnace.
The kiln, powered by renewable energy provided by Pacific Gas and Electric, uses a temperature of 1,600 degrees to separate carbon from limestone. Natural CO2 is collected in a 30-tonne storage tank and delivered to concrete companies for permanent storage. On the other hand, return to the chimney to suck up more charcoal and start the procedure again.
In August, Heirloom was one of three direct air capture companies decided through the Ministry of Energy to begin construction of two shopping malls to eventually extract 2 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year. The other companies are Climeworks, which removes 4,000 toneladas. de CO2 from the environment each year through the world’s largest direct air capture facility in Iceland, and Carbon Engineering, a Canadian startup that Occidental Petroleum will buy for $1. 1 billion.
Granholm, who said his workplace whiteboard features a countdown to the remaining days of President Joe Biden’s first term, suggested to Heirloom and other carbon-removal investors and innovators in the audience to move as temporarily as possible to implement the technology.
“Last year was the year on record. And unless we recover, it’s going to be the coolest year we’ve ever had,” he said. “There’s a huge sense of urgency. “