Carbon Capture Could Do More Harm Than Good
There is a reason carbon capture should be a last resort.
Year after year, we have failed to reduce our emissions enough to avoid the global climate apocalypse just on the horizon, and as such, each year that goes by, carbon capture technology becomes ever more important. This pie-in-the-sky get-out-of-jail-free card technology can potentially reset the atmosphere and completely repent our climate sins. In reality, it is only feasible for that last hop and a skip to net-zero by offsetting the emissions from industries that simply can’t (or haven’t) decarbonised fast enough. In the race to develop ever more capable carbon capture technology, Equatic has emerged as a trailblazer, with a system far more efficient and scalable than any other. But it has recently come under scrutiny as it could do more damage than good. Let me explain.
Equatic’s technology is incredibly innovative. The machine is fed desalinated seawater, which then undergoes electrolysis using Equatic’s oxygen-selective anodes. This splits some of the water into oxygen and hydrogen; the oxygen is released, and the hydrogen is collected and stored. But, during this process, the dissolved carbon dioxide and a little atmospheric carbon dioxide react with dissolved calcium and magnesium in the seawater to form solid carbonate minerals, which are…
