How does Carbon Capture Technology work, and why is Elon Musk donating a $100 Million prize for best Carbon Capture Technology

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  • Elon Musk is contributing a $100 million reward for the development of the best technology for carbon capture

For quite a few years now, global warming has become a global issue. More and more toxic air in the atmosphere is caused by a rise in the number of hazardous gases.

The combustion of fossil fuels such as oil and coal has raised the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) over the last century, as the coal or oil burning process mixes carbon with oxygen in the air to create CO2. The natural greenhouse is altered by day-to-day human activities and CO2 is the most common greenhouse gas emitted. The increase in the amount of CO2 leads to a disorder called “Hypercapnia,” which leads to a drop in the amount of oxygen entering the lungs and emitting carbon dioxide. As well as severe problems such as seizures or loss of consciousness, it can cause symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and exhaustion.

What is carbon sequestration?

The most widely created greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. The method of trapping and storing ambient carbon dioxide is carbon sequestration. With the goal of minimizing global climate change, this is one way of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

What is Carbon Capture?

The combustion of fossil fuels in power generation and industrial processes, such as cement manufacturing, emits carbon dioxide or CO2. Using various methods, carbon can be collected. The primary ones are post-combustion, oxyfuel, and pre-combustion. Post-combustion technology eliminates CO2 from the flue gases resulting from the fossil fuel combustion process. Pre-combustion procedures include turning the fuel into hydrogen and CO2 mixture, carried out until the fossil fuel is burned.

How Carbon Capture can block climate changes globally?

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Capturing carbon can help mitigate pollution from large industrial facilities. It has the ability to produce ‘negative emissions’ when combined with bioenergy technologies for power generation, eliminating CO2 from the atmosphere. Many scientists and policymakers argue that this is important if the Paris Agreement’s aim is to restrict the increase in temperature to below 2 degrees C.

An increase in the number of technologies for carbon capture will be the best possible answer to this issue. CCS technologies play a crucial role in promoting new and scalable power systems under the Sustainable Development Scenario of the International Energy Agency(IEA). The IEA said that if countries are to achieve net-zero emissions goals, a sharp rise in the deployment of carbon capture technology is required. Carbon capture is becoming a vital part of many climate change control strategies, but at the same time, relatively little progress has been made on technology to date, with efforts more focused on lowering emissions than on keeping carbon out of the air.

Is Carbon Capture Technology really necessary?

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An international treaty on climate change, widely known as The Paris Agreement, was signed on April 22, 2016. Compared with pre-industrial times, the key aim is to restrict global warming to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius. The world needs to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Without CCS, you can still do this, but this would entail rapid and far-reaching reductions in energy demand that would, in turn, require major and impossible changes in the actions of the economy, society, and individuals. The entire world has therefore decided on a shared agenda to switch from coal-fired power to renewable energy. Economies would have to function retrospectively by scrubbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which will be much less effective than trapping these emissions at their source unless expenditure in carbon-capturing technology is increased.

why is Elon Musk donating a $100 Million prize for the best Carbon Capture Technology?

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On 21 January 2021, Elon Musk, who is the leader of some of the most futuristic firms, including Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink, tweeted that he is contributing a $100 million reward for the development of the best technology for carbon capture. Other than adding an accompanying tweet, “Details will come next week,” he did not offer much knowledge.

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Sources claim this would be related to the Xprize Foundation, a non-profit organization holding competitions aimed at fostering creativity and technical growth. The newly-elected U.S. President, Joe Biden, named Jennifer Wilcox, an authority on carbon reduction technology, as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy. Energy Department. He also said that as part of his sweeping strategy to tackle climate change, he will be eyeing the development of carbon capture technologies.

Ronil Thakkar

A computer engineer by education and a technical writer by profession, Ronil is a tech freak like no other. He likes to play or watch highlights of chess in his free time. On a fine day, you may also find him sketching anime.

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