The latest National Climate Assessment data shows that we’re not doing enough to reduce our carbon emissions to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, but one carbon capture company is aiming to turn that around.
Heirloom Carbon Technologies is making strides by opening the first direct-air carbon-capture facility near the Bay Area in the city of Tracy.
Heirloom is the blueprint for innovative ways to not only reduce carbon but become carbon negative. The company has created a way to capture one million kilograms of carbon per year by heating limestone to a powder. That powder is exposed to the air and acts like a sponge soaking up harmful carbon. Then the carbon is stored deep underground and the limestone is reused.
Shashank Samala, CEO of Heirloom, says, "Limestone is very thirsty for CO2 naturally, and we give superpowers to limestone to capture carbon a lot faster than it otherwise would. It would take months or years which we got down to about 3 days. Which is incredibly powerful because we can recycle limestone over and over again and capture a lot more carbon a lot more cheaply so we can have meaningful and significant impact on climate."
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Heirloom plans to build facilities across the country and expand tenfold next year. The ultimate goal is to remove 1 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by 2035, which is 20% of today’s national yearly emissions and 10% of global carbon removal needed annually by 2050.
For more information on Heirloom, visit the company's website.
