New machine could beat climate change by sucking CO2 out of the air

Could the solution to man-made climate change be as simple as building a new machine to directly ‘suck’ CO2 out of the air?

The idea of using CO2 from the air to create carbon-neutral fuels has been suggested many times, but scientists previously believed it would be far too expensive to work – costing up to £450 per ton of CO2.

But new research by Canadian company Carbon Engineering suggest it could be done for as little as £70 per ton.

The technique involves ‘sucking’ CO2 out of the air, combining it with hydrogen and creating a liquid fuel.

The resulting fuel – which could be used to power cars – is entirely carbon neutral.

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David Keith of Carbon Engineering told CNET that the pilot planet in British Columbia is driven by hydropower, pulling CO2 out of the air and converting it into a synthetic fuel.

In the future, the CO2-based fuel created by ‘direct carbon future’ might power cars and planes, Keith says.

‘It’s unlike CO2 capture that’s designed to work from a power plant. We’re capturing CO2 from the atmosphere – that’s what our technology does.

‘The purpose of capturing from the air is that you can make low carbon fuels from renewable power.’