How Biden’s Regional Carbon Cleanup Hubs Could Spur Innovation
The direct air capture industry will likely be crucial for addressing climate change, and new hubs in Louisiana and Texas could help unlock its potential.
A small scale model of the DAC facility at the Occidental Petroleum and 1PointFive Direct Air Capture (DAC) plant in Ector County, Texas.
Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/BloombergThe Biden administration awarded $1.2 billion in support of companies looking to pull carbon from the ambient air on Friday. It did so endorsing a specific strategy: that grouping like-minded companies and researchers in hubs is the most effective way to scale the nascent technology.
Projects proposed by a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp. for Kleberg County, Texas, and by Climeworks AG, Battelle Memorial Institute and Heirloom Carbon Technologies Inc. for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, were selected for the first handout of funding. The federal government has said a total of $3.5 billion will go toward direct air capture (DAC) hubs, with the Department of Energy (DOE) saying it plans to issue funding for future awards “in the coming years.”