Environment Expert Urges Alberta To Take Lead In Carbon Capture Technology

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Calgary, Alberta (AHN) - An environmental expert urged Alberta to take the lead in carbon capture technology as more stringent green laws are being passed in Canada and the United States.

Among the potential large customers of such a technology would be the U.S. as it sets to implement the Clean Energy and Security Act, University of Calgary environmental management and sustainability professor Robert Page told members of Calgary’s Petroleum Club on Tuesday.

Page said, quoted by the Calgary Herald, “If we here in Calgary can build a world leadership on carbon capture and storage technology and, in a wider sense, non-conventional oil technology, we have huge opportunities.”

The University of Calgary itself has a team trying to perfect air capture technology led by climate change scientist David Keith. His team is developing a machine that has the capability to capture trace amounts of carbon dioxide present in the air in any part of the world.

In a statement, Keith explained, “At first thought, capturing C)2 from the air where it’s at a concentration of just 0.04 percent seems absurd, when we are just starting to do cost-effective capture at power plants where CO2 produced is at a concentration of more than 10 percent… But the thermodynamics suggests that air capture might only be a bit harder than capturing CO2 from power plants. We are trying to turn that theory into engineering reality.”