Green goals
BP and Exxon are investing in clean-tech startups.
Exxon Mobil said Thursday it’s investing in a new carbon-capture technology firm that aims to economically suck greenhouse gas emissions from the sky near power plants and other large industrial sources.
Exxon joins Occidental Petroleum of Houston and the California oil major Chevron in seeking technology that will extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a technology that could help oil and gas stay viable in a low-carbon world. Carbon dioxide, which is released by burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, traps the heat in the earth’s atmosphere, warming the planet and accelerating climate change.
Exxon, headquartered in Irving, said it has signed a joint development agreement to advance carbon-capture technology with New York-based Global Thermostat, which has a pilot plant in Alabama that uses giant fans to draw the carbon dioxide out of the air. Exxon wants to advance the technology for large-scale industrial use.
“Our scientists see potential in this exciting technology that could lead to more affordable methods to reduce emissions in power generation and manufacturing, along with removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” said Vijay Swarup, Exxon
vice president of research and development.
The technology, known as direct air capture, isn’t considered a magic bullet in the fight to slow climate change but is one of many potential solutions that will need to be implemented. Some critics, though, call the technology an excuse to keep relying on fossil fuels.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group that tracks energy companies’ investments, was quick to criticize Exxon Mobil’s effort as too little and too late, considering the company plans to spend many billions of dollars each year on oil and gas drilling.
“Exxon Mobil’s reliance on carbon-capture technology
to offset its massive carbon footprint is risky business and dangerous to the global climate,” said Kathy Mulvey, fossil fuel accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Exxon Mobil declined to disclose how much it is investing Global Thermostat’s technology. The company, however, said this partnership fits with its recent announcement to invest $100 million over 10 years in emissions-reduction technologies at some of the nation’s top energy research labs. Exxon earned a profit of $20.8 billion last year.
Global Thermostat said it hopes Exxon Mobil’s funding and research capabilities can help it accelerate the deployment of the technologies worldwide.
“Scaling solutions that
can address climate change globally requires significant investment, innovation and collaboration,” said Peter Eisenberger, chief technology officer and co-founder of Global Thermostat.
Global Thermostat’s technology is similar to that attracting investments from Occidental and Chevron. The companies are backing a Canadian firm, Carbon Engineering, which aims to deploy carbon-capture plants near oil and gas production such as West Texas’ booming Permian Basin.
Oxy said in May it is designing the first direct aircapture plant in the Permian to suck carbon dioxide out of the sky and inject it into the ground to aid in oil production.
Global Thermostat said it can deploy its technology more economically than other carbon-capture projects because it is powered by heat generated from the industrial processes, rather than using additional electricity. The firm said its patented technology removes the carbon dioxide from ambient air or other sources using readily available, low-cost process heat from the plants by which it is locating.
Unlike other costly carbon-capture projects that require redesigning existing coal power plants, Global Thermostat said its technology can be retrofitted to work on any existing plants.
The technology also would work on other industrial facilities such as petrochemical, steel and cement plants.