Open to the MIT Community only

The MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and MIT Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment invite you to join us at the seminar “Affordable Direct Air Capture: Myth or Reality?"

The seminar will be held in person (MIT Room 35-225) and online (via Zoom) on Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 1:00-2:30pm (US Eastern Time).

Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies extract carbon dioxide (CO₂) directly from the atmosphere. Carbon removal could play a key role in the transition to a net-zero energy system in which the amount of CO₂ released into the atmosphere is equivalent to the amount being removed. Because sectors such as aviation and heavy industry are difficult to decarbonize, carbon removal technologies can enable utilization of atmospheric CO₂ (e.g. for synthetic fuel production) or long-term carbon storage. As the technology has yet to be demonstrated at large scale, the future cost of DAC and therefore its potential to support an economically feasible path to a net-zero economy is uncertain. Capture cost estimates are wide-ranging, from USD $50/t to USD $1,000/t. Our seminar seeks to explore the challenges and opportunities of DAC.

Speakers:

Howard Herzog (MIT) – pioneer in carbon capture research, and author of the book Carbon Capture

David Keith (Harvard University) – founder of Carbon Engineering, a company developing technology to capture CO₂ from ambient air

Moderator: Henry Jacoby (MIT)

Framing remarks: Steven Barrett (MIT)

Registration (MIT Community only): https://mit.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_e5llKRLXQDGh0B9oyHP08g