Researchers uncover major flaw in technology used by top corporations: '[It] should be abandoned'

Eliminating air pollution is a better plan for slowing Earth's overheating than mitigating the planet-warming gases after they are made, according to research from Stanford. 

The experts analyzed the energy costs, emissions, and health impacts of so-called carbon capture technology, concluding that a widespread switch to renewables would be the best scenario. 

"If you spend $1 on carbon capture instead of on wind, water, and solar, you are increasing CO2, air pollution, energy requirements, energy costs, pipelines, and total social costs," professor Mark Jacobson, the study's lead author, said in the Stanford report. 

Carbon capture, or direct air capture, works by collecting fumes from factory smokestacks or pulling CO2 from the atmosphere with special filters and pumping it harmlessly thousands of feet underground to storage sites. Under the Biden administration, the government invested $1.2 billion — part of a larger funding and incentivized effort — to vacuum the gases from the air with giant filter machines. And Nestle is among the companies turning the carbon dioxide into useful baking soda after collecting it. 

But Stanford's findings could be a reality check for the long-term viability of the tech, adding to likely tepid government support under President Donald Trump. The Associated Press reported that new policies could provide less aid for the efforts. But state incentives and climate goals could keep the tech relevant, the AP story added. 

The Stanford research forecast two extreme scenarios in 149 countries during a quarter century. 

One plan had a complete switch to sun, wind, geothermal, and hydropower — all renewable energy sources crucial to limiting risks for worst-case extreme weather and other problems associated with our warming world, per NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That scenario also included better public transit and clean hydrogen fuel cell use. 

In the second example, the countries continued their current reliance on fossil fuels, with some renewable energy use and other energy-saving measures that were realized in the first hypothetical case. But in this situation, all 149 countries implemented wide-scale carbon capture, all per Stanford. 

The university's research delivered favorable results for example No. 1. By 2050, the countries could reduce "end-use energy needs" by 54%. Power costs would drop by 60%. What's more, hundreds of millions of sicknesses and 5 million deaths a year "related to air pollution" could be avoided. That included nixing woodburning cookstoves, kerosene lamps, and gas-fueled power plants. 

"You can have the most efficient way of removing CO2 from the air, but that does not change the efficiency of combustion. You're keeping that inefficient energy infrastructure the same," Jacobson said in the Stanford summary. "It's much cheaper and more efficient just to replace the fossil source with electricity or heat provided by a renewable source."

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For its part, carbon capture's ability to clear the air is appealing. MIT reported that filters are pulling nearly 45 million tons of air pollution from flues annually. That's equivalent to removing exhaust from 10 million cars, according to the report. 

But Stanford's findings don't leave much room for a middle ground. The experts said that plans that include both renewables and carbon capture "do not distinguish between good and poor solutions," adding that policies promoting carbon capture "should be abandoned."

Cutting energy use was a part of both scenarios, and it is something anyone can take part in immediately. By unplugging unused chargers and devices each day, you can reduce pollution while saving up to $165 a year in energy costs. 

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