01 未来之城的直接空气方案

原标题 Direct Air Capture (DAC) to the Future，作者 Brian Kahn，译者 Jingyi。注意，这里的“直接空气方案”为 ShoelessCai 首创翻译，下文会统一用该专有名词解释美国在应对环境变化时候，怎样从改善环境的角度切入人类活动。Again，直接空气方案中心，即 DAC hub。

美国总统拜登寄希望于合作是扩大新兴产业（nascent industry）规模的关键。在今天的时事通讯中，我们将探讨所谓的 直接空气方案（Direct Air Capture, DAC） 如何成为创新中心。ShoelessCai 评注，言下之意，如今开展一片生态建设，先考虑自然生态方案是否完备。

拜登政府周五拨款12亿美元，支持希望从环境空气中吸收碳（pull carbon from the ambient air）的公司。它这样做支持一个具体的战略（endorse a strategy）：（找到）那些拥有相似想法的公司，或者研究中心的研究员，是最有效的扩大新兴科技规模的方法。

以下公司被选出可以获得第一笔投资：（一部分公司）由 Occidental Petroleum Corp. 的分公司为德州的 Kleberg County 提名的，（一部分公司）由Climeworks AG, Battelle Memorial Institute and Heirloom Carbon Technologies Inc. 三家公司为路易斯安那州的 Calcasieu Parish 提名的。

ShoelessCai 评注：

• （1）Kleberg County 是美国得克萨斯州南部墨西哥湾沿岸的一个县。面积2,824平方公里，人口3万。
• （2）Calcasieu Parish 是美国路易斯安那州西南部的一个县，西邻德克萨斯州。面积2,834平方公里，人口18万。周围有一条 Calcasieu River，这是原来一名酋长的名字，意思为“鸣叫的鹰”。

直接空气方案中心（DAC hub）押注将公司聚集在中心位置可以获取创新的超额收益，无论是在改进机器性能方面，这些机器能从稀薄空气中捕获碳，还是在公众互动方面，这些互动展现（各）行业如何与首次遇到的新科技面对面交锋。

初创公司目前有能力每年使用机器从大气中获取几千吨碳污染。这（量）是极微小的（That's exceedingly small），部分原因是高能源需求（捕获碳的机器的能耗）和制造机器本身的资本成本。廉价存储仍然是一个挑战。但是，到本世纪中叶，几乎所有将全球变暖限制在1.5摄氏度以内的情况都需要每年从空气中去除数十亿吨二氧化碳，无论是通过机械过程还是自然过程。

提高效率对于让机器兑现人类的承诺并持续工作至关重要。同样，验证他们是否真的实现了拜登政府的目标，即到 2030 年每个中心（DAC hub）每年减少 100 万吨二氧化碳。

负责监督路易斯安那州的中心（DAC hub）已与 Gulf Coast Sequestration Inc. 签订合同，该公司是一家当地公司，将Climeworks和Heirloom的技术捕获的二氧化碳藏匿起来（stash）。这样做，可以形成一系列新公司和研究员的业态，以测试捕获和储存碳的新方法，否则这些方法可能无法协同工作。这可能有助于整个行业成熟。

“它创造了这个机会，不仅可以拥有一个大型设施，还可以创建一个测试平台，让第二代技术可以在现实世界中验证他们的技术，”碳去除联盟执行董事吉安娜·阿马多尔（Giana Amador）说，该联盟的成员包括Climeworks和Heirloom。

不过，技术成功只是平衡的一部分。拜登政府还表示，这些中心（DAC hub）必须与 Justice 40 倡议保持一致，该倡议的重点是，确保至少40%的联邦资本投在弱势社区。德克萨斯州中心，以及路易斯安那州中心分别承诺创造 2500、2300 个工作岗位，这肯定是使当地人受益的一种方式。

上述两个中心（DAC hub）都位于化石燃料过渡使用的地区，德克萨斯州中心由西方石油公司（Occidental Petroleum）的子公司1PointFive领导。科学家们认为，碳去除一旦扩大规模，其主要作用是双重的：修复历史排放，以及解决无法通过其他方式解决的问题，如汽车电气化或安装可再生能源。

Shoelesscai 评注，“科学家们认为。……”原文为，Scientists view carbon removal’s main role once scaled up as two fold: ……。

但是，将中心设在化石燃料重度使用区域，还资助一家石油公司，最终可能会使该行业永久化，Sara Nawaz，就职于美国大学研究机构并专注于研究碳减排的政策和法律的研究主管，这样说道。她补充说，这可能被视为漂绿（这是环保届一个流行词，漂绿。即本身和环保无关的活动，通过某种方式，一定说成环保的。），也可能为公众的看法增添色彩。

我们所说的DOE，是负责监督这些中心的，已然见证了一些备受瞩目的斗争，主要是努力争取个人项目融资。例如，2021年的政府财政办公室的报告显示，美国能源署投资了11亿美元，在碳捕获行业 —— 也就是大家了解的，在大烟囱（smokestack）口安装一些捕获 CO2 的技术 —— （即使这样简单的行业）也有所谓的“不同程度的成功”。而这个行业却获得了 3亿美元的融资，而获得这些投资的项目似乎从未打算建造什么。

一个失误 —— 无论是未能提供承诺的就业机会还是承诺的碳去除 —— 都会使快速扩大 DAC hub 变得更加困难（make the pathway to scaling DAC rapidly much harder）。如果大型中心没有找到与公众互动的创新方式，或者以其他方式受到阻碍，结果可能会损害该行业的长期前景。

ShoelessCai 结语，我们看到这里可以理解 DAC hub，即 Direct Air Capture Hub 是一系列大机器，作用是捕获空气中的碳污染，进而使得空气在生产环节对环境进行影响的时候，就进行干预。

02 原文

By Brian Kahn

US President Joe Biden is banking on cooperation being the key to scaling up a nascent industry. In today’s newsletter, we look at how the so-called direct air capture （DAC） hubs could be centers of innovation.

The 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 DAC hubs are a bet that bringing companies together in central locations can supercharge innovation, both in terms of improving the machines that capture carbon from thin air and how the industry engages with a public that will come face to face with the emerging technology for the first time.

Startups currently have the capability of grabbing a few thousand tons of carbon pollution from the atmosphere each year using machines. That’s exceedingly small, owing in part to high energy needs and the capital costs to build the machines themselves. Cheap storage also remains a challenge. But nearly all scenarios where the world limits warming to 1.5C will require removing billions of tons of CO2 from the air annually by mid-century, whether by mechanical or natural processes.

Improving efficiency will be absolutely crucial to getting the machines to live up to their promise. So, too, will verifying they’re actually delivering on the Biden administration’s goal of removing 1 million tons of CO2 at each hub annually by 2030.

The group overseeing the Louisiana hub has contracted with Gulf Coast Sequestration Inc., a local company that will stash the CO2 captured by Climeworks and Heirloom’s technology. Doing so will pair up a novel constellation of companies and researchers to test new ways of capturing and storing carbon that may otherwise have not worked together. That could help the industry as a whole mature.

“It creates this opportunity not just to have a major facility but also to create a testbed where the second generation of technologies can validate their tech in the real world.” said Giana Amador, the executive director of the Carbon Removal Alliance, whose members include Climeworks and Heirloom.

Technological success is only part of the equation for the hubs, though. The Biden administration also said the hubs will have to align with its Justice 40 initiative, which is focused on ensuring at least 40% of any federal investment accrues in disadvantaged communities. The Texas and Louisiana hubs have promised to create 2,500 and 2,300 jobs respectively, which would certainly be one way of benefiting locals.

Both will also be situated in areas that have been overburdened with fossil fuel infrastructure, with the Texas hub being led by 1PointFive, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum. Scientists view carbon removal’s main role once scaled up as two fold: remediating historic emissions and also tackling problems that can't be addressed through other means such as electrifying cars or installing renewable energy.

But siting hubs in fossil fuel strongholds and funding one run by an oil company could end up perpetuating the industry, said Sara Nawaz, the director of research at American University's Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy. She added it could be perceived as greenwashing, which could also color the public’s perception.

The DOE, which is overseeing the hubs, has seen some high-profile struggles funding arrays of individual projects. A 2021 Government Accountability Office report found, for example, that the Department of Energy invested $1.1 billion in carbon capture projects — that is, technology to grab CO2 at the smokestack — with what it called “varying levels of success.” That includes $300 million in funding for projects that were never built.

A misstep — whether a failure to deliver promised jobs or promised carbon removal — would make the pathway to scaling DAC rapidly much harder. If the large hubs don’t find innovative ways to engage with the public or otherwise stumble, the results could hurt the industry’s long-term prospects.