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A natural solution to climate catastrophe is expanding quickly out in the Sahara Desert, one of the least habitable places on Earth.
In southern Morocco, outside of the isolated coastal town of Akhfenir, which is tucked between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara to the north, the London-based startup Brilliant Planet has leased 6,100 hectares of land. Furthermore, it is growing algae with it.
Since the beginning of time, long before the first land plants appeared, algae have been absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen through photosynthesis. Adam Taylor, the CEO of Brilliant Planet, claims that the business has found a means to grow algae exponentially, starting in a lab beaker and finishing in 12,000 square meter seawater pools. A test tube of algae can grow to fill 16 of these enormous pools — the equivalent of 77 Olympic-sized swimming pools — in just 30 days, according to Taylor, who claims that the procedure replicates a natural algal bloom.
A 10-story tower is pumped with the algae once it has been removed from the water, and it is then sprayed into the arid air. The company asserts that during the roughly 30-second journey to the ground, heated air dries out the biomass, leaving hypersaline algae flakes that may be gathered and shallowly buried, sequestering their carbon for thousands of years.
Taylor told CNN that deserts are an underused environment and that “nature-based solutions are a great way of removing carbon.”
“Renting the desert doesn’t cost much, and governments are eager to have any kind of economic activity,” he continued. Additionally, “You’re not competing with farms, you’re not competing with forests, you’re out of the way, you’re not bothering people,” he added.
To keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, the UN’s climate change body, the IPCC, predicts that hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide must be removed from the atmosphere.
It is widely contested which approach is the best. The most widely publicized carbon capture technique is direct air capture, though there are several more. The US Department of Energy has invested billions in the technology, which employs machines and filters to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere so that it may be stored underground or utilized in concrete and other building materials. Although its critics claim it is pricey, energy-intensive, and unproven, the technology is still only used on a small scale.
Other alternatives have attempted to utilize the flora’s innate capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, such as planting trees, making charcoal, and producing bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Each has advantages and disadvantages, including the amount of infrastructure needed and the duration of sequestration.
Taylor asserts that compared to a typical European forest, Brilliant Planet’s approach can permanently remove 30 times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per hectare each year.
An environmental engineer and co-founder of the grassroots organization Youth For Climate Morocco, Fatna Ikrame El Fanne, wrote in an email that using algae is “a new and promising strategy” that “exemplifies an innovative use of the natural process to address an urgent global issue.”
According to her, Morocco’s geographic features make it an ideal setting. She continued, “There are sizable desert areas in the country that could be converted for carbon capture and storage projects.”
Nevertheless, El Fanne expressed caution. “Microalgae production on a large scale might damage local ecosystems, strain water resources, and modify habitats,” she said. “Sustainable land management approaches, efficient water consumption, ecological restoration, regulatory compliance, community participation, and continuing monitoring are required.”
The firm Brilliant Planet has a three-hectare pilot site that will grow to a 30-hectare demonstration facility at Akhfenir next year. The company also has plans for a 200-hectare farm and subsequently a 1,000-hectare farm at the location.
Approximately 250 jobs, largely for highly skilled local people, would be generated by a 1,000-hectare complex, according to Taylor.
To operate and grow, Brilliant Planet intends to offer carbon credits. A substantial agreement to remove 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide by 2027 was announced in July with Block, a leading worldwide technology business.
Although the use of carbon offsetting programs is on the rise, some have criticized the business for its alleged lack of oversight, transparency, and efficacy.
According to Robert Höglund, an independent climate counselor, the majority of carbon credits bought are in the form of avoidance (for example, preventing deforestation).
Höglund is one of the co-founders of the website cdr. FYI, which keeps tabs on the carbon dioxide abatement industry globally. Just over 2% of the more than 4 million tons of CO2 acquired by the corporations named (including Block) had been removed as of this point, but that’s not necessarily a cause for alarm, he said.
Höglund said that rather than trying to have the most tons removed today, “the main reason to buy carbon removal today is to further innovate and help the nascent sector to grow to meet its future need.” First-of-a-kind facilities can be developed and the techniques tested by pre-purchasing tons from start-ups.
Taylor hopes that the palpable, measurable algae flakes will add appeal to the Brilliant Planet idea.
Over $26 million has already been invested in Brilliant Planet, and another funding round is expected to take place later this year.
By the end of the decade, it hopes to have eliminated one million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, which is equivalent to the emissions of 217,000 cars. According to Taylor, this would require 10,000 hectares spread across several locations and an investment of about $1 billion.
Neither number can faze the CEO. Taylor stated, “Globally, we’ve identified about half a million square kilometers of flat desert-ocean land where it works,” and that the business plans to establish itself in Namibia next.
Despite this, it is acknowledged that one business cannot do everything and cannot do so by itself. Taylor urged “a Manhattan Project-type attitude” when approaching carbon capture, saying, “We are part of a cohort of probably 40 to 50 weird and wonderful ideas of how people can remove carbon from the atmosphere.”
It remains to be seen if algae will be the answer the world needs. However, more people are warming up to the concept.
Source- CNN
