Global warming can easily be called one of the most serious concerns of the present times as we all are experiencing and noticing volatility in the weather all over the world. The temperatures are increasing at a high rate and any step taken in the direction of reducing or controlling global warming is highly appreciable. One of the biggest reasons for global warming is the high amount of Carbon-di-oxide emission on a daily basis and one Israeli start-up has come up with a very innovative solution to this problem.
Carbon-di-oxide (CO2) is gas is which is exhaled by us during the respiration process and it is also released in the environment due to various other activities such as industrial, transportation, deforestation, electricity generation, etc as well. CO2 is a greenhouse gas which is of utmost importance for us as it traps the heat in the environment, if there would be no CO2 in the environment then it would be so cold that no living being will be able to survive.
However, increased CO2 is a big problem because a cover is created by the excess CO2 which encloses the sun's heat energy in the bubble of atmosphere and as a result, the environment gets hotter and more water evaporates in the atmosphere. This brings an increase in the temperatures and it is also harming the climate patterns in a big manner.
Removing excessive CO2 from the atmosphere is a highly energy consuming and costly affair if it is done at the standard temperature but a Israeli start-up has come up with a unique way of extracting CO2 from atmosphere and the best part is that it is done with the help of nature.
The name of the Israeli start-up is High Hopes Labs and it has proved that sky is the limit for those who are go-getters and have the ability to think out of the box. The CEO of High Hopes Labs, Nadav Mansdorf said that the beautiful thing is that it is easy to capture or extract the gas from environment when it is close to getting freeze.
Carbon freezes at the temperature of around minus 80 degrees Celsius and the only place in this environment where this can happen naturally is 15 kilometers above our head. In simple words, this natural phenomenon doesn't takes place on the surface of the earth but in that layer of atmosphere which is called as stratosphere.
The scientists and researchers at High Hopes Labs has come up with a unique method of capturing carbon in its solid form by sending balloons high in the air along with a device (small version of airborne compressor) which extracts carbon from the atmosphere.
The solid carbon is then filled into the pressure vessels and brought back on the ground. The solid carbon then turns into gas once again after it get heated and these pressure vessels can either be stored or sold to those who need CO2 for industrial or chemical processes.
The firm has tested this method at a small scale and after achieving substantial success now it aims to carry it out at a bigger scale. High Hopes Labs will now design big balloons within two years which will enable the firm in removing a metric tonne of carbon-di-oxide per balloon, per day from the atmosphere.
Despite the fact that there is technology available for extracting carbon-di-oxide from the environment, it is highly costly in comparison to the method devised by the High Hopes Labs. As far as the cost is concerned, the cost of capturing a ton of carbon by High Hopes Labs will be around $100 while if we talk about other technologies, the cost of removing or capturing the same amount of carbon from the environment will be around $1000.
High Hopes Labs have termed their method of capturing carbon as an Earth-saving innovation and believes that it can bring a big change in the global scenario as they depend on nature completely for freezing CO2 and this process has no harmful effects on the environment or humans as well.
As we told you, the company is planning to design big balloons for extracting a huge amount of carbon per balloon but their job won't be easy as they will need many balloons because around 117 million tons of CO2 is emitted by the planet each day.
Apple, the company which is famous for its iPhone is also taking climate change seriously and earlier this year it announced one of its kind carbon removal initiatives which it named as Restore Fund and it is worth $200 million. As per this initiative, Apple has entered into collaboration with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs and it will make investments into the projects related to forests and aims to remove 1 million tons of carbon-di-oxide each year.
We should also play our part in dealing with global warming by using the existing resources in a proper manner and ensuring that we don't waste anything.