Abandoned oil rigs could scrape carbon from the sky and store it in undersea reservoirs

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on The Conversation or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: Innovative use of abandoned oil rigs has been proposed as a solution for carbon capture
• These rigs could be repurposed to extract CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it in empty undersea reservoirs, leveraging existing infrastructure to address carbon emissions

🔭 The context: Direct air capture technology, akin to large-scale industrial vacuum cleaners, is seen as a method to reduce atmospheric CO₂ levels
• However, the technology faces challenges such as high costs, noise, and visual impact
• Offshore oil rigs present a unique opportunity to overcome these issues, with the added benefit of utilizing consistent wind energy for power

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The repurposing of oil rigs for carbon capture and storage could provide a dual benefit of reducing atmospheric CO₂ while addressing the costly problem of decommissioning abandoned rigs
• This approach could also contribute to the preservation of marine life by maintaining the artificial reefs created by rig structures

⏭️ What's next: The concept is still in its early stages, with modest returns expected initially
• However, as the technology improves and investment increases, this strategy could become a significant contributor to global carbon removal efforts
• The flexibility of moving rigs to different sites could also help resolve conflicts between environmental conventions and government policies

📈 One stat: The current capture rate for these machines is estimated at 65,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year for a large oil rig, which is a small fraction of the UK's annual emissions of 332 million tonnes

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