Why this new plant is capturing carbon dioxide just to let it back out again

There’s a scramble in the US to build the first generation of technologies to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. And the first American company with this kind of system, Global Thermostat, just set up shop in Colorado to prove that its CO2-sucking technology actually works.

There’s been hype around Global Thermostat since it got started in 2010 as one of just three high-profile companies in the world developing this technology, called direct air capture (DAC). The idea is to filter CO2 out of the ambient air and then sell that CO2 as a product or sequester it underground to keep it from escaping into the atmosphere where it would heat up the planet.

But Global Thermostat has been roiled by years of delays and internal drama. Its…

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