Restoring the Carbon Balance – Session 2: The Technologies

Originally aired February 1, 2017

The second session in the SSF/ASU Restoring the Carbon Balance series examines Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs) — the carbon removal, storage, and utilization technologies that the IPCC says will be needed to meet climate goals. Experts review the state of development of direct air capture, geological storage, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and assess what is needed to accelerate commercialization at the necessary scale.

Speakers

Joel Makower (Moderator)

Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, GreenBiz Group

Joel Makower is Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of GreenBiz Group, the leading media and events company focused on the business of sustainability. A veteran journalist, author, and analyst, he has spent decades covering the intersection of business, technology, and sustainability and is widely recognized as one of the most influential voices in corporate environmental strategy and clean energy markets.

Klaus Lackner

Director, Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, Arizona State University

Klaus Lackner is the Director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions at Arizona State University and a pioneer in direct air capture research. He is widely credited with first proposing the concept of artificial trees that capture CO2 from the atmosphere, and his work has shaped the scientific and policy agenda around carbon removal technologies needed to meet global climate targets.

Susan Hovorka

Senior Research Scientist, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin

Susan Hovorka is a Senior Research Scientist at the Bureau of Economic Geology at UT Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences, where she leads research on geologic carbon storage. She is one of the world’s foremost experts on CO2 sequestration in saline aquifers and has directed major field demonstration projects that have advanced the scientific understanding of carbon storage capacity, containment, and monitoring.

Eric Larson

Senior Research Engineer, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University; Senior Scientist, Climate Central

Eric Larson is a Senior Research Engineer at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and a Senior Scientist at Climate Central. His research focuses on energy systems analysis, low-carbon energy technologies, and biomass-based energy with carbon capture — including detailed assessments of BECCS feasibility, lifecycle emissions, and the role of negative emissions in long-term decarbonization pathways.