Southern Nevada will be the home of the first commercial installation of Clairity Technology, a company based in Los Angeles that carbon dioxide is carried out.
The installation will not only isolate and eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but also generate more than 1,000 liters of water per day, which means that it will generate drinking water for local communities, said the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance in a new statement announcing the company's movement to the area.
Clairity was established by the CEO and founder Glen Meyerowitz to address what he describes as a critical climate challenge.
The elimination of carbon dioxide implies capturing the CO2 of the atmosphere and permanently storing it to help fight climate change. Companies like Clairity achieve this through a two -step process that begins with “direct air capture”, when fans attract environmental air, which then passes through non -hazardous chemical sorbantes that capture and concentrate CO2.
This is followed by mineralization, when the CO2 captured undergoes a conversion process that transforms it into inert rock material, effectively blocking it for more than 1,000 years.
This approach essentially invests CO2 emissions by taking out the greenhouse gases directly from the air and ensuring that it cannot return to the atmosphere.
“So, essentially, the problem is that there is too much CO2 in the atmosphere,” said Meyerowitz, which causes the waves and heat droughts that have become the registered trademark of climate change.
The most important response is to reduce new greenhouse gas emissions: move to electrification, renewable energy sources, etc., Meyerowitz said. But even with rapid decarbonization, he emphasized, there are still too many CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.
Collectively as a species, humans have issued more than 2 billion tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the industrial revolution and continue to broadcast around 40 billion tons of CO2 each year, Meyerowitz said. According to NASA, human activities have raised the CO2 content of the atmosphere by 50% in less than 200 years.
Clairity was approved for state tax incentives by the Office of Economic Development of the Governor of Nevada (GOED) in October, authorities said.
The part of the water generation of the Clairity process is particularly beneficial for a place like Nevada, said Meyerowitz, adding that the company has already been in conversations with the water authority of South Nevada.
“Nevada, is a great place for us,” he said, pointing out the efforts of the State to attract new companies and diversify their workforce, strong research institutions such as UNLV and those of nearby Phoenix and access to clean forms of power.
“Another thing is that our technology really works better in dry climates,” he added. “So it was certainly something that was an important factor for us from the beginning too.”
When companies like Clairity move to southern Nevada, they said the interim CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, Betsy Fretwell, validates the competitiveness of the region as a center of climatic solutions. He pointed out the pre -existing renown of the area for water conservation in a very arid climate as an example.
“It shows other companies that can come here and can find a location and build their business, hire qualified people and really advance their commercial objectives here,” he said.
Becoming a center for the climate innovation sector and building resilient companies and focused on the future that strengthen Las Vegas's economy are key, Fretwell said. And Clairity works along with other LVGEA target industries such as medical attention, biotechnology, information technology and more.
Clairity brings $ 2.5 million in capital investment and more than a dozen science and high quality engineering jobs that pay more than $ 71,000 a year, Fretwell said. Chemists, scientists of manufacturing materials and engineers are good jobs to have in the community, he added.
