ODESSA, Texas — Many kinds of industries have made strides to reduce their carbon footprint, and one company called 1PointFive is looking to set up shop in the Permian basin to address climate change.
At the Ector County Commissioners Court Tuesday there was an opportunity for public comment on a possible tax abatement for the company.
The project is called 1PointFive because they want to help stop the world temperature from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. It is all a part of Oxy Low Carbon Ventures.
The technology 1PointFive will use is called Direct Air Capture. Its goal is to capture CO₂ straight from the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and it's released from a variety of things, including humans and different fuels. It is also generally associated with climate change.
The company is looking to take that CO₂ right out of the air.
Their website says, "We expect this carbon removal technology to remove large volumes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere year over year - enough to help us curb global temperature rise at 1.5°C, when combined with other global carbon mitigation initiatives."
The technology uses fans to pull air into a facility, it then separates out CO₂ from other molecules.
The carbon dioxide from the air is then turned into a liquid that can be stored underground or used for other things, like low carbon fuels, cement or plastic.
According 1PointFive's website, the process is "Similar to how trees absorb CO₂ for photosynthesis, Direct Air Capture pulls air into its systems and, through a series of chemical reactions, extracts the CO₂."
Their website also states that they plan to locate their first facility in the Permian Basin by late 2024.
In a public notice from Ector County about the public hearing, they listed the estimated cost of the facility at $810 million.