Climate Curve

Primary Project Category:

Project Summary / Description:

Center: ASU‚ Center for Negative Carbon Emissions (CNCE) was founded in 2014 to advance carbon management technologies that can capture carbon dioxide directly from ambient air in an outdoor operating environment. 

Project: In Fall 2017, Salt River Project power and water awarded the CNCE a $70,000 grant to develop the engineering and supporting documentation for a CO2 Direct Air Capture collector. The result was the beginning of CNCE‚ MechanicalTree, the world‚ first passive direct air capture technology. MechanicalTree has recently moved into the commercialization phase and Popular Science chose the technology as a top engineering innovation for 2019.

Regions of Operations:

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

CNCE: According to the Public Health Institute, climate change disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations and disadvantaged communities. Those with more economic, social, or political capital are more likely to survive and thrive in changing climatic conditions. The impacts of climate change on underserved populations threaten to exacerbate existing health and social inequities, globally and within the U.S. By mitigating the effects of climate change, MechanicalTree will help lift up the communities most affected. In addition, as MechanicalTree is scaled, energy hubs could provide job opportunities and revenue in rural and economically disadvantaged locations. Access to affordable energy is critical to economically disadvantaged communities and this work will increase availability of affordable energy for all. 

ASU: ASU is deeply committed to positioning itself as one of the great new universities by seeking to build excellence, enhance access, and have an impact on our community, state, nation and the world. To do that requires our faculty and staff to reflect the intellectual, ethnic, and cultural diversity of our nation and world so that our students learn from the broadest perspectives, and we engage in the advancement of knowledge with the most inclusive understanding possible of the issues we are addressing through our scholarly activities. 

As one part of this commitment, we have developed a strategic plan for diversity at ASU. Developed in consultation with a wide variety of constituencies within the university and the deans, this plan serves as an ongoing touchstone of our commitment, and several specific initiatives that will change and evolve over time, depending on the challenges and opportunities we have before us. 

We recognize that race and gender historically have been markers of diversity in institutions of higher education. However, at ASU, we believe that diversity includes additional categories such as socioeconomic background, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, nationality, and intellectual perspective.