The Massive Machines Removing Carbon from Earth's Atmosphere | Jan Wurzbacher | TED

翻译人员: Chen Xuan 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

Well today I'm really glad to get to share something with you

今天我很高兴能够跟大家分享

that I've been working on for the past 15 years.

过去十五年间我所从事的事情。

But more importantly,

但更重要的是，

something that could become the first specimen

它可能会成为未来几十年内

of an entire new industry that we might find all around the planet

一个遍布全球的全新行业的

over the next decades.

第一个案例。

Think of it as something like the very first smartphone.

可以把它想象成第一部智能手机。

Still quite clumsy and quite expensive, but of transformative technology.

虽然笨拙且昂贵， 但代表着革新技术。

Smartphones have changed the way how we communicate.

智能手机改变了大家交流的方式。

This, I hope,

我希望这项技术

could change the way we deal with global warming.

能够改变我们应对全球变暖的方式。

This is Orca.

这是Orca虎鲸号收集装置。

This is the first worldwide commercial direct air capture and storage plant.

这是世界上第一个商业化 直接空气捕获和储存技术工厂。

It is in Iceland,

这个工厂位于冰岛，

and it is an industrial plant that extracts CO2 out of ambient air.

可以从环境空气中提取二氧化碳。

We have operated now for more than one year.

目前已经运营超过一年。

It costs more than 10 million dollars to build Orca.

建造Orca花费了 超过 1000 万美元。

And its modules,

它的模块，

those eight boxes that we call CO2 collectors,

即八个二氧化碳收集器，

they are designed to extract a bit more than 10 tons of carbon dioxide

用于每天从空气中提取

from the air every day.

十多吨二氧化碳。

It sounds quite expensive.

听起来很贵。

However, when thinking about cost, we should keep in mind one thing.

但是，在考虑成本时， 我们应该清楚的是：

There is one thing that we cannot buy,

有一样东西是我们买不来的，

and that is time.

那就是时间。

And we need to be quite fast here.

我们需要快速地响应。

So that is why

这就是为什么

Orca is not there to demonstrate costs.

Orca存在的目的 不是展示它的高成本。

Orca is there to show in the field, out there, in the weather,

而是为了显示在现场，在空气中，

that the plant is operating, and Orca is working.

工厂正在运行， Orca正在起效。

So the next step for us at Climeworks

所以我们Climeworks

and for all the other companies in the field

和该领域其他公司的下一步是

is now going forward, improving the technology,

不断前进，改进技术

scaling it up from tens to hundreds to millions of tons capacity.

将其处理能力从数十吨扩大到数百吨， 再到数百万吨。

And as we go ahead and we scale it up,

随着技术不断前进，规模不断扩大，

with every new plant going online,

每个新工厂的建成，

we'll have efficiencies going up and we'll have costs going down.

我们的效率都会提高，成本也会下降。

Now, how does it work?

那它是如何运作的？

In the case of Orca,

Orca的运作方式是，

we have fans mounted to the CO2 collectors that draw air through them.

我们在二氧化碳收集器上安装了风机， 通过风机吸入空气。

Inside there is a filter material that we call sorbent,

里面有一种过滤材料， 我们称之为吸附剂，

a highly porous material.

是一种高度多孔的材料。

And as the air pulls through it,

当空气通过它时，

the CO2 is bound at the surface of this material.

二氧化碳会吸附在 这种材料的表面上。

Think of it as a sponge that sucks up water in its pores.

把它想象成一块海绵， 它的毛孔在不断吸水。

We do that for a certain time until the material is filled with used CO2,

我们会一直运行风机 直到材料吸满回收的二氧化碳，

it is saturated.

直到它达到饱和状态。

And we close the modules,

然后我们关闭模块，

we heat them up to around 100 degrees Celsius,

将其加热到大约 100 摄氏度，

and we can extract concentrated CO2 from them.

从中提取浓缩的二氧化碳。

The good thing is that the main energy input

好在该过程中所需的主要能量输入

that we need for that process is low temperature heat

是低温热能，

at around 100 degrees Celsius.

温度大约为 100 摄氏度。

And it can entirely be powered by renewable energy.

它完全可以由可再生能源提供。

Now that looks quite easy at first glance, right?

乍一看，这个系统 看起来很简单，对吧？

And indeed, the process behind that is quite simple.

的确，工艺原理非常简单。

However, when it comes to implementing that into reality

然而，当要将其付诸实践，

in the field out there

让工厂在现场

with the purpose of having a plant that is constantly operating,

全天候可靠地

24/7, reliably,

持续运行，

then it becomes quite challenging.

这就变得非常有挑战。

Let me give you two examples why it is a challenge

让我举两个例子说明为什么

to capture and remove CO2 from the air.

从空气中捕获和去除 二氧化碳是一项挑战。

First of all,

首先，

there is not a lot of CO2 in the air.

空气中的二氧化碳浓度并不高。

We're currently at around 420 ppm.

目前（空气中的）二氧化碳浓度 约为420ppm。

That means one molecule out of 2,500 molecules in the air around us

这意味着我们周围空气里的 2,500 个分子中，

is CO2.

有一个分子是二氧化碳。

That's not a lot.

这不是很多。

And that means to extract only one ton of CO2 from the air,

这意味着从空气中 提取一吨二氧化碳，

we need to filter around two million cubic meters of air.

我们需要过滤大约 200 万立方米的空气。

That's about 800 Olympic swimming pools.

这约等于 800 个 奥林匹克游泳池（的体积）。

And there's another way of picturing that, which I personally find quite puzzling.

还有另一种描述方式， 我个人觉得这很令人费解。

Imagine one of these filters

想象一下其中一个过滤器，

with an inlet area of one meter by one meter.

它的入口面积为一米乘一米。

And the amount of air,

待处理空气量，

like, think of it as a block of air

可以把它想象成一个空气块，

that you have to push through that filter inlet

你必须把它推过过滤器入口，

to take just one ton of CO2 out of the air,

目的是从空气中去除一吨二氧化碳，

is 2,000 kilometers long.

但这个空气块有两千米长。

Another example why this is a challenge

另一个让这成为挑战的原因是

is that it is not so easy to find good,

找到好的的吸附剂材料

actually, the best sorbent materials,

或者说最好的吸附剂材料并不容易，

which are both high-performing

这些吸附剂材料既要具有高性能，

and which can prevail outside there in the field with a long life.

又可以在户外使用 并具有很长的使用寿命。

Now, in this next picture, you see Christoph and myself,

在下一张图片中， 您可以看到克里斯托弗和我本人——

cofounders of Climeworks,

Climeworks的两位联合创始人，

in the very early days of Climeworks, working on that.

在Climeworks的早期阶段， 正在为此努力。

The very first sorbents, we produced them with our own hands,

最初的吸附剂是我们亲手生产的，

such as you would do your laundry if you didn't have a washing machine.

就像你在没有洗衣机的情况下 洗衣服一样。

We set some sorbents on fire,

我们烧制了一些吸附剂，

and we produced hundreds of samples in the past 10 years.

并在过去十年间制作了数百个样品。

Looking forward,

展望未来，

thousands of more will come, very likely.

很可能还会有成千上万的新样品。

Now, this is one way of doing it.

这是一种方法。

We are doing that in our company, but many others are doing it.

我们公司是这么做的， 还有很多其他公司也是这么做的。

There are companies out there, start-ups,

也有更多初创公司，

more established companies and researchers and scientists.

更成熟的公司以及 更多研究人员和科学家。

And that is a good thing

这是一件好事，

because the challenge ahead of us is immense.

因为摆在我们面前的挑战是巨大的。

Now let's step back and look at the big picture.

现在让我们退后一步，宏观地看。

So where does this kind of technology fit into our overall fight

这项技术在我们 应对气候变化的斗争中

against climate change?

有什么用处呢？

And it's important that first and foremost,

首先，也是最重要的，

the most important thing we need to do is, and will always stay,

我们需要做的最重要的事情是， 并将永远是，

the drastic reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases.

大幅减少温室气体的排放。

Without that,

否则，

we will have no chance of ever meeting any of our climate goals.

我们将永远无法实现任何气候目标。

Then in a second step,

其次，

it will be important that we can all ramp up the capacity

重要的是我们都可以提高

of extracting and removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

从大气中捕获和去除二氧化碳的能力。

Now, when thinking about the latter, so far I've spoken about technology,

在考虑后者时，截止目前 我谈的主要是关于技术，

but we shouldn't forget that also, nature offers several solutions

但我们也不应该忘记， 大自然提供了多种

to extract carbon from the air,

从空气中捕获碳的解决方案，

such as forests and oceans.

例如森林和海洋。

And one element that is very important

一个非常重要的因素是

will be doubling down on these methods offered by nature,

加倍利用大自然提供的这些方法，

enhancing them and protecting them.

增强和保护它们。

That is important.

这尤为重要。

However, will it be sufficient to rely only on nature-based carbon sinks?

然而，仅仅依靠 基于自然的碳汇就足够了吗？

Very likely not.

很可能不够。

Trees need time to grow and forests need space,

树木需要时间才能生长， 森林需要空间，

and there is simply just not enough area available

但根本没有足够的可用面积来种植

to plant entire continents of new forests,

覆盖整个大陆的新森林，

which we would need

而我们需要这些面积的森林

in order to capture many billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.

才能从大气中捕获 数十亿吨二氧化碳。

And therefore,

因此，

besides preserving all these nature-based solutions and enhancing them,

除了保留并加强 这些自然的解决方案之外，

it will be very important to scale up technology-based solutions

也需要推进技术型解决方案，

for large-scale carbon removal from the atmosphere.

从大气中大规模地去除碳。

Now, I often get asked if you build direct air capture plants

我经常被问到 如果建造直接空气捕获厂，

like the one we saw before,

像我们刚刚看到的那样，

is that a license to continue polluting?

这是继续污染的通行证吗？

It is clearly not.

显然不是。

Direct air capture is not a silver bullet, but it is a must-have.

直接空气捕获技术 不是灵丹妙药，而是必须的。

Had we stopped emitting 20, 30 years ago,

如果我们早在 20 或 30 年前就停止排放了，

or at least substantially reduced our emissions,

或者至少大幅减少了我们的排放，

Climeworks and this whole emerging industry around us

Climeworks和这个新兴行业

would likely not be here today.

如今可能就不会存在了。

And for the climate,

对于气候而言，

that would probably be the better solution.

这可能是更好的解决方案。

However, that's not where we are today.

然而，这早已不是我们目前的处境。

Today, the IPCC has indicated in their last report

如今，IPCC在最新的报告中指出，

that technology-based solutions to remove carbon from the air

从空气中去除碳的技术型解决方案

are a necessity,

是必要的，

and they included it [in] their models.

并且将其纳入了他们的模型之中。

And that is why this entire industry that is currently emerging

这就是为什么 目前正在兴起的整个行业

now needs to double down on moving from small-scale and relatively expensive

需要加倍努力， 从小规模、高成本转向

to larger-scale and cheap.

大规模和低成本。

Double down on developing, deploying,

加倍在现场进行开发、部署、

learning and adjusting in the field.

学习和调整。

We have to develop markets,

我们必须开发市场，

we have to develop policy.

我们必须制定政策。

And we have to develop mechanisms

我们必须开发机制

to analyze the CO2 capture

来分析二氧化碳捕获和

and other technical ways of removing CO2

其他去除二氧化碳的技术方法，

that take care of the fact

这些方法考虑到这样一个事实，

that by taking CO2 out of the air with machines

即通过设备从空气中提取二氧化碳

and putting it down in the ground

并将其封存入地下，

we have one of the most permanent ways of storing the CO2 away

通过最长久的方法之一

for millions of years.

将二氧化碳储存数百万年。

Now let’s get back one step,

现在让我们后退一步，

and let’s get back to today where we are.

让我们回到目前的情景。

And let’s get back to the present, to what is concrete.

让我们回到当下，回到具体的事情。

Let's get back to Iceland and our Orca plant.

回到冰岛，回到Orca工厂。

I've told you before how these collectors extract CO2 from the air.

我已经告知大家这些收集器 如何从空气中捕获二氧化碳。

Now, how do we make sure that it really permanently stays locked away?

那么我们该如何确保它 真正永久地保持封存状态？

For that reason, in Iceland,

因此我们在冰岛，

we have partnered up with a company Carbfix

与Carbfix公司合作，

and have developed a method

开发了一种技术，

for permanent carbon storage through mineralization.

通过矿化永久储存碳。

What they do is they take the CO2, mix it with water,

他们所做的是 将捕获的二氧化碳与水混合，

and inject it into underground volcanic, so-called basalt rock formations.

然后注入地下火山， 即所谓的玄武岩岩层。

That is one of the most abundant stone or stone material that you find on Earth.

这是人类在地球上发现的 最丰富的岩石或石材之一。

And by doing so,

通过这样做，

the CO2 binds with the rock, it mineralizes,

二氧化碳与岩石结合并矿化，

and it literally turns into stone within two years,

在两年内在地下数百米处

hundreds of meters underground.

真正地变成岩石。

The good thing about that method is that it is very tangible,

这种方法的好处是效果非常直观，

and it's very easy to understand.

而且非常容易理解。

And for that purpose, I've brought this rock sample here for you.

为此，我为大家带来了 这个岩石样本。

That is taken actually from a drill core

这是取自地下数百米的

of a basalt rock formation hundreds of meters underground.

玄武岩岩层的钻芯实物。

And what you can see here, that's a black rock,

你眼前的是一块黑色的岩石，

which is the black basalt rock, containing some white crystals.

也就是黑色的玄武岩， 里面有一些白色的晶体。

And these crystals are CO2 turned into stone underground

这些晶体就是在地下变成岩石

and locked away.

并封存起来的二氧化碳。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Now I explained to you one method of doing this.

现在我向大家解释了 （碳封存的）一种方法。

There are several other methods out there.

还有更多的方法。

There are several other techniques, other technologies.

还有更多的技术和更多的科技。

But the important thing about it is that this thing is out there.

但重要的是我们已经有了这些技术。

It's in practice, it's operating, and we are learning from it.

我们在实践、运行这些技术， 也在从中学习。

And that is so essential for this new industry.

这对于这个新兴行业来说尤为重要。

And we have learned a lot, actually.

实际上，我们已经学到了很多东西。

We have learned how to operate on hot, dry summer days.

我们已经学会了 如何在炎热干燥的夏季运行设备。

We learned to operate them in pouring rain.

我们已经学会了 如何在暴雨中运行设备。

And we even had to learn how to operate them on a just normal day.

我们甚至必须学习 如何在平常的一天运行设备。

We had to learn how to ramp up the Orca plant

我们必须学习在冰岛暴风雪过后，

immediately after an Icelandic snowstorm.

如何快速地对Orca工厂升温。

And this all is what we need

这就是我们所需要的，

in order to deploy these plants all over the world.

从而实现在世界各地 部署同类型工厂。

We should deploy them all over the world

我们应该在世界各地部署这些工厂，

because we do need so many of them.

因为我们确实需要非常多的处理厂。

We can deploy them all over the world because the air is everywhere around us

我们可以在世界各地部署工厂， 因为我们周围到处都是空气，

and the CO2 is almost the same concentration

而且我们所在的任何地方的

everywhere where we are.

二氧化碳浓度几乎相同。

So it doesn't matter where we capture the CO2.

因此，我们在哪里 捕获二氧化碳并不重要。

And for that reason,

因此，

and in the spirit of deploying more,

为了部署更多的处理厂，

in June of this year

在今年 6 月

we have announced the next step on our Climeworks scale-up road map,

我们宣布了Climeworks 下一步扩展路线图，

which is named Mammoth, and that is what you see here.

名为Mammoth（猛犸象号）， 就是大家现在看到的。

That is a plant which is nine times larger than the Orca plant,

这是一个比Orca 大九倍的处理厂，

that will be in Iceland as well.

也建在冰岛。

And the first tons of CO2 will be captured by the end of 2023.

到 2023 年底 将捕获到第一吨二氧化碳。

This winter, we will finalize the first building before the snow starts.

今年冬天， 我们将在下雪前建成第一座建筑。

Now there is a big challenge ahead of us.

现在摆在我们面前的 是一个巨大的挑战。

And actually, you can only really understand what this challenge is

事实上，要真正地理解 面前的挑战

and really quantify it

并且去量化这个挑战，

if you build these things out there,

需要在建设这些设备的同时，

make mistakes and learn from them.

不断犯错误并从中吸取教训。

So it's a hard problem.

所以这是一个难题。

It's not a simple problem to solve,

这不是一个简单的问题，

and there is no easy solution to it.

也没有简单的解决方案。

And without action like this, there is no solution at all.

如果不采取这样的行动， 根本就不会有解决办法。

And so when I started looking back at the last 15 years,

所以当我开始回顾过去的十五年间，

what we have been doing,

我们一直努力的事情时，

I'm now looking forward to the next 15 years that are to come

我会翘首以盼未来十五年的到来，

because that is what we need.

因为那是我们大家所需要的。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌声）