Carbon Lockdown

It was a foggy and cold day. I met Chris and Shane at the heart of the Appalachian Mountains to discuss plan for a #WoodVault project. Field notes Nov 16-17, 2024: Barton Knob, West Virginia. 1) This region lost 90% of its forests to timber and fire between 1880-1920. The native Red Spruce has been replaced by non-native species. 2) The site has 100+ sediment ponds left from coal mining with a technique called 'contour mining' between WWII and 2010. These ponds have negative impact on the local cold water trout and ecosystem. Over the last 14 years, Chris and Shane, with the NGO Green Forests Work and Monongahela National Forest of USDA Forest Service have been restoring this ecosystem by replanting red spruce from the seed bank of a patch of accidentally preserved native forest, while remediating the sediment ponds. Our project will add a carbon sequestration component by burying forestry residuals and removed non-native species in one or more abandoned sediment ponds for durable #CarbonRemoval. The project is led by Carbon Lockdown with a research component from 3 universities. Thanks to the support from Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management | U.S. Department of Energy through the Carbon Negative Shot Pilots. https://lnkd.in/e4iMcrGA

Carbon Lockdown is looking for a skilled project manager with carbon removal experience to lead implementation of our Wood Vault projects to be funded through the DOE Carbon Negative Shot.

I'm excited Carbon Lockdown was just selected for $5M funding to implement "Woody biomass burial in the Appalachia". Grateful for the continued support from Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management | U.S. Department of Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory. Look forward to partnering with University of Maryland, University of Kentucky and other partners. This project will demonstrate the commercial-scale feasibility of Wood Harvesting and Storage (#WHS) via #WoodVault technology (https://lnkd.in/gGXF3VXY) (https://wapo.st/4eD8C9w). By working with a farm, a national forest and a municipality in the Appalachia, the project will demonstrate a new economic driver utilizing “waste” resources in an economically depressed region while removing carbon #CDR.

Huge congratulations to Ning Zeng and the Carbon Lockdown team on securing $5M in funding to implement pilot biomass burial projects at three sites in the Appalachian region!?? This transformative project, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Energy Technology Laboratory, will push the boundaries of Wood Harvesting and Storage (WHS) with their innovative WoodVault technology. Wishing the entire team, along with partners great success!!

???????? Huge congrats to Mote, Arbor Energy, Carba, Inc., Carbon Lockdown , Eion, Lithos Carbon, Arizona State University, Clemson University (Dr. Lawrence Murdoch), Northwestern University, Stanford University (Dr. Kate Maher and Team), and University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center for their U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Negative Shot Pilot? awards!!! And a big thank you to the tremendous teams at Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management | U.S. Department of Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory for their work to advance responsible and science-based deployment of CDR ?????? https://lnkd.in/gKJv2Gzb

???????? Huge congrats to Mote, Arbor Energy, Carba, Inc., Carbon Lockdown , Eion, Lithos Carbon, Arizona State University, Clemson University (Dr. Lawrence Murdoch), Northwestern University, Stanford University (Dr. Kate Maher and Team), and University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center for their U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Negative Shot Pilot? awards!!! And a big thank you to the tremendous teams at Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management | U.S. Department of Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory for their work to advance responsible and science-based deployment of CDR ?????? https://lnkd.in/gKJv2Gzb

?????? Thrilled to be partnering with University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Maryland – College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, and the Borough of Hanover PA on a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Negative Shot Pilot for WHS in Appalachia. Great ?????? to the teams at Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management | U.S. Department of Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory for the continued support and partnership https://lnkd.in/gKJv2Gzb Cc Ning Zeng Jonathan Loevner Uuganbayar (Ugi) Otgonbaatar, Ph.D. Richard Coaxum Dr. Christopher Barton (UK) Scott Tjaden Charles Hegberg

?Big News: The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management | U.S. Department of Energy, with DOE’s Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), today announced more than $58.5m in federal funding for 11 projects to help develop a commercially viable #CarbonRemoval industry in the United States. These 11 projects are winners of the DOE’s Carbon Negative Shot, the U.S. government’s first major carbon dioxide removal effort launched in 2021 and part of the wider Energy Earthshots Initiative. The funding will support pilot projects and testing facilities to demonstrate and scale carbon dioxide removal technologies that reduce carbon dioxide pollution by removing it directly from the atmosphere. ?? Congratulations to all the winners, including CO2BC members, Carbon Lockdown , Eion, and Lithos Carbon! More information on the prize winners here → https://lnkd.in/gEz6vWvs #CarbonNegativeShot #CDR #ClimateTech #DOE

Today, our paper was published in Science. A natural 'wood burial experiment' proves 'wood vaulting' as a high durability #carbonremoval method. Importantly, it identifies the conditions required to permanently store carbon by engineering. https://lnkd.in/gzsdG6CP Main findings of the paper: Carbon loss of the ancient wood is less than 5% after 3775 years. Cell structures are nearly intact. Anoxic (oxygen-depleted) condition created by low permeability clay soil is the key in the near perfect preservation. The burial site has a saturated hydraulic conductivity of 2x10^(-9) meter per second. This provides a critical data point for guiding wood vault engineering. The potential for Wood Harvesting and Storage (#WHS) via #WoodVault is 2-10 GtCO2/y. The low-end can be realized by using currently unexploited wood residuals, with co-benefits like help solving the wild fire problem in the America West and the urban waste wood problem in the East. The high end is at the level of total #CDR IPCC calls for to reach global net-zero target, which requires major forest management: possible but sustainability needs to be ensured. As a hybrid Nature-engineering solution, wood vaulting is simple, practical, with a low cost of $30-$100 per tonne CO2 after optimization. The paper is accompanied by a neat Perspective article by Yuan Yao of Yale School of the Environment. https://lnkd.in/g3bKbin8

?? Back by popular demand, Climate Vault’s Webinar Wednesdays are returning this September to shine a spotlight on the 2023 Carbon Dioxide Removal Innovation Award recipients: Carbon Lockdown and Octavia Carbon. ?? Hear first-hand from each winning project’s Co-Founder, as well as members of the esteemed Climate Vault Tech Chamber, about how these innovative solutions will drive a meaningful impact against the climate crisis. ??? Save your spot -> https://hubs.la/Q02Mr71M0