Architects Reveal the High-Rise That Sucks CO2 Out of Air

Video Credit: TomoNews US
Published on November 24, 2021 - Duration: 01:24s

Architects Reveal the High-Rise That Sucks CO2 Out of Air

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — Architects recently presented plans for highrise towers that can absorb large amounts of carbon out of Earth’s atmosphere and ecosystems. Here are the details: New Atlas reports that architects unveiled a revolutionary way to build carbon-capturing cities at the 2021 U.N.

Climate Change Summit, also known as COP26.

Speaking at the summit on Thursday, November 11, senior partners at architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill presented a blueprint for skyscrapers that can absorb up to four times as much carbon as they emit during construction and their lifetime.

The skyscrapers, called Urban Sequoias, would draw in air from outside and then use carbon-extraction systems to remove carbon from the air.

The buildings would also come with areas dedicated to growing plants and algae — both of which could be used to capture carbon and to provide fuel for the building.

The carbon extracted from each building could be used to create road paving materials, pipes or other parts of urban structures.

The architects said if all new buildings were built to collect more carbon than they emit, urban greenhouse gas emissions could be greatly reduced — perhaps by as much as 1.6 billion tons a year.

The architects said up to 120 tons of carbon could be trapped per square kilometer if concrete-covered areas were converted into gardens and cities were re-built as intense carbon-absorbing landscapes.

They said that streets could also be retrofitted with proven carbon-capture technologies.


You are here

You might like