How We Are Capturing Your Carbon For Better Friday

This November (from 15/11 to 29/11), we are celebrating Better Friday. 

Better because our 25% off sale lasts longer than a few days, so you can make a considered purchase. Better because we’re also capturing the carbon produced from every delivery.

At BYBI, the health of our planet is at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we’re investing in technology that pulls CO₂ directly from the air and stores it underground safely and permanently. For every delivery we make between 15th-29th November from our Better Friday sale, we’ll remove the carbon produced from each delivery.

Why we’re capturing carbon

It’s estimated that we will need to remove 15 billion tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere by 2050 if we are to limit global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. 

How we’re capturing carbon

We’ve invested in Direct Air Capture - or DAC. DAC is a technology that pulls CO₂ directly from the air and stores it underground safely and permanently. Carbon Engineering’s Permanent Removal Units are a way to invest in the scaling of this technology and their future facility is expected to remove 1 million tonnes of carbon annually - the equivalent to burning 499,551 tonnes of coal.

We are going to calculate all the emissions related to the distribution of products from our Better Friday sales, and then invest in Carbon Engineering Permanent Removal Units equivalent to these emissions.

 

Here’s a bit more about DAC, how it works and how we’ll be using it in our Better Friday sale.

How many DAC plants will be built globally?

The number of plants will depend on the support and purchasing interest this technology receives. 

 

Where will the plants be built?

 

Transporting the captured carbon can be costly (both monetarily and environmentally), meaning new DAC plants are best situated in the proximity of existing underground storage reservoirs, including oil wells.

When will they be active?

Construction on Carbon Engineering’s large-scale DAC plant is planned for 2022 and is expected to go into operation in 2024/2025. 

Where will the carbon be geologically stored? 

The carbon will be stored at or in close proximity to the DAC plants. For Carbon Engineering’s large-scale project, the CO2 will be stored in the Permian Basin in the US. The carbon is expected to be stored indefinitely in underground storage and gradually become part of the geology of the storage area.

In plain terms how does this work? 

Time to unearth your old Geography knowledge. The CO₂ is pumped into porous and highly permeable geological layers at least 1km deep. The location of these layers is key, as they should be capped by an impermeable layer (i.e. caprock) to prevent the upward ‘leakage’ of any CO₂. Natural mineralisation causes the CO₂ to gradually turn into stone in anywhere from a decade to thousands of years, depending on the geological characteristics of the well.

Does this have any impact on the surrounding environment?

No - the DAC plants have a low land footprint, reducing the risk of leakage to other areas. Carbon removal through DAC will require between 500-2150 times less land space than removing the same amount of CO2 through forestation. There aren’t any other negative impacts associated with the running of the plants. 

Are any other brands participating?

The first commitments to fund DAC have generally come from very large corporations (such as Microsoft and Shopify) and governments. Carbon Engineering’s partnership with BeZero has made this game changing technology available in small volumes to regular businesses and individuals for the first time (like us!). 

Is the cost passed onto the customer?

No, BYBI is funding the cost of the carbon capture.