CarbonCloud: A Techno-Economic Analysis of a Distributed Residential Direct Air Capture Model

This work explores addressing the dual challenge of gigaton-scale Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)and increasing economic pressure on homeowners as a complementary opportunity: a decentralizedDirect Air Capture (DAC) network utilizing the existing HVAC infrastructure found in 75% ofAmerican homes that incentivizes participation by creating passive income for homeowners. Here we assess the techno-economic feasibility of distributed carbon capture network. Homeownersretrofit their forced-air systems with a drop-in filter containing a CO2-selective sorbent, andsaturated filters are reclaimed to a centralized plant for the regeneration of CO2 gas via a manageddelivery fleet. By leveraging airflow effectively subsidized by the homeowner, this network couldbypass the massive capital expenses and land-use requirements of centralized industrial DAC plantswhile providing passive income to families.