Micro Carbon Capture and Utilization: A Canadian Solution for Low Carbon Heating with Natural Gas

最近的研究表明，加拿大和不列颠哥伦比亚省将无法实现2020年的气候行动目标。不列颠哥伦比亚省的能源阶梯法规要求建筑在2032年之前实现净零排放。需要创新和实用的方法来实现设想的零净建筑气候行动目标。碳捕获系统可以在实现建筑物的可持续能源生产方面发挥关键作用。此外，微固碳技术具有巨大的商业化潜力，特别是对现有的天然气系统而言。然而，碳捕获和利用技术在加拿大尚未得到广泛应用。尽管碳捕获和利用已经在工业规模上得到了应用，但该技术在实际建筑环境中的微观应用还有待研究。本研究的前提是基于上述的知识差距。

Recent studies have revealed that Canada and British Columbia will miss achieving the climate action targets for 2020. BC`s energy step code requires buildings to be net-zero ready by 2032. Innovative and practical approaches are needed to achieve the envisioned climate action targets on net-zero buildings. Carbon capture systems could play a crucial role in achieving sustainable energy production in buildings. Furthermore, micro carbon sequestration has a great commercialization potential, especially for existing natural gas systems. However, carbon capture and utilization technologies are yet to be widely deployed in Canada. Even though carbon capture and utilization has been used at an industrial scale, micro level application of the technology is yet to be researched in actual building settings. The premise for this study was developed based on the aforementioned knowledge gap. The University of British Columbia will collaborate with CleanO2, Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. (an AltaGas subsidiary), FortisBC, Northern Lights College and the City of Dawson Creek to analyze the system performance, environmental performance, and market feasibility of micro carbon capture systems in institutional and large residential buildings. This research will seek to understand the feasibility of adopting micro level carbon capture in the Canadian building sector, and to generate a much needed knowledge base on the subject. The proposed research aims for breakthroughs in zero emission building heating with natural gas, and will provide a foundation for investigating micro level carbon capture and utilization.