The Tri-Valley’s culture of innovation is in part a legacy of the two National Laboratories, located not far from Hacienda in Livermore. Since 1949, Sandia National Laboratories has worked to protect the nation’s national security. In 1952, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was created to advance nuclear weapons science and technology. Thanks to these institutions, the Tri-Valley offers an incredible density and diversity of talent. The labs also provide access to brilliant minds and sophisticated machinery to the private sector through the Livermore Valley Open Campus program.

Over the years, both labs have drawn highly skilled workers for ground-breaking projects using cutting-edge technology. LLNL has also developed deep expertise in important areas of science that now extend far beyond its original purpose. Such areas include earth and atmospheric science, bioscience and bioengineering, and supercomputing.

In 2022, LLNL made news globally with a breakthrough in fusion at its National Ignition Facility. As author Jeff Tollefson explains in the British journal Nature, “In December 2022, after more than a decade of effort and frustration, scientists at the US National Ignition Facility announced that they had set a world record by producing a fusion reaction that released more energy than it consumed – a phenomenon known as ignition. They have now proved that the feat was no accident by replicating it again and again.”

National Scope

The breakthrough at LLNL made news because “fusion offers a potential long-term energy source that uses abundant fuel supplies and does not produce greenhouse gases or long-lived radioactive waste,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy. This development, which was years in the making, is a major contribution toward creating a sustainable energy source for the future. LLNL has made other important contributions toward a healthier environment as well.

Last month, for example, the first-of-its-kind high-resolution assessment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in the United States was published. LLNL researchers worked with scientists from more than a dozen institutions to produce Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States. This report examines concrete ways for the United States to achieve its official national goal of a net-zero greenhouse gas economy by 2050. “Uniquely, Roads to Removal takes a bottom-up approach, characterizing the local opportunities available to deploy CDR, by addressing the benefits and tradeoffs of implementing these technologies and land management decisions, allowing communities to make informed decisions,” say Department of Energy officials.

The report “charts a path for the United States to achieve a net-zero greenhouse gas economy by 2050, helping to ensure the nation’s climate security and resilience by cleaning up Earth’s atmosphere and addressing the root cause of climate change,” according to LLNL officials. “It also includes an integrated analysis of CDR techniques and resources that are currently available, along with the costs that will be incurred on the path to net-zero.” Roads to Removal examines how much carbon dioxide (CO2) can actually be removed in the United States and estimates the cost for that work.

“The report examines the breadth of strategies where it was possible to make reliable estimates of what it will take to apply them, from land management to the latest technological options,” officials say. “The cost of every step of the solution was evaluated, from collecting waste biomass, to transporting CO2, to storing CO2 deep underground. The analysis enables interested counties, states, community stakeholders and CDR practitioners to work together to decide where, when and how much of each approach fits into their local needs.”

Local Impact

While national in importance, this report gives regional stakeholders and officials resources for determining the best CDR efforts in their local areas. “Roads to Removal identifies specific opportunities by location for soil and forest management, biomass conversion, and direct air capture technologies, as well as geological resources,” according to LLNL officials. “It provides information on various CDR transportation pathways, as well as cross-cutting regional and environmental justice considerations. These analyses will be useful for weighing alternatives and local benefits for specific CDR projects.”

LLNL scientist Jennifer Pett-Ridge, the report’s lead author, describes the publication this way: “Roads to Removal enables local, informed decision-making and shows us that we can prevail in our quest to reverse climate pollution. Every geographical region has a unique story, as well as an opportunity to help take enough CO2 out of the air and meet our net-zero emissions goal by 2050.”

While California as a whole was analyzed in the report, the Tri-Valley region was not specifically analyzed. In terms of CDR, “based on our local knowledge, some of the best options involve putting the wastes generated in the Tri-Valley to work for carbon removal,” according to Sarah Baker, one of the LLNL authors. “These wastes include food waste, construction waste, green waste, wastewater, and agricultural wastes from wineries. These materials in most cases would degrade in a landfill or be converted to biogas and flared. If we used them for carbon removal, they could be converted to useful fuels or materials, and the carbon dioxide from the process could be stored, either through geologic storage in California or in durable products such as biochar, which could be applied to the fields or used in wastewater treatment.”

Roads to Removal was jointly commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies, Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, and Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, with additional support from the ClimateWorks Foundation. LLNL researchers worked with scientists from more than a dozen institutions to develop the report, which concludes that the “ensemble of lowest-cost approaches for CO2 removal would create more than 440,000 long-term jobs and can be achieved using renewable energy sources, with currently available land and below ground geologic storage.”

Tri-Valley residents have reason to welcome the publication of Roads to Removal. “This report was authored by several residents of the Tri-Valley, from the largest lab in the region, and represents part of our vibrant community,” notes Baker. “Our Tri-Valley community is active and leading in areas like purchase of renewable electricity and proper disposal of food waste. We believe that readers here will value the message of cleaning up the atmosphere and contributing to the work ahead in this area.”

For more information about Roads to Removal: Options for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the United States, please visit www.roads2removal.org.

For more information about Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, please visit www.llnl.gov.

For more information about the Livermore Valley Open Campus program, please visit www.lvoc.org.