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Does this technology make economic sense?

October 14, 2022

"Does this carbon removal method make economic sense?" It can be a scary question. Answering it requires Math. And if the answer is "no" you might not like it.

But this is a key question for anyone running a carbon removal startup. And you need to be asking this question too if you’re taking a job at a startup, investing, or buying carbon credits.

Grant Faber loves this part of the carbon removal puzzle. That's why it's great to talk with him about this daunting topic. Cost-accounting is his jam, and specifically the Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA). I caught up with Grant to talk about his passion for TEA, you can watch the chat here on YouTube, 28 minutes. 

Here’s my takeaways

• Who cares about techno-economic assessment?
• Looking for a job? Pick a company with good TEA so the company stays in business
• Buying carbon credits? Pick a company with good TEA so you get carbon delivered
• Investing? Pick a company with good TEA so you make money
• Getting up to speed with the industry? Learn about TEA so you can put the overwhelming number of new startups in perspective
• For startups
• Cost-accounting at the idea stage is crucial (though this isn’t a formal TEA)
• As you start wanting to attract investors and funders, formal TEA is key
• Compare a new process to existing processe
• We still have some teams blow up in Launchpad because they didn't do the cost accounting or carbon accounting properly. Yes, it's a daunting process but you would rather know now rather than later. Would love to see more teams get the done early.
• What is Techno-Economic assessment, exactly?
• Does this Technology make Economic sense?
• Make a model to assess costs upfront and over time
• Imagine a pie-chart breakdown of costs, how those slices contribute to unit costs
• Cost curves over time as we scale & what markets could be open to you
• Example
• Direct Air capture process
• Equipment, machines, pipelines and storage for gas
• Materials, chemical sorbents, water
• Energy use & cost
• Labor and staffing
• Grant’s journey to being hooked with TEA
• Started as an undergrad in finance
• Led helping his school commit to renewable energy, modeling the cost assessment was key to the campaign
• That's what got him hooked. Got more curious from there, joined AirMiners, evolved

I really liked the ending section with Grant about how he got into this. It shows how iterative and curiosity driven our career paths really are. I recommend this section so I’m linking it directly here, starting at 20 minutes in. To get help with understanding techno-economic assessment, Grant’s website is here.

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