Determining which Carbon Capture Method and Application are Most Beneficial for Social Entrepreneurs in Kenya

Abstract

Air pollution in Kenya is at dangerously high levels. It is the leading cause of heart disease, respiratory distress, and stroke in Kenya. Social entrepreneurs are looking at carbon capture to mitigate this problem. There are three methods of carbon capture: collecting from the atmosphere, collecting from industrial sources, and collecting from vehicular sources. Each collection method has a different social impact, environmental impact, and economic feasibility. This paper evaluates the carbon collection methods with respect to these three criteria. The carbon that is collected can then be made into a variety of carbon-based products such as pencils, ink, paint, tiles, diamonds, activated charcoal, and graphene reinforced bricks. Assuming that each product is made sustainably, each carbon-based product has a different social impact and economic feasibility. This paper evaluates the carbon-based products with respect to these two criteria. The carbon capture methods each have a different social impact based on their ability to spread awareness about air pollution. Collecting carbon from the atmosphere and from vehicles creates the most social impact. Collecting from the atmosphere makes a statement within the community because the towers used are large and impeding, whereas, collecting from vehicles has an individual impact with each driver. Collecting carbon from industrial sources creates less of a social impact because there is no clear statement being made to the general public. The environmental impact of collecting from industrial and vehicular sources is higher than collecting from the atmosphere because collecting from industrial and vehicular sources prevents the pollution from entering the atmosphere in the first place. Finally, collecting from industrial and vehicular sources is more economically feasible than collecting from the atmosphere. Collecting from the atmosphere is extremely expensive to maintain unlike other collection sources. Therefore, based on the three criteria, capturing carbon from vehicular sources is the most impactful. All of the carbon-based products have the potential to create a large social impact if they are marketed well. Products such as pencils, ink, paint, and diamonds will reach wider groups of people and make a large impact that way. Other products such as activated charcoal and graphene reinforced bricks won’t reach as many people but will be more impactful products for the people who need them. More research needs to be done to determine which carbon-based product is the most economically feasible to produce as this technology is relatively new and there haven’t been many studies regarding it.