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By Cathy Bussewitz

The Associated Press

NEW YORK 鈥� From the outside, one residential high-rise in Manhattan鈥檚 Upper West Side looks much like any other luxury building: A doorman greets visitors in a spacious lobby adorned with tapestry and marble.

Yet just below in the basement is an unusual set of equipment that no other building in New York City 鈥� indeed few in the world 鈥� can claim. To drastically reduce the 30-story building鈥檚 emissions, the owners have installed a maze of twisting pipes and tanks that collect carbon dioxide from the massive, gas-fired boilers in the basement before it would otherwise be released into the air.

The goal is to stop that gas from entering the atmosphere. And there鈥檚 a dire need for reducing emissions from skyscrapers like these in such a vertical city. Buildings account for roughly two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions here, according to the city buildings department. Also, buildings in New York emit more air pollution than those in any other state.

Meanwhile, owners of about 50,000 structures 鈥� more than half the buildings in New York City 鈥� must make dramatic cuts starting next year or face escalating fines under a new ordinance: Local Law 97. Other cities such as聽Boston聽and Denver have similar rules.

As a result, property managers are scrambling to change how their buildings operate. Some are installing carbon capture systems, which strip out carbon dioxide, direct it into tanks and prepare it for sale to other companies to make carbonated beverages, soap or concrete.

Building owners can meet emissions goals without needing to relocate residents for extensive renovations. A concrete manufacturer in Brooklyn, for example, purchases the carbon dioxide and converts it into a mineral to be permanently embedded in concrete.

鈥淲e think the problem is reducing emissions as quickly as possible,鈥� said Brian Asparro, chief operating officer of CarbonQuest, which built the system. 鈥淭ime is not on our side, and this type of solution can be installed quickly, cost-effectively and without a major disruption.鈥�

Yet critics, many from environmental groups, say building managers should be going much further: They argue that to achieve meaningful reductions in emissions, buildings should be significantly upgraded and switched to renewable-powered electricity instead of continuing to burn fossil fuels. They also express concerns about the safety of storing large amounts of carbon dioxide, an asphyxiant, in a densely populated community.

鈥淐arbon capture doesn鈥檛 actually reduce emissions; it seeks to put them somewhere else,鈥� said Anthony Rogers-Wright, director of environmental justice at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. 鈥淭he emissions still exist. And we should be clear that the only way to reduce emissions 鈥� is to stop emitting.鈥�

It鈥檚 still unclear whether carbon capture technology will even be recognized by New York City as a qualifying emissions reduction; the city has yet to decide. Asparro and others are trying to persuade city officials to accept it.

Capturing the culprit

In the basement of the Upper West Side apartment building, two hulking 500-horsepower boilers rumble, burning natural gas and releasing carbon dioxide. The boilers, which are expected to last 10 to 20 more years, produce roughly half the building鈥檚 emissions, Asparro said.

The other half of the emissions that, in the city鈥檚 view, the building is responsible for are those generated at the power plants where the building gets its electricity. The carbon capture system, Asparro said, is trapping about 60 percent of the boilers鈥� emissions. All told then, including the electricity to power the system, it鈥檚 reducing the building鈥檚 emissions by roughly 23 percent.

鈥淏oilers like this are installed everywhere 鈥� in schools and hospitals around the world,鈥� Asparro said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really big challenge that buildings are facing in order to reduce emissions.鈥�

The carbon dioxide and other gases are diverted from the chimney and piped into a room where a few parking spaces have been repurposed to house the carbon capture system. The gases flow over a special material that separates out the carbon dioxide. Then it鈥檚 compressed and cooled to minus-10 degrees Fahrenheit, turning it into liquid that鈥檚 then stored in tanks. That process takes energy, and capturing carbon dioxide does increase the building鈥檚 electricity use, but overall, the system is still reducing the building鈥檚 emissions.

More pipes lead to spigots outside the building, where a truck pulls up once or twice a week to collect liquefied carbon dioxide. The truck carries it through city streets and across a bridge to Brooklyn, where it鈥檚 sold to a concrete manufacturer.

Carbon capture technology has existed on an industrial scale for decades. Oil and gas companies and some manufacturing plants capture carbon dioxide and either sell it or use it to wrestle more oil from underground.

But now a handful of green tech companies and building owners are trying for the first time to deploy this technology on a much smaller scale in residential buildings. New York City鈥檚 law requires buildings exceeding 25,000 square feet to reduce emissions. In Minnesota, Radisson Blu Mall of America, a hotel, has installed a system that captures carbon dioxide that鈥檚 eventually used to make soap.

Building owners that can afford to pay for carbon capture equipment do receive some federal tax breaks for installing the systems. There are other incentives available to help update buildings, according to NYC Accelerator, a program that helps homeowners and property managers find ways to reduce emissions.

To reduce energy use, the apartment building also has computerized motors, fans and pumps, LED lighting and battery storage, said Josh London, senior vice president at Glenwood Management Corp., which manages the building. The company plans to install carbon capture systems in five other buildings this year.

Without action, similar high-rise buildings could face fines of nearly $1 million annually starting in 2030, Asparro estimated.

Nearly 70 percent of New York City鈥檚 large buildings have steam boilers that run on natural gas or oil, according to NYC Accelerator. Many have heating systems more than 50 years old, and often they鈥檙e under-maintained, said Luke Surowiec, director of building decarbonization at ICF, a consulting firm that manages NYC Accelerator.

鈥淥ur buildings are very old and inefficient, and that鈥檚 the reality,鈥� Surowiec said. 鈥淭here are a ton of opportunities that haven鈥檛 been realized.鈥�

Mineralizing into concrete

Over in Brooklyn, the floor rattles and shakes as yellow machines churn at Glenwood Mason Supply Company, a concrete maker unrelated to Glenwood Management Corp. Gray blocks rattle down a conveyor line under a din of metal gears and motors. Somehow, birds have moved in and fly between towering piles of blocks.

It鈥檚 into this clamor that a truck delivers the liquefied carbon dioxide collected at the Manhattan apartment building. Then, using equipment provided聽by a company called CarbonCure, the liquid carbon dioxide is compressed and turned into a solid.

As concrete ingredients churn in a structure resembling a pizza oven, the carbon dioxide, now essentially dry ice, flows in like a mist. The carbon dioxide reacts with calcium ions in cement, one of the ingredients of concrete. This forms calcium carbonate, which becomes embedded in the concrete.

Once carbon dioxide is in that mineral state, it鈥檚 secure and it won鈥檛 be released unless it鈥檚 heated to about 1,652 degrees Fahrenheit, said Claire Nelson, a geochemist who specializes in carbon capture at Columbia Climate School.

鈥淪o, unless a volcano erupts on top of your concrete building, that carbon is going to be there forever,鈥� Nelson said.

Adding mineralized carbon dioxide to concrete can reduce its carbon footprint, though not by much. On average, concrete producers using CarbonCure technology reduce their carbon footprint by just 5 percent to 6 percent, said Robert Niven, CEO of CarbonCure, which works with 700 concrete producers in 30 countries.

Connie Cincotta, owner of Glenwood Mason, said her company鈥檚 concrete blocks with mineralized CO2 have been used in buildings owned by Amazon and a Manhattan charter school, among others.

Remaining questions

Many environmental groups remain skeptical of carbon capture and instead favor investment in a transition to renewable energy. They also fear that it could be unsafe to store carbon dioxide, which in extreme concentrations can lead to suffocation, in a residential dwelling.

After a carbon dioxide聽pipeline ruptured聽in Satartia, Mississippi, in 2020, 45 people sought medical attention at local hospitals, including people who had been caught in a vapor cloud while driving, according to a report from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. People exposed to high concentrations of carbon dioxide, the report said, may experience rapid breathing, confusion, elevated blood pressure and increased arrhythmias. Extreme concentrations of carbon dioxide can lead to death by asphyxiation.

Storage of concentrated carbon dioxide under a residential building is worrisome, because 鈥渋n the case of Mississippi, people weren鈥檛 actually living right on top of it,鈥� Rogers-Wright said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about big buildings here in New York City. So, the risks are unknown, but they certainly are apparent.鈥�

There鈥檚 also a risk of leaks, he said, if a truck transporting carbon dioxide were to get into an accident.

Proponents of carbon capture technology respond that there are safeguards to prevent such scenarios. The carbon capture technology installed in the Manhattan apartment, Asparro said, was permitted by multiple city agencies.

鈥淲e have carbon dioxide everywhere in cities 鈥� hospitals, restaurants, breweries all utilizing carbon dioxide,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 being done in a fairly safe and manageable way.鈥�

Nelson, the Columbia geochemist, who also started a carbon capture company, contends that storage of natural gas in basements is more dangerous than storage of carbon dioxide, and many people accept those risks posed by natural gas.

The biggest challenge, proponents say, is scaling this solution and others fast enough to slow climate change.

That鈥檚 why proponents say many solutions should be deployed at once.

Back in Manhattan, powering the apartment building entirely with renewable electricity isn鈥檛 possible yet because the local utility doesn鈥檛 have enough renewable energy to sell to all New York customers, London said.

And 鈥渨ith solar, you need a bigger footprint than what we have in a building like this,鈥� he added.

London said he wants to buy power from wind farms once it becomes more widely available.

But 鈥渢hat鈥檚 going to take a long while, so I don鈥檛 think we have the luxury of sitting,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e can reduce our emissions while we wait for that.鈥�