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Soletair Power

Step by Step Guide

It’s quite common to struggle with the question “Where should I start!” This article will guide you through the journey and help you take the first steps. 

Integrating Carbon Capture in buildings to make CO2 emissions negative

Reach net-negative emission goals when your building captures more CO2 than it emits. Our HVAC-retrofittable direct air capture technology is modularly designed, safe for humans, and cost-effective.

Building HVAC system

Installation requirements

When you want to install a system

Soletair Power’s HVAC integrated Carbon dioxide capture units can make your building capture the greenhouse gas CO2 directly from the air. It will serve you numerous benefits including sustainability certifications, abiding by codes and regulations, decrease fixed and operating costs, enable green financing with reduced interest rate, supply better CO2-lean air for the occupants, supply captured CO2, earn CO2 credits, reduce tenants’ Scope 3 emissions and many more.

When one wants to install this system, their building needs to have an HVAC system. We will inspect where we can install it, whether it should be inside the HVAC room, on the roof, or outside the building. The system will function at its peak when the air coming from outdoors has temperatures around 0° to +25°C. If there is a source of waste heat, for example, from a server room, we can utilize that to obtain the required temperature (below 100°C) for our system. High moisture is typically not a problem. We also need to know the rate of airflow, i.e. how much air the building exchanges per hour. Roughly 1.7 million cubic meters of air is needed to be ventilated to capture 1 ton of CO2 by utilizing Soletair Power’s Direct Air Capture system (as of 2025). (Source: 1.3 million cubic meters of air at 100% efficiency).

Information needed

You can email us to info@soletairpower.fi with the following information: 

  1. Floor Space, Location & Building Diagram:
    1. Unit: Square meters (m²)
    2. Building details: Size, number of floors, total floor area or specific zones where CO2 capture is intended, type (residential, commercial, industrial), age (built/to be built), location, climate. Address helps us to check climate conditions. 
  2. Average Room Height:
    1. Needed to calculate total air space to simulate CO2 level change with our system)
    2. Unit: Meters (m)
  3. Ventilation Airflow:
    1. Unit: Cubic meters per second (m³/s) or Cubic meters per hour (m³/h) or cubic feet per minute (CFM)
    2. Airflow rate of the ventilation system, either recirculated air, fresh air, or air exiting the building. We also need to know the number of total HVAC units there, and the floor areas they serve. If we select just one of those ventilation units for the demo, then floor areas, etc. from that only is needed. 
  4. Occupancy: (needed if we want to simulate difference)
    1. Unit: Number of people on average in the ventilation unit service area.
    2. Description: Average number of people present in the building during peak hours (intended usage hours). 
  5. CO2 Concentration (if available):
    1. We need this as a starting point for the simulation and to say how it changes with our solution) We can also estimate this from the number of people and floor space, height, and ventilation flow information
    2. Unit: Parts per million (ppm)
    3. CO2 concentration levels in the building during different hours, especially during high activity hours.
  6. Operating Hours: (if ventilation is e.g., 13 hours/day from Mon to Fri, we cannot capture 24h)
    1. Unit: Hours per day
    2. Typical hours the building is occupied, and the ventilation system is operational.
  7. Energy Cost: (with this information we can calculate the cost difference)
    1. Unit: USD per kilowatt-hour ($/kWh)
    2. Local electricity cost, as this will impact the operational cost of the CO2 capture solution. Also please mention the type of energy (renewable etc.) If CO2 emission per kWh is known, we can calculate the CO2 benefits.
  8. HVAC System Details:
    1. Description: Type of HVAC system in use (e.g., central air, split systems) and any relevant specifications such as air exchange rate, heat pump manufacturer, etc.
    2. Should we maximize the CO2 capture from the exhaust side of ventilation, recycled ventilation, or from the intake air? 
  9. Building Heating/Cooling System Details:
    1. Type of heating system in use (e.g., Gas boiler, etc.) and any relevant specifications.
  10. CO2 condition and quality
    1. Pressure level, any restrictions? 
  11. Sustainability goals:
    1. Existing or planned certifications, emissions reduction targets. 
  12. Budget:
    1. Preliminary estimate for the project.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions 

  • What is the minimum HVAC status to enable BICC installation? 
  • What are the determining factors to have more or less than 100-ton C02 captured per year from a building with an area of 10000 m²? 
  • What could be typical roadblocks for heritage buildings to install BICC? 
  • Air conditioning system in most buildings contain gases like R410 with a very high GWP. Replacing with butane, propane or CO2 is technically often not feasible. Does BICC have an impact on this? 
  • Is the presence of smart building technology (optical fibre backbone, sensors, data monitoring, BMS, etc) a precondition? 
  • How are the emissions before CO2 capture defined in your business case: energy, embodied, people occupation….? 
  • How much additional electricity is required to enable BICC? 
  • Does BICC has a measurable positive effect on the air quality for tenants (wellbeing air quality measuring)? 
  • How is the transportation of carbon captured achieved? Trucks or pipeline systems?

Watch a video
Soletair Power Building Carbon Capture System HVAC Integrated Direct Air Capture in Building CCUS CO2 capture for emission reduction

Ready to learn more about installation?

Let’s start the conversation.

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