People are pursuing direct carbon capture technology, which extracts carbon from the air and water and turns it into things such as gasoline.
Rob McGinnis recently moved to Santa Cruz and now drives around town in a VW Golf with a rack for a surfboard on top. Like many automobiles, the car is both a form of transportation and a way for its owner to communicate some vital part of his identity. “I used to drive a Tesla Roadster,” he said. ”But now I’m making gasoline cool again.”
Almost immediately after the U.N. report, the renowned early-stage investment firm Y Combinator made a show of calling for new companies working on carbon removal. The firm, famous for its role in nurturing software companies such as Airbnb Inc., Dropbox Inc. and Stripe Inc., said it was interested in projects that were “risky, unproven, even unlikely to work” and suggested exotic ideas, such as building huge reservoirs in the desert stocked with genetically modified phytoplankton.
This was exactly the sort of thing people wanted to hear, according to Gustaf Alströmer, a Y Combinator partner who’s working on its carbon project. “If you say, ‘I’m making gasoline,’ even if there’s a one in 500 or one in 1,000 chance it actually works, you will resonate very well with investors,” he said. Within weeks, McGinnis had raised enough money to hire several people and begin planning to move beyond a single prototype machine.
McGinnis’ breakthrough struck Matt Eisaman, an assistant professor in the engineering department at Stony Brook University, whose research had been the basis of an effort by Google X to create fuel from seawater. The two-year project, which ended in 2016 and was dubbed Foghorn, succeeded in making fuel. But Google nixed it anyway because it saw no clear path to make its product at competitive prices.
McGinnis, of course, is considerably more bullish. He predicts he’ll be selling a small amount of gasoline by next year in the $3-per-gallon range. McGinnis acknowledges that reaching a scale vast enough to make a difference in the climate remains dauntingly expensive. He estimates that it would cost $800 billion to replace the U.S. gasoline market with carbon-neutral fuel. But there’s no need to wait.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'Religious freedom’ rule could cause ‘significant damage’ to LGBTQ health care, advocates say“LGBTQ people, and especially transgender people, already suffer disproportionate levels of discrimination in health care settings.”
Read more »
18 Period-Related Products From Amazon That People Actually Swear ByThese products are so good you'll almost wish you needed them menstrall month long... almost.
Read more »
50 of the most successful people in the world in the past year50 of the most successful people in the past year
Read more »
Five companies are under investigation following the collapse of a Seattle crane that killed 4 peopleThe crane fell from the roof of a building on Saturday, crushing cars on the street below and killing four people.
Read more »
Emperor Akihito thanks Japanese people in farewell remarksFollowing are remarks by Japanese Emperor Akihito at his abdication ceremony on ...
Read more »
Poor sense of smell in older people linked with almost double the risk of dyingScientists studied over 2,000 men living in the U.S. for their research.
Read more »
People are having some visceral reactions to the new 'Sonic the Hedgehog' trailerThe first trailer for the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie dropped today, and people are having strong reactions to it
Read more »
Don’t genetically enhance people—improve society insteadThe technologies for genetic testing and enhancements are here, writes GulzaarBarn. But not all of them are appropriate for living in a well-functioning society OpenFuture
Read more »
You Won't Believe What People Have Found Hiding Inside Their Gaming ConsolesThere Might Be Something Terrifying Inside Your Video Game Console You Didn't Know Was There
Read more »
Instagram may stop showing how many people 'like' each post'We don't want Instagram to feel like a competition,' said Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, on Tuesday.
Read more »