Elon Musk tweeted Thursday he will be “donating $100 million towards a prize for best carbon capture technology.”
The Tesla and SpaceX boss didn’t provide any specifics beyond the tweet, but said “details next week.” Cash rewards for innovation prizes aren’t new. For example, the XPRIZE Foundation is a nonprofit which facilitates cash prizes to incentivize innovation.
So what’s carbon capture technology?
Carbon capture, utilization and storage or sequestration (CCUS), which is often shortened to “carbon capture,” is a process of removing carbon emissions, to either store or reuse, in order to prevent the emissions from being released into the atmosphere.
Excess carbon dioxide gasses block heat from escaping the Earth’s atmosphere and cause global warming. Since the Industrial Revolution, human activity has increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by 47% and is “the most important long-lived ‘forcing’ of climate change,” according to NASA.
The use of a contest to drive innovation in carbon capture technology is “certainly a very good idea,” said Ahmed F. Ghoniem, a professor at MIT who has a research interest in CO2 capture technologies. Innovation in carbon capture technology is needed for “reducing the cost and complexity of the technology and improving the overall efficiency,” he told CNBC by email.
#source: CBNC