A Quest to Make Gasoline Out of Thin Air: Prometheus (YC W19)
This is really, fundamentally important technology. Emissions reduction will not work: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scientificamerican.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;nations-are-not-reducing-emissions-quickly-enough-to-meet-2c-target" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.scientificamerican.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;nations-are-not-r...</a><p>&gt; The authors of the report stated in a press release that the kind of drastic, large-scale action the planet desperately needs has yet to be seen, even though global emissions have reached record levels at 53.5 billion metric tons in 2017, with no signs of peaking.<p>&gt; Cities, states, the private sector and other nonfederal entities may be best placed to take bold actions on climate change. According to the report, the globe may need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 19 billion metric tons by 2030 to close the 2 C gap.<p>That&#x27;s a 35% reduction in global CO2 emissions over the next decade. It&#x27;s not going to happen. CO2 emissions are growing like this: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;folk.uio.no&#x2F;roberan&#x2F;img&#x2F;GCB2018&#x2F;PNG&#x2F;s11_2018_Projections.png" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;folk.uio.no&#x2F;roberan&#x2F;img&#x2F;GCB2018&#x2F;PNG&#x2F;s11_2018_Projecti...</a>. The U.S. and EU could go back to 1960 levels of emissions and it would cut only about 3 gigatons. China alone increased its usage 3 gigatons in the last 10 years. The rest of the world increased its emissions by that much in the last 15. Bringing Indian emissions up to Chinese per-capita levels would add 7.5 gigatons.<p>A 30% reduction is taking the world back to 1990. The U.S. has added maybe half a gigaton since 1990, and the EU actually dropped about a gigaton since then. (The difference is largely due to the fact that the EU28 countries grew only 8.5% since 1990, while the US grew 30%.) But the rest of the world has added 15 gigatons since 1990. That 15 gigatons represents a shift from desperate poverty in Africa, India, and China to lower income status (though still many gigatons away from the standard of living enjoyed in the US and EU). That cannot be undone.<p>The only serious solution to climate change is carbon recapture.