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Earlier this week, Y Combinator, which has backed companies like Airbnb and Reddit, put out a request for startups working on technology that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"It's time to invest and avidly pursue a new wave of technological solutions to this problem — including those that are risky, unproven, even unlikely to work," Y Combinator's website says.
Y Combinator is looking for startups working on four approaches that they acknowledge "straddle the border between very difficult to science fiction" — genetically engineering phytoplankton to turn CO2 into a storage-ready form of carbon, speeding up a natural process in which rocks react with CO2, creating cell-free enzymes that can process carbon, and flooding Earth's deserts to create oases.
Sam Altman, the president of Y Combinator, acknowledged that these ideas are "moonshots," but said that he wants to take an expansive approach to the issue.
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Carbon Capture From Air Closer to Commercial Viability
Y Combinator Spreads to China
Lab-Made Magnesite could be Used for CO2 Capture
NASA Announces CO2 Conversion Challenge, With Up to $750k Awards
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday October 29 2018, @05:37PM (3 children)
Unfortunately when government gets involved that $0.10 tree is going to several thousand per tree, or at least this is the case for my local municipality.
1. You need to find a proposed location for the tree
2. You need to have a locator go out and make sure there are no ground wires or pipes that are going to be in the way as the tree grows
3. Pay a horticulturalist to assess the type of trees that are best suited for this area
4. Have a union crew come out and dig the hole and plant the tree
5. Long-term maintenance of the tree
6. Insurance so that if it dies randomly the company that sold you the tree has to provide another.
I wish I were kidding
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday October 29 2018, @06:34PM (2 children)
If what you say accurately reflects the norm, then it's probably a rare case where deregulation actually makes a lot of sense. There should still be environmental protections if it's an existing natural habitat, but on brownfield any trees are better than no trees with the exception of some of the more invasive non-native species.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday October 29 2018, @07:03PM (1 child)
I actually don't think this is a case where deregulation helps, and this is not the process for everyone who might want to install a tree, just if the muni tries to do it. Sorry for lack of clarity.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday October 29 2018, @08:12PM
Apology accepted :)
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?