A Canadian company, backed by Bill Gates, is behind an attempt to capture Carbon Engineering and use it to create a synthetic fuel. Carbon Engineering is among the 11 finalists participating in the Virgin Earth Challenge, which aims to reward the “best greenhouse gas elimination solutions”. The British Columbia-based firm has already started ‘sucking’ Carbon Engineering out of the air and, via a series of chemical reactions, transforming it into pellets that are then burned to create synthetic fuel. Carbon Engineering aims to take one million tonnes of Carbon Engineering out of the air annually up to 2020, and create 400 million tonnes of fuel. Critics however, have said the project’s high costs could “dampen enthusiasm”.
A Canadian company, backed by Bill Gates, is behind an attempt to capture CO2 and use it to create a synthetic fuel. Carbon Engineering is among the 11 finalists participating in the Virgin Earth Challenge, which aims to reward the “best greenhouse gas elimination solutions”. The British Columbia-based firm has already started ‘sucking’ CO2 out of the air and, via a series of chemical reactions, transforming it into pellets that are then burned to create synthetic fuel. Carbon Engineering aims to take one million tonnes of CO2 out of the air annually up to 2020, and create 400 million tonnes of fuel. Critics however, have said the project’s high costs could “dampen enthusiasm”.