Turns out there are a few companies working on the “world’s hardest problem” (or at least one of the most important): removing CO2 from the air.
If you can just suck it out, you can reverse climate change right? No energy reform needed!
So does it work? My list of the companies here with some comments.
It is apparently very hard to build a machine that will do this at any kind of scale.
My theory, as I will continue to research this topic, is that synthetic biology could be a key technique. Cover a huge piece of ocean with some crazy carbon-eating bacteria and boom!
One problem these startups face is trying to monetize what they do — capture something and sell it at a good price. Bacteria-in-the-ocean would have to make…fish. Or something.