I was reading about direct air capture technologies today. The idea is really cool (passively removing carbon from the air), but they are also hard to make. You can’t just go in your backyard and build one.
For one thing, you need to do something with the carbon, usually captured as a gas, in order for the machine to be worthwhile. Typically, the companies that build them try to sell the carbon as a gas for products (think fizzy drinks) or turn it into fuel. Not exactly something a tinkerer like me wants to get involved with.
But as I thought about it, I realized that the concept is not interesting because it’s explicitly removing carbon from the air. It’s interesting because it’s a passive way to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint. The article helped make that point when they said that a flight produces emissions that could be offset by direct air capture. Continue reading “Robot Greenhouses”