GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 03: Tesla CEO Elon Musk talks to the press as he goes to look at the construction site of the new Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin on September 3, 2020 near Gruenheide, Germany. Musk is currently in Germany where he met with vaccine manufacturer CureVac on Tuesday, with which Tesla is collaborating to build devices for the production of RNA vaccines, as well as German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier.
Maja Hitij | Getty Images
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have announced that they will donate $ 100 million for a prize for the best technology that can capture carbon dioxide.
Musk, who overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person, announced on Twitter late Thursday, saying he will share more details next week.
“I donate $ 100 million for a prize for the best carbon capture technology,” Musk tweeted to his 42.7 million followers.
Carbon capture is the process of capturing carbon dioxide waste, directly from the air, or just before it is released from factories and power plants.
With the latter, the first step is often to install solvent filters on factory chimneys, which capture the carbon release before it is released into the earth’s atmosphere. Once captured, carbon dioxide can then be sent somewhere or piped from where it cannot escape (often deep underground) to prevent it from contributing to global warming.
Most of the trapped carbon dioxide remains underground, but some can also produce plastic and carbonated soft drinks.
Why is carbon capture needed?
Global carbon dioxide emissions have skyrocketed over the past 100 years, leading to unprecedented global warming and climate change.
According to the International Energy Agency, there are currently about 20 carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) projects.
The agency said 30 new projects had been agreed since 2017, but stressed that much more was needed to prevent carbon emissions from raising global temperatures above 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The IEA believes that CCUS projects can reduce carbon emissions by almost a fifth, while also reducing the cost of tackling the climate crisis by 70%. Adapting heavy industries to operate on clean energy is relatively difficult and expensive compared to installing carbon capture systems.
US President Joe Biden has vowed to put more focus on reducing emissions than his predecessor and said he wants the US to be carbon neutral by 2050.
‘Plant more trees’
The price at which Musk said he would contribute is related to the Xprize Foundation, TechCrunch reported, citing an anonymous source. The foundation is a non-profit organization that hosts competitions to promote and support innovation.
According to the Bloomberg billionaire index, Musk has a total net worth of $ 201 billion, while Bezos has $ 193 billion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the next richest person with a total net worth of $ 134 billion.
Musk recently asked his Twitter fans what he should do with his money.
“Critical feedback is always much appreciated, as are ways of donating money that really make a difference (much harder than it seems),” he tweeted on January 8.