Vodka and diamonds are being enlisted in the fight against climate change.
With a little ingenuity, both can be made by manipulating carbon dioxide that has been captured from the air, which means their production could actually help stem global warming. The market for such products is promising enough that a group of clean-tech incubators is on the hunt for start-ups that can create them.
New York University’s Urban Future Lab is working with Greentown Labs and Fraunhofer USA to help grow businesses that have figured out how to turn carbon dioxide into luxury goods and more. The group’s “Carbon to Value Initiative” offers start-ups a home for initial development, access to venture capital and manufacturing partners.
“We mean to jump-start the carbon technology industry,” said Pat Sapinsley, managing director of cleantech initiatives at Urban Future Lab. “We’ll use our corporate partners to scale-up quickly. It’s necessary to stay below a 2°C increase,” she said, referring to the warming limit widely believed to be necessary to prevent catastrophic climate effects.
Technology to produce goods from carbon dioxide has been around for a while, but the products themselves have gained little traction because they are more expensive than similar ones manufactured in traditional ways. The incubator group is hoping to change that by focusing on high-value items — consumers might be willing to pay a premium for luxury goods that combat climate change.
Vodka producer Air Co joined Sapinsley’s group last year. The company aims to replicate Elon Musk’s strategy with Tesla Inc, by selling a premium product that would help build scale so that they can get to larger markets such as jet fuel.
“They use renewable energy to split water to make hydrogen and combine that with CO2 to make ethanol and sell it for US$65 a liter,” Sapinsley said.
By expanding capacity on sales of pricey liquor, they can bring the costs down to compete against a US$0.40 jet fuel.
“You need to have high-value products, even diamonds, that will lead to success of carbon conversion,” Sapinsley said.
Combined, the incubators have helped hundreds of start-ups improve clean technologies and raise funds to expand, and they expect to get hundreds of applications for promising new carbontech products and services during this three-year effort.
“There is an urgency to cost-effectively capture carbon emissions and the only way for the new technology we need to get to market is through engagement with industry,” Greentown Labs chief executive officer Emily Reichert said. “We help them de-risk it to reduce cost and get it to scale.”
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS