Made-from-CO2 concrete, lululemons and diamonds spark investor excitement

Reuters ^ | October 4, 2021 | Jane Lanhee Lee and Nia Williams

[American Number 181269513]

What do diamonds, sunglasses, high-end lululemon sportswear and concrete have to do with climate change?

They can all be made using carbon dioxide (CO2), locking up the planet warming gas. And tech startups behind these transformations are grabbing investor attention.

Some use bacteria. Some use proteins. Some use chemical processes to speed natural reactions. Most pull apart the carbon and the oxygen in CO2 to create another chemical that is used to make consumers goods.

Companies in the area raised over $800 million so far this year, more than tripling from 2020, according to a Reuters review of data from PitchBook, Circular Carbon Network, Cleantech Group and Climate Tech VC.

"I don't want to call it a green tax, but our consumers who really do care … have demonstrated that they're willing to pay a bit of a premium," said Ryan Shearman, chief executiveof Aether Diamonds, which grows diamonds in the lab using captured CO2. On the opposite end of the glamour spectrum, the concrete industry, green also is good for marketing, said Robert Niven, CEO of CarbonCure Technologies, which makes technology that injects CO2 into fresh concrete, and strengthens it by locking in the carbon.

"About 90% of our uptake has been from independent concrete producers large and small that are just looking for that competitive edge."

[American Number 181269513]

"The science tells us that we have under a decade to start to bend the curve on climate, and that is now within the investment time frame of most venture and private equity investors," said Eisenberger.

Is there a climate doom countdown clock somewhere that the scientists (and Al Gore) are using? We have been at under a decade for a few decades now. This number, now estimated and under a decade, keeps changing depending on who is providing the information.

[Little Ray]

Great idea.
Steal the plant food out of the atmosphere.

[Track9]

It’s called getting on the government dole. “Have company, will siphon tax dollars.”

[The MAGA-Deplorian]

What do trees, plants, grass and crops all have in common with CO2? THEY BREATHE IT! Remember that when you have your new CO2 sunglasses while you choke to death a tree! Funny how the last thing these enviroMENTAL @$$holes ever want to do is plant anything.

[cuban leaf]

Great. Ice age here we come.

[Pollard]

When will someone start collecting cow farts and using the methane to produce electricity?

[Red Badger]

Let’s remove every molecule of CO2 from the entire planet!

We must save da ERF!.........................................

[I want the USA back]

Seeing as how there are so many stupid, gullible fools with money, I’ve got a great idea! I will sell little colored balls made of plastic. Inside there will be CO2. I will market them as a great way to save the planet, knowing full well that the idiots and fools who buy them won’t ask how much energy was used in manufacturing them and how much CO2 was emitted.

If they sell well, I’ll market the other big greenhouse gas, H2O in the vapor state and watch how many fools rush to buy them, using gas to drive to the store to buy them. I doubt that any of the fools and idiots will do a google search to find out what is in the colorful balls.

[Rebelbase]

Don’t give them any ideas lest the diary folks be forced to jam a collector prod up their cows arses for 12 hours a day.

[roadcat]

Is there a climate doom countdown clock somewhere that the scientists (and Al Gore) are using?

They ignore the science. The science tells me that CO2 is a tiny fraction of a percent of the atmosphere, and that mankind affects that in a tiny proportion. Not enough to affect "climate change" which has gone on for millions of years without Man's intervention. CO2 increases follow warming increases caused by the Sun. Maybe Al Gore will come up with a plan to cool down the Sun.

[imardmd1]

They can all be made using carbon dioxide (CO2), locking up the planet warming gas.

But not without great expenditure of energy, coming from . . . where?

[Billthedrill]

Capture atmospheric CO₂ in diamonds. That's a lot of bling. The science reporters at Reuters are taking stupid pills again.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Twice in Earth’s history, all life came within a hair’s breath of going extinct. Not from too much CO2, but too little. The oceans froze solid and only a small percent of micro bacteria survived.

[Strident]

But for them to be aware of the Kondratieff and 11-yr sunspot cycles (we’re entering a new upswing BTW, cycle 25) would require them to have a nodding acquaintance with 8th grade science and of basic facts about our solar system.

No longer taught. We get our science from Twitterlings.

[Zathras]

And every can of soda you open will undo it all.
All the easy stuff has been done.
The remaining tasks are either very very difficult or impossible.
As a engineer, I am beginning to think interstellar travel using FTL speeds might be in the “impossible” category.

[lurk]

There will be man-made famines in the last days.

[webheart]

If the scientists who are working on climate change are the same ones working on FTL travel, it will always be thought possible but never be realized.

[leaning conservative]

I think ol’Al is too busy flying to his various mcmansions.

[jdsteel]

I have started to bluntly state the truth and then watch the snowflakes melt.

It is “CO2 is a vital but tiny part of our atmosphere and we would do well with more of it”.

[Bernard Marx]

We have been at under a decade for a few decades now.

It all depends on what the definition of "decade" is.