It will be a long time before humanity completely moves away from fossil fuels. While the road has been long gone, progress is too slow as there are still many dependencies to be overcome. The transformation process is cost-intensive, leads to a loss of wealth and challenges us to make uncomfortable behavioral changes. That is why CO2 emissions fall only slowly or not at all. How about tweaking the second adjusting screw more, decarbonization?
The first small factory is in Morocco
If it is difficult to reduce CO2 emissions quickly, we can decarbonize the air instead. And this in a natural way, in this case via algae. Planting more forests and reforesting is certainly a good idea, but this measure only has an effect in the long term and appears to be less effective in terms of CO2 filtering. In fact, algae farms remove 30 times (!) more carbon dioxide from the air than a functioning rainforest: a powerful achievement that Ecotech Brilliant Planet wants to exploit. The company has set up its first small factory in Morocco, in the sea, bordering the desert.
“It takes time to change people, governments and businesses. We need to do something about it,” said company chief Adam Taylor. He would like to consult nature instead of building mechanical filter systems. Optimal living conditions for CO2-consuming microalgae prevail in the seawater tanks. Outdoors, with enough sunlight for unbridled growth. The catch: The seawater has to be moved, and in large quantities, this cannot be done without the use of energy.
Toyota, among others, is involved in the financing
Brilliant Planet has developed an efficient system that uses gravity to guide water from pond to pond. The researchers are currently working on further optimizing the paddle wheel system. A 30-hectare industrial facility will soon be built for a real-time demonstration. The venture capital subsidiary of Toyota is involved in the financing. Further funds from the Series A funding round are available for the basic research and development program in London. 