An Arizona company, GRT, is the subject of a Guardian piece about using a machine to extract CO2 from the air. According to GRT it can build scrubber units each able to collect a ton of CO2 per day.
The article -- using a cliche I particularly hate -- stresses the concept is "not a magic bullet," as it would take millions of the machines to handle all of our carbon emissions. But while it doesn't solve the problem by itself, "this can help" and "this will help," says Richard Lackner, a Columbia University physicist who leads the team building the scrubber.
In other words, CO2 scrubbers are neat ideas that might be technically possible, but are a long way from implementation. What they need to do is miniaturize them, and install them in CO2 producing machines and processes.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
James Howard Kunstler doesn't get it
I'm in agreement with James Howard Kunstler's overall messages about planning, sprawl and walkable communities. But his conclusions about Personal Rapid Transit are based only upon his encounters with PRT advocates at conferences and his own snap judgments.
Kunstler's remarks are on his podcast, 13th edition, starting around :01:30.
His perception of PRT (like a railroad with one person per carriage) is so superficial, it shows he hasn't taken the time to learn about the concept. Instead, he calls advocates "a particular kind of crank" and "crazy." Klassy, Mr. Kunstler.
Kunstler rails (*rimshot*) against the amount of PRT infrastructure he thinks would be needed, but later praises light rail (around :05:00) without a mention of the cost of its infrastructure.
Of course, about PRT he also admitted "maybe I'm missing something." Well I guess so.
(h/t Michael D. Setty -- thanks for the email!)
Kunstler's remarks are on his podcast, 13th edition, starting around :01:30.
His perception of PRT (like a railroad with one person per carriage) is so superficial, it shows he hasn't taken the time to learn about the concept. Instead, he calls advocates "a particular kind of crank" and "crazy." Klassy, Mr. Kunstler.
Kunstler rails (*rimshot*) against the amount of PRT infrastructure he thinks would be needed, but later praises light rail (around :05:00) without a mention of the cost of its infrastructure.
Of course, about PRT he also admitted "maybe I'm missing something." Well I guess so.
(h/t Michael D. Setty -- thanks for the email!)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Paul Krugman gets it
The size of the car vs. transit problem, that is. It's in his blog at the New York Times.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
NPR picks up on Masdar City zero-carbon project
Masdar -- and its Personal Rapid Transit project -- are prominently featured on NPR yesterday and today. It's part of the Climate Connections series.
Big news -- the PRT system will run off the city's solar power grid!
Big news -- the PRT system will run off the city's solar power grid!
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