Richard Branson announced that he was sponsoring a $25 Million contest with a goal to develop technologies that can help scrub a billion tons of CO2 from our atmosphere.
Present along side him when he made the announcement were Former US VP Al Gore and former UK diplomat Crispin Tickell. The contest will be judged by a panel comprising of Branson, Al Gore, Crispin Tickell, U.S. climate scientist James Hansen, James Lovelock and Environmentalist Tim Flannery.
The winner will have to come up with a way of removing one billion tons of carbon gases a year from the atmosphere for 10 years - with $5 million of the prize being paid at the start and the remaining $20 million at the end.
Australian Tim Flannery pointed out that this could possibly well be the first exercise of humans at planetary engineering. I’m not sure about when the first attempt was, but I’m pretty sure that we did try to reduce the hole in the ozone layer by banning the use of chlorofluorocarbons. This was made possible by the ratification of the Montreal Protocol.
Update: Official Site here
Article here
Category: Greenhouse Gas
March 24th, 2007 at 2:24 am
Amazing things have been achieved through scientific research. I would not discount the possibility that someone could accomplish this. However, Mr. Branson is not risking anything and the offer of $25 million comes across as a sham.That is one way to receive free publicity and guarantee an invitation to appear on the Today Show. It seems all one needs is to become a business magnate and spout off on some worthy
(but near impossible) endeavor and offer a prize. Where do I sign up for all the free publicity?
May 4th, 2007 at 1:10 am
I am not claiming to have an idea to get rid of Greennhouse gases, but I do have an idea of how to cool the planet down.If interested, Email me please. A scientist on BBC tv also has come up with the same idea.