Heimdal (YC S21) builds the world’s cheapest direct air capture plant

Re:Heimdal (YC S21) builds the world’s cheapest direct air c... by version_five on Thursday May 12, 2022 @05:52PM (#31360586)

Personally, I favor a model of direct government spending for CO2 capture (along with emissions regulations where appropriate). Carbon pricing ends up being either a tax or an opportunity for gaming or partisanship, and just adds needless complexity everywhere.

If we can move climate change from a political tool to a concrete technological problem, government can address it directly, the same as other infrastructure, and pay operators like this on a tonnage basis to extract carbon.

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Re:Heimdal (YC S21) builds the world’s cheapest direct air c... by erikmillar on Thursday May 12, 2022 @05:58PM (#31360626)

I agree that in principle it sounds good. The one issue I pick up on here is the old 'tragedy of the commons' - some countries are just not going to want to pay for it, meaning that other countries will be hugely economically impacted by this. As far as I can see, the only way to make this enforceable for the entire planet is for the largest consumer economies (US&EU) to include a carbon boarder tax where emissions can't be outsourced to other countries.

[ Parent | on HN ]