According to an article on the website Futurism, an incinerator in Switzerland was recently fitted with a carbon capture plant that is reportedly 1,000 times more efficient than plant photosynthesis.

Filters capture the CO2 over several hours. The filters are then heated to 212 degrees Fahrenheit (no great feat, your teakettle does the same thing and there is readily available heat from the incinerator) and the CO2 is converted to a solid form. The solid carbon can be buried, but commercial reuses are being developed, including building materials and more sustainable fuels.

I did a little research and found that solid carbon is used for all kinds of things:

  • Iron and steel smelting
  • Pencils
  • Brushes in electric motors and in furnace linings
  • Charcoal is used for purification and filtration, including respirators and kitchen extractor hoods
  • Carbon fiber is a strong and lightweight material used to make tennis rackets, skis, golf clubs, fishing rods, cars, rockets and airplanes
  • Industrial diamonds cut and drill rock
  • Diamond films protect surfaces such as razor blades.

This phenomenon is called Exponential Technology, where the creation and implementation of a new technology has a multiplier effect, opening pathways for growth that no one saw before.

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