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Science 16 February 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5814, p. 925
DOI: 10.1126/science.315.5814.925b
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ScienceScope

Mega-entrepreneur and adventurer Richard Branson is offering what he calls "the largest-ever science and technology prize" to entice development of a solution to global warming. Modeled after the $10 million Ansari X Prize that led to the development of a reusable crewed rocket in 2004, the $25 million Virgin Earth Challenge will be awarded to whoever can develop a commercially viable technology capable of removing at least a billion tons of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, from the air every year. Current air-capture techniques cost three to four times more than the market will bear. "I think it's great," says physicist Martin Hoffert of New York University, who nonetheless warned that it's going to be a tougher nut to crack than building a better spaceship. Current technology to grab CO2, he notes, is "very energy-intensive."




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)