CCEMC launches $35M international challenge to find useful applications for carbon
04 March 2013
Alberta-based Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) (earlier post) has issued a $35-million open innovation international challenge to create new, carbon-based products and markets. Its goal is to identify multiple technologies that could provide significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by transforming carbon from a liability into an asset.
Submissions are open at www.ccemcgrandchallenge.com and technical solution providers are encouraged to register now to signify their interest.
We are seeking credible, bright ideas from around the world that will repurpose carbon and use it as a starting material, helping Alberta to create a market for carbon use. The approach could deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gases, complement other greenhouse gas reduction strategies, strengthen our economy and enhance Alberta’s competitiveness.
—CCEMC Chair Eric Newell
The CCEMC has committed to fund 49 projects to date that have a combined value of almost $1 billion. They are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 8 megatonnes over 10 years, enough to take more than 1.6 million cars off the road.
| CCEMC |
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| The CCEMC is a not-for-profit corporation that operates independently of government. Funding for the CCEMC is collected from industry. |
| Since 2007, Alberta companies that annually produce more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over a baseline are legally required to reduce their greenhouse gas intensity by 12%. |
| Companies have three options to meet their reduction target: improve the efficiency of their operations; buy carbon credits in the Alberta-based offset system; or pay $15 into the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund for every tonne over the reduction limit. |
| The CCEMC invests the money collected into the discovery, development and deployment of clean technology. |
Focus areas include, as examples, processes that produce high value goods from greenhouse gas emissions; technologies that fix captured carbon into solid or readily transportable starting materials; high-value materials with high carbon content that could be produced from greenhouse gases; and biological processes that capture or consume carbon and convert it into a new viable product, such as the creation of oils from algae.
While submissions are being invited from around the world, all technologies must be applicable to Alberta. All technical solution providers will maintain their intellectual property.
Ultimate success in this challenge will result in technologies that can provide or exceed a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 1 megatonne.
The CCEMC Grand Challenge: Innovative Carbon Uses offers three rounds of funding that total $35 million over a five-year period. The first round, with submissions due by July 15, 2013, offers grants of $500,000 for up to 20 projects. The winners will be announced in March 2014.
The second round of the competition is again open to submissions from around the world and will provide $3 million each for up to five projects that have successfully advanced their technologies.
The final round will identify a winner of the Grand Challenge, selected from the second round finalists, who will be provided a $10-million grant to assist in establishing and commercializing their technology.
The CCEMC will help connect winners of each round of funding with an ecosystem of support that includes mentors, business developers, venture capitalists and potential partners.
I have said to a while that if you make a market for carbon, sequestration becomes more cost effective.
If you sequester CO2, you can make synthetic fuels using hydrogen made at Gen IV high temperature reactors. Using CO2 trice reduces CO2 emissions.
Posted by: SJC | 04 March 2013 at 08:06 PM