Friday, 01 Nov 2024

Can fake whale poo experiment net Australian scientists a share of Elon Musk?s US$100m climate prize?

Can fake whale poo experiment net Australian scientists a share of Elon Musk’s US$100m climate prize?


Can fake whale poo experiment net Australian scientists a share of Elon Musk?s US$100m climate prize?
1.5 k views

Scientists and engineers have pumped 300 litres of simulated whale poo into the ocean off Sydney as part of efforts to snag a share of Elon Musk's US$100m prize for capturing and storing carbon.

The team, known as WhaleX, carried out its first open-ocean experiment on Sunday about eight kilometres off Port Botany in New South Wales after gaining clearance from the federal government.

The 12-strong team are racing to carry out a follow-up experiment using up to 2000 litres of the simulated poo - a mix of nitrogen, phosphorus and trace elements - before the end of January.

Tesla and SpaceX founder Musk announced in February he was funding a US$100m competition through the XPrize Foundation to find methods that could safely capture and store carbon dioxide at a scale of a billion tonnes or more a year.

Musk said at the time the competition was not "theoretical" but was looking for teams that could "build real systems that can make a measurable impact and scale to a gigaton level."

WhaleX registered for the four-year competition and will send a report before February hoping to be selected for one of up to 15 "milestone" prizes of U$1m each.

Whale faeces is known as an ocean fertiliser and a food for phytoplankton. When phytoplankton grow and multiply, they absorb carbon. When they die, they sink to the ocean floor taking much of the carbon with them.

you may also like

Saudi Arabia’s Wellness Economy Soars to $19.8 Billion, Fueled by Vision 2030 Goals, New Report
  • by travelandtourworld
  • descember 09, 2016
Saudi Arabia's Wellness Economy Soars to $19.8 Billion, Fueled by Vision 2030 Goals, New Report

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI), a non-profit authority on the global wellness market, today unveiled fresh insights into Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning $19.8 billion wellness economy. The new data highlights the Kingdom as one of the fastest-expanding wellness hubs in the Middle East and North Africa, boasting an impressive 66% average annual growth in wellness tourism from 2020 to 2022.

read more