Innovation never has been the exclusive province of humanity. Bacteria, for example, in partnership with trees and other green plants, can claim a major innovation: photosynthesis. It's an old one, but it's a good one. The plants, with the aid of sunshine, release life-giving oxygen by absorbing the carbon dioxide that oxygen-dependent creatures like us exhale.
Today, CO2 levels in the atmosphere are rising faster than plants can absorb it, thanks to the release of long-buried CO2 through the burning of fossil fuels. The result: a greenhouse effect and unwelcome long-term changes to the planet's climate. An innovation that removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would be nice right about now.
SRI International, a nonprofit innovation powerhouse located in Menlo Park, has not invented such a device but it is testing one. While the device is not elegant in the manner of a redwood tree or a rain forest, SRI's backyard is home to a tree-sized rectangular metallic object that quietly -- and modestly -- absorbs CO2 from the air. It operates on waste heat and does not generate CO2 in the process, traditionally a stubborn problem in green technology.
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