# Vacuum Up Greenhouse Gases?

*Published:* 2007-02-15
*Author:* Bill Chameides

Everybody’s always talking about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What you don’t hear so often is a suggestion to clean up what’s already there. How would you do that? Good question! And it’s the question that [Virgin Earth Challenge](http://www.virginearth.com/) is posing to the world. Come up with a commercially viable way to remove a billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year, and win $25 million.

The five-year challenge was announced February 9 by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, with Al Gore. The judges, among them several eminent scientists, will meet annually to evaluate submissions. At the end of five years, if no one has won the prize, they’ll decide whether to extend the challenge another five years.

Sound impossible? Well, in fact, it is possible. It turns out that CO2 is absorbed into any alkaline (or non-acidic) material. The problem is making the absorption fast and efficient enough that it’s commercially viable.

So, wanna save the world and win $25 million in a single bound? Check out the Virgin Earth Challenge.