By Thuku Kariuki and Daniel Furnad
A Kenyan-based company, Octavia Carbon, is one of the ten finalists to receive the $100 million grand prize to develop carbon capture technology to mitigate global warming.
Funded by Elon Musk, a prominent businessman and investor, and the Musk Foundation, XPRIZE Carbon Removal is aimed at fighting climate change and rebalancing Earth’s carbon cycle.
With the increasing demand for renewable energy, Kenya has an ideal environment for Direct Air Capture (DAC), where carbon dioxide is captured from the air and either stored or turned into other useful products, like aviation fuel.
Relying on this technology, Octavia Carbon, has designed world-class vehicles to enter the carbon capture race.
Duncan Kariuki, Octavia’s Product Lead explains, “Being an XPRIZE Carbon Removal finalist means a strong validation for the great potential that Direct Air Capture in Kenya holds…We are particularly excited for all the socio-economic impact that DAC will have in Kenya, especially in creating prosperity through meaningful jobs and increasing energy access.”
Besides, the company is partnering with local universities to develop further technology meant to tame climate change. It is also proactively engaging the government to update policies that will make their products more cost-effective and encourage other environmentally minded companies to join them here in Kenya.
The XPRIZE has captured the attention of young innovators across the globe. However, creating carbon capture devices that can meet the competition’s parameters is a tall order.
The machines must be able to pick up 1000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year; model their costs at a scale of one million tonnes per year; and show a pathway to achieving a scale of gigatonnes per year in the future.
Three years into the competition, with one year to go, the field has narrowed considerably.
Takachar, a Kenyan innovation company from Mwea, had made the last 20 finalists. The company specializes in turning crop and forest residues in rural communities into carbon-negative bioproducts.
The inclusion of two Kenyan enterprises in the top 20, the only African entries to make it that far, shows that innovation to fight climate change has made its home here.
If you have ideas of how to fight climate change or employ Octavia Carbon’s technology, visit their website: https://www.octaviacarbon.com/. And if you want more information on the XPRIZE or the other great entities that have participated in the challenge, visit https://www.xprize.org/prizes/carbonremoval.
