The Carbon Removal Challenge - OpenAir Collective

Or, join us!

In addition to participating in the challenge, you’re welcome to become part of our community.

We can also be found on Discord and the official OpenAir forums.

Why Carbon Removal?

There is already too much CO2 in the atmosphere, and some essential industries – namely, commercial aviation and steel and cement manufacturing – will be very difficult to rapidly decarbonize in time. Any chance we have of limiting average global temperature change to a survivable threshold (1.5C or below) must include the removal of carbon from the atmosphere. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has called for Carbon Dioxide Removal (Negative Emissions Technologies), to help us stay below 1.5C above preindustrial temperatures – the threshold scientists agree is the point at which we will irreversibly impact our climate for the worse.

Goals

Introduce a new generation of students to the world of carbon capture
Highlight and showcase the carbon removal work already happening in higher ed
Give students a hands-on opportunity to create brand new solutions to the carbon pollution problem
Promote new innovations through open source licensing, which will allow more rapid advancement of students’ technologies and enable others to build on the success of earlier submissions
Build talent networks for employers and future job seekers

Teams

Each team must submit an application, complete with a full list of team members, a faculty advisor, and an overview of their design, by the end of November 2022. Suggested Team size is 2-8 members.

Key Dates

September 2022	Competition announcement, submissions open
Fall 2022	OpenAir provides carbon removal webinars and videos to participants
November 2022	Applications closed
Winter 2022-2023	12 to 50 teams work with faculty advisors and OpenAir mentors to build carbon removal prototypes
February 2023	Teams submit designs and documentation of final prototypes
March 2023	Judges choose 5-10 teams for the final showcase at NYU
April 19, 2023	Final showcase at NYU
April 22, 2023	Results announced on Earth Day

Advisors

	Tom Igoe • Co-founder of Arduino • Professor, NYU ITP • Area Head for Physical Computing
	Dr. Evvan Morton • American Association for Advancement of Science Science & Technology Policy Fellow
	Dr. Gregory Nemet • Professor, University of Wisconsin • Lead Author, UN IPCC Report • Author, “How Solar Became Cheap”
	Michael Weinberg • Professor, University of Wisconsin • Lead Author, UN IPCC Report • Author, “How Solar Became Cheap”

Judges / Mentors

	Gloria See • Climatebase Founding Fellow 2022 • Chief Engineer, Edge Effects • Cofounder, Cquestration Expertise: sensor design, semiconductor materials, photonics, hardware testing, entrepreneurship policy, algae-based CDR, precision agriculture, wearable sensors
	Dahl Winters • Co-Founder and CEO of TerraNexum Expertise: System development/optimization for renewable energy and carbon management, focusing on geothermal and direct air capture
	Kristian Gubsch • Co-Founder and Vice President of Feedstock Development Mars Materials • Marshall Scholar Alumni Expertise: Reactor design, direct air capture sorbent selection, process modelling, capital and operating expense estimation, and project planning and management
	Styles Smith • Data Scientist aboard the E/V Nautilus • President, Penn State Biology Department Graduate Student Association • Teacher at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry • STEM Teacher at Saturday Academy via the University of Portlan Expertise: Biology and Microbiology, genetics and genomics, coral microbiomes, science communication
	Grant Faber • Global CO2 Initiative • Heirloom • Twelve • Consultant Expertise: Techno-economic and life cycle assessment, strategy
	Dr. Luis Estevez • CEO of Advanced & Innovative Multifunctional Materials Expertise: Material science