The goal of this workshop on CO2 Utilization is to foster discussion and innovation across the disciplines involved in the development of practicable methods and technologies for CO2 Utilization. This group of stakeholders includes scientific researchers, policy makers, venture capitalists, and industry executives working in this area. The workshop will provide an environment for open dialogue about the challenges facing widespread adoption of various CO2 Utilization techniques. By linking across disciplines, innovative solutions can be developed that should have a broad impact in driving the inventive and novel solutions needed in this field.
The report that comes out of this workshop promises to provide a reference for both attendees and outside observers to gain insight into the discussions that take place during the workshop. The report will summarize the lectures given and also include the interdisciplinary discussions.
The NSF award is to fund travel grants for travel, housing and conference expenses for several graduate and post-doctoral students and junior faculty. Additional funding to cover other workshop expenses is in hand.
The project was a workshop on the topic of carbon dioxide utilization. The attendees included professors, industry members, venture capitalists, and graduate students. The workshop was organized into breakout sessions focusing on different topics including geochemical conversion of CO2, biochemical conversion of CO2, thermochemical conversion of CO2, and policy implications of the utilization of CO2. The project identified several key areas for further research and focus. The need for the creation of standards for the discussion of CO2 utilization was a common theme throughout the breakout sessions. What exactly does carbon negative technology imply? How can these claims be validated? In addition, education of the general public regarding these topics was also identified as an important future focus. A further outcome of the project was the training and development of future leaders in the area of CO2 utilization. Graduate students attended the workshop to help document the discussions. These graduate students were able to listen in and participate in any discussions providing a valuable learning experience for them in the carbon dioxide utilization field as well as good techniques for running a breakout session. The findings from the workshop were published (Proceedings of the Berkeley Carbon Dioxide Utilization Workshop, 2011) in order to provide public access and highlight key areas for further research within the field of carbon dioxide utilization. They will provide guidelines for both professors and industry members who are looking for ways to have maximum impact on this field. The discussions at the Carbon Dioxide Utilization workshop have provided insight into both commercialized technology and regulatory policy. There are large unanswered questions regarding the policy surrounding carbon negative technologies. For example, in the event of a carbon tax, how should that be levied on a product where CO2 is in fact sequestered? These types of issues were discussed throughout the conference and are summarized in the proceedings document. In addition, the discussion of the most productive areas for commercialization lent insight for commercial attendees and also provided opportunities for collaborations between attendees. In summary, the Carbon Dioxide Utilization Workshop provided a forum for the exchange of ideas across several discplines within the area of carbon dioxide use. The attendees were able to discuss openly challenges and opportunities likely to be faced in the future, laying the framework for maximum succes.
