The birth of this idea was closly tied to the launch of the xprize. We were 1 of 287 qualified competitors and this was the feedback received.
Dear Convective Heat Engine,
The Milestone Round of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal is now complete, and we are providing feedback to all teams who joined the competition. Thank you for your submission. Your submission was reviewed by four of our expert reviewers, matched to your proposal based on their expertise in your field of Carbon Dioxide Removal, and screened for conflicts of interest. Each of the reviewers answered a questionnaire based on your proposal which contained a number of screening questions, as well as a series of scored questions which assessed the merits of your proposal, your demonstration to date, and sustainability rationale. The details of these requirements are described in the Prize Guidelines and Rules. Only the top 60 teams, chosen based on the screening questions and scores, were forwarded to the Judges for further consideration.
Based on the Expert Review Assessment, your team ranked 293 of 360 teams reviewed at this stage.
The reviewers provided the following comments on your submission:
Reviewer 1
This proposal is a good idea but not feasible. There is no robustness of analysis to convince anyone that the team will be able to remove any carbon and the demonstrations are weak. They need to go back and rethink and strengthen the narrative
Reviewer 2
Reviewer 3
Out of scope: has nothing to do with CO2 management (e.g. sensor technology, software, vehicles, other new inventions, etc.)
This is a project is focused on building a technology to create water condensate in arid regions. The proposal does not quantify carbon removals, instead offers a vague strategy for community managed agriculture. Additionally, the durability of the carbon in plant matter is not addressed. Carbon is an undefined co-benefit of this project, not the main focus.
Reviewer 4
=====
There is still $80M in prize money that will be awarded in 2025. Your registration in the competition remains active, and you are still eligible to win one of the grand prizes. We would love to see you submit to the next round of the competition. We recommend you consider this feedback carefully and make changes to your Carbon Dioxide Removal solution to comply with the prize requirements. The next submission deadline is February 1, 2024, where you will be asked to submit evidence of a working Carbon Dioxide Removal demonstration at a scale of at least 1000 tonnes/year. Please see the Prize Guidelines for more details.
Thank you for your participation in XPRIZE Carbon Removal.
XPRIZE Carbon Removal team