Technology

Meet the fossil fuel-funded startup trying to take CO2 out of the ocean

Published

1 year ago

May 4, 2023

Meet the fossil fuel-funded startup trying to take CO2 out of the ocean

An audacious new effort to tug carbon dioxide out of the Pacific Ocean as a strategy to struggle local weather change is being backed by fossil gas giants and Huge Tech. However the nascent expertise, known as “direct ocean seize” (DOC), nonetheless has an extended strategy to go to show that it really works — and that it received’t trigger any new issues.

Caltech researchers based the startup Captura, which simply introduced a brand new challenge right now. Captura was based in 2021 and received a $1 million award from Elon Musk’s XPrize competitors the next 12 months. Now, with funding from the US’s greatest gasoline utility, Captura’s organising its greatest pilot challenge but on the Port of Los Angeles.

The thought is that filtering CO2 out of seawater will permit oceans to take in extra of the greenhouse gasoline

The thought is that filtering CO2 out of seawater will permit oceans to take in extra of the greenhouse gasoline, protecting it out of the ambiance the place it will warmth up the planet. The world’s oceans have soaked up almost a 3rd of people’ greenhouse gasoline emissions for the reason that industrial revolution. With out that assist, local weather change could be a lot worse than it already is — with world warming already fueling extra excessive climate disasters and threatening to wipe some coastal communities off the map.

The ocean’s CO2-sucking powers, in addition to Captura’s expertise, depend on a precept known as Henry’s Regulation. It’s the identical drive that makes a drink go flat after you pop open a beer or soda can. The CO2 desires to circulation from the place there’s the next focus of it to the place there’s a decrease focus of the gasoline in order that there’s equilibrium. As fossil fuels raised the focus of CO2 within the ambiance, oceans began sucking up extra of the gasoline.

Captura’s expertise goals to spice up that course of by drawing CO2 out of seawater. First, it has to tug ocean water into the DOC plant. Then, it separates out about half a p.c of that water and places it by means of a course of known as electrodialysis. That’s a elaborate method of claiming that they zap the water with electrical energy to rearrange molecules into an acid and a base. When the acid is added again to the remainder of the seawater, it reacts with the carbon to launch CO2.

Captura’s 100-ton-per-year direct ocean seize pilot system in its lab in Pasadena, California.

Picture: Captura

Captura can then seize that gasoline to retailer it away someplace or promote it as a product. Acidic water (which additionally occurs to be a symptom of local weather change) may be very unhealthy for marine life, so Captura provides the bottom to the water earlier than releasing it again into the ocean. Now that the water is CO2 poor, it may well then draw down much more CO2 out of the ambiance.

Captura launched its first pilot in Newport Seaside, California final August. It unveiled a brand new pilot challenge right now that’s about 100 occasions bigger at a public-private analysis facility known as AltaSea on the Port of Los Angeles. The challenge ought to be capable of take about 100 tons of CO2 out of the ocean a 12 months. Within the grand scheme of issues, that’s nonetheless minuscule — equal to taking about 22 vehicles off the street for a 12 months.

The objective is to check how the expertise works in the true world and test to see if it has any undesirable unwanted effects. “We need to guarantee that our impression on the ocean water is as benign as we consider it’s,” says Captura CEO Steve Oldham.

“We need to guarantee that our impression on the ocean water is as benign as we consider it’s.”

Some conservation teams are already cautious of the expertise. Captura plans to filter the water to maintain sea animals from getting sucked into the DOC plant. Whether or not these filters are nice sufficient to maintain out plankton is a priority for Shaye Wolf, a local weather science director on the Middle for Organic Variety with a background in ecology and ocean sciences. Plankton type the bottom of the complete marine meals net, which means many different animals depend upon the microscopic organisms for meals. Then there are considerations about including extra industrial exercise and noise air pollution to already pressured marine ecosystems.

What occurs to the CO2 Captura captures on the Port of Los Angeles remains to be up within the air. For now, Oldham says Captura will most certainly promote the gasoline to different corporations to make use of as an ingredient in business merchandise like concrete or carbon fiber. Longer-term, he envisions constructing business DOC crops atop retired offshore oil and gasoline platforms the place the CO2 they seize could possibly be pumped beneath the seafloor to completely sequester it.

That prospect worries Wolf, too. “That’s a serious concern as a result of oil and gasoline wells have a observe document of leakages and blowouts,” she tells The Verge. “It’s inevitable that CO2 that’s pumped at excessive stress underground goes to leak in some unspecified time in the future.”

She’s additionally skeptical of the expertise as a local weather resolution due to Captura’s funders. Southern California Gasoline, which prides itself because the nation’s greatest gasoline utility, is a serious funder of the challenge on the Port of Los Angeles. Oil and gasoline giants Aramco and Equinor are additionally amongst Captura’s supporters.

“Throughout the board, the largest backers [of carbon removal] are the fossil gas business and companions. It finally ends up being an business rip-off or an business distraction from actual local weather motion, which is quickly decreasing fossil gas extraction and use,” Wolf says.

Earlier than becoming a member of Captura in 2022, Oldham was the CEO of one other startup known as Carbon Engineering that companions with oil big Occidental to develop initiatives that filter CO2 out of the air. Occidental plans to shoot a few of that carbon dioxide into oil fields to push out hard-to-reach reserves with a purpose to promote what it calls “net-zero” oil.

“I’ve no qualms in any respect about spending my private time attempting to convey this expertise into actuality as a result of it’s going to be wanted,” Oldham tells The Verge of his work at Captura. He factors to a United Nations local weather report that features carbon elimination in potential pathways to fulfill world local weather targets set beneath the Paris settlement.

Even proponents of carbon elimination, nonetheless, warning that it’s no alternative for stopping greenhouse gasoline emissions by transitioning to wash power. Carbon elimination is most helpful for tackling emissions from sectors that may’t simply run on renewable power, like metal mills that sometimes use coal to warmth up furnaces to very excessive temperatures.

And but all kinds of corporations, notably Huge Tech, are turning to applied sciences that search to filter CO2 out of the air and water to offset a few of their emissions. Captura has a contract with Frontier, an initiative Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey launched final 12 months to make it simpler for different corporations to offset emissions by means of rising carbon elimination applied sciences. By Frontier, Captura goals to promote carbon credit that characterize tons of CO2 taken out of the ocean. The credit will most certainly come from one more pilot plant the startup plans to construct out subsequent 12 months.

Technology

Nvidia’s small GPU initiative will keep graphics cards large — but I’m glad it exists

Published

4 hours ago

June 2, 2024

Press Room

Nvidia’s small GPU initiative will keep graphics cards large — but I’m glad it exists

Nvidia just gave the PC gaming industry a reason to shrink its biggest graphics cards and produce smallish cases. It’s not what I expected, but I think it might actually help. Read before you judge, friends — I was definitely ready to call out some Nvidia BS, but I’ve mostly come around.

When leakers revealed last month that Nvidia would help steer its graphics card partners toward smaller gaming PCs, I began to daydream. Might we finally see a genuinely small Nvidia powerhouse like AMD’s old R9 Nano? Could Nvidia at least convince partners to produce two-slot GPUs like many of its own Founders Edition cards?

Unfortunately, no. Nvidia’s just-announced “SFF-Ready Enthusiast GeForce Cards” aren’t actually that small — even a 2.5 slot thick, 304mm long, and 151mm wide RTX 4070 can qualify. That means supposedly “SFF” GPUs will not fit into my SFF case, and I have a hard time calling these “SFF” at all.

Nvidia’s optional guidelines specify these maximum dimensions.

Image: Nvidia

This still looks like a pretty large case to me.

But if you, like me, want to help smaller gaming PCs get a larger foothold, this could help — because it’s not just about the cards; it’s about knowing you can fit a certain amount of graphics horsepower in a given case because both the case and the card identify themselves as compatible with one another.

“I’m giving them a guideline to say, hey, leave this much space, and then you’ll be able to fit an enthusiast graphics card in there like a 4080, a 4070. That’s the purpose of this program,” Nvidia senior desktop products director Justin Walker tells me.

Indeed, the list of cards that Nvidia is sharing today only includes RTX 4070 or higher: it’s not promoting a fat 4060, for example.

Here’s a list of validated cards and cases so far. It’s not exhaustive, but these partners are on board.

Images: Nvidia

Today, figuring out if a given card will fit is often a matter of painstakingly trolling manufacturer websites for length, width, and height twice: once for the card and once for the case. Now, you might just be able to look for “SFF-Ready” and move on with your day. You may still have to hit up those manufacturer websites, though, as Walker says there’s not necessarily going to be a Newegg sort filter for “SFF Ready” or a badge on the actual product yet.

He tells me these guidelines should reduce uncertainty for case manufacturers, too: “I’m making a small case, and I want it to fit a high end graphics card… right now I have no idea, there’s so many sizes and shapes. Right now I don’t know how to make a case that fits everything.” Now, there’s a target.

While I personally still wish Nvidia had tried harder to shrink the sizes of partner cards themselves — again, their own Founders Edition cards are generally just two slots thick! — there is some hope for more such GPUs. Walker says it’s no mistake that there’s only a single RTX 4080 on the SFF-Ready list, and he hopes more partners will rise to the challenge.

“It takes a lot of work and a very intentional design to put a 4080 in this form factor,” he says. “I get that it’s not a tiny Mini-ITX thing, but I want to let someone be able to put a 4080 into that case.”

Speaking of which: just a few days ago, hardware leaker kopite7kimi attested that Nvidia’s RTX 5090 Founders Edition card will have a dual-slot cooler.

Technology

Why does my Mac freeze and how do I fix it?

Published

4 hours ago

June 2, 2024

Press Room

Why does my Mac freeze and how do I fix it?

Imagine this frustrating scenario: you’re in the middle of a crucial task on your Mac, and, suddenly, everything comes to a halt. You can’t click anything, and your screen is frozen.

This can be a nightmare for anyone using a Mac desktop or a MacBook laptop.

Let’s explore the causes of a frozen Mac and provide quick solutions to restore its functionality. If you have a PC and it is freezing up, check out these steps to fix the issue by clicking here.

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Man frustrated with his computer freezing up (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

4 reasons that can cause a Mac to freeze?

1. A hung application consuming excessive memory or CPU resources

2. Newly installed extension or driver that causes a compatibility issue with MacOS

3. Faulty keyboard, mouse or other external device

4. Malware infection leading to increased CPU and memory load.

A woman frustrated by her computer freezing up (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

How to fix a frozen mac

Tip 1 — Force-quit applications

If an application freezes, it may only be temporary. Wait a minute or two to see if your Mac stays locked up. If it does, you might need to force-quit the frozen application.

To force-quit an application, use this key command: Command + Option + Escape. This will open the Force Quit menu. Alternatively, right-click the app’s Dock icon and select Force Quit from the menu.

A woman on her laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 2 — Restart your Mac

If force-quitting doesn’t work, restart your Mac. If you can move your mouse pointer, click on the Apple Menu in the top-left corner and select Restart.

If you are unable to control the pointer, there are still a couple of other things you can do:

If you have an older Mac desktop or MacBook that has a DVD drive, press Cmd + Ctrl + Eject
If you have a newer Mac that has a Touch ID, press Cmd + Ctrl + Option + Power Button
If you have a newer Mac and the steps above don’t work, you will need to press and hold the power button to force-turn off the Mac.

Mac on a desktop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 3 — Free up RAM

Being low on RAM can also cause a frozen Mac. Random Access Memory, or RAM, is the memory that your Mac uses to run applications and handle active tasks. When you open an application, load a file or perform any task, it is loaded into your Mac’s RAM for quick access.

If your Mac doesn’t have enough RAM to handle all the active processes, it starts using virtual memory, which is a portion of your hard drive that acts as temporary RAM. Virtual memory is significantly slower than using actual RAM because it takes more time to read data from the hard drive. Here are a few easy ways to free up RAM on your Mac:

Quit applications you’re not actively using as they consume RAM even when running in the background.
Ensure your Mac’s operating system and applications are up to date. Newer versions often include performance improvements and bug fixes.

Remove applications you no longer use to free up RAM and storage space.

Mac computer keys (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 4 — Disconnect external devices

Sometimes, some peripherals cause your Mac to freeze. To check if that is the case, shut down your Mac and disconnect all external devices — keyboards, mice, external monitors, etc. Now, press the power button to restart your Mac and see if it is still frozen.

Tip 5 — Uninstall unresponsive apps

If a specific app is consistently causing your Mac to freeze, consider uninstalling it.

Here’s how to uninstall an unresponsive app:
Go to the Applications folder and locate the app

Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Drag the application to the trash icon
Alternatively, you can left-click on the app and select Move to Trash

Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Tip 6 — Update your software

Sometimes, your Mac can freeze up due to a software bug in an older version of MacOS. It’s always important to keep MacOS updated because Apple routinely rolls out software improvements to help your Mac run smoothly.

Here’s how to make sure you’re running the latest version of macOS:

Click on the Apple Menu in the top left corner and click on System Settings

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Steps to update your software Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Click on General
Click Software Update. If there is an update available, you should install it now.
Next, you should update your apps. You can do this quickly by opening the App Store and checking the updates tab.

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Tip 7 — Restart in safe mode

If your Mac is freezing due to a broken extension, you can spot it by booting into safe mode. This special boot loads only those files essential to macOS and performs some troubleshooting. If your Mac isn’t having the same issue when booting into safe mode, then it probably means the problem is with an app or extension.

Booting in safe mode differs depending on which generation of Mac you have. If you have an Intel-based Mac (2020 or earlier), follow these steps:

Shut down your Mac and wait 10 seconds
Restart your Mac and hold the shift key
Release the shift key once the login window appear

If you have a newer Mac that runs on Apple’s silicon (2021 or later), follow these steps to restart in safe mode:

Shut down your Mac and wait 10 seconds.
Press and hold the power button until the startup options window appears
Select a startup disk.
Press the Shift key and click Continue in Safe Mode.
Release the Shift key.

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Tip 8 — Repair disk with Disk Utility

An issue with your startup disk can cause your Mac to lock up occasionally. Luckily, Apple has a built-in tool to help repair an issue with the Mac’s startup disk. Here’s how to repair a disk with the Disk Utility tool:

Steps to update your software Steps to uninstall unresponsive apps (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Click Utilities
Open Disk Utility

Steps to repair disk with Disk Utility (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Select your startup disk in the sidebar
Click First Aid in the Disk Utility toolbar

Kurt’s key takeaways

There’s no need to panic if your Mac freezes. Follow these eight tips, and you should have your Mac back up and running in no time. Always keep your Mac current, and don’t forget to delete old applications or extensions you don’t use anymore. It’s pretty easy to overlook — I know I do sometimes — but it can free up space on your Mac and keep everything running smoothly.

In your opinion, what could Apple do to improve the Mac user experience, especially regarding system stability? Let us know in the comments below. Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Boeing’s first crewed Starliner launch delayed again over computer issues

Published

11 hours ago

June 2, 2024

Press Room

Boeing’s first crewed Starliner launch delayed again over computer issues

Boeing, NASA, and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) scrubbed today’s launch of Starliner less than 4 minutes before liftoff. The setback comes after a string of disappointments, but as with its early May delay, the issue wasn’t with Boeing’s crew vehicle.

NASA says the ULA is currently investigating why a computer, called a ground launch sequencer, didn’t enter “the correct operational configuration,” triggering an automatic hold. During a press conference afterward, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said the issue was that one of three redundant launch sequencers, which are used to control things like releasing connections to the rocket prior to launch, was slow to respond.

The three organizations had hoped to try again tomorrow around noon, but that won’t happen, either. NASA now says the teams have opted to punt the launch a few more days (the next two chances are June 5th and 6th) to give the team more troubleshooting time with the faulty equipment.

The flight was meant to take two US astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — up to the International Space Station (ISS), where they will dock. Wilmore and Williams had planned to stay on the station for a week to carry out testing of Starliner and its subsystems prior to NASA’s final certification of the craft for rotational missions to ISS.

Starliner is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which involves the agency working with private companies to develop novel spacecraft. SpaceX is also part of this program and has launched NASA astronauts since 2020.

Update June 1st, 2024, 3:16PM ET: Updated to reflect that the launch was scrubbed and that there is a new launch target date.

Update June 1st, 2024, 6:14PM ET: The launch is delayed until at least June 5th.