The Japanese Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) in Kyoto prefecture has embarked on an innovative program to develop more cost-effective methods for capturing carbon dioxide.
Their Cost Saving CO2 Capture System (COCS), sponsored by the Chemical Research Group, aims to develop novel absorbents that will capture CO2 economically from mixed-gas streams. Their pilot program will capture CO2 from the effluent of a steel plant. It will also use the waste heat from the steel plant to regenerate the absorbent.
This is one of the most systematic approaches I've seen to date to tackling the key problem of carbon dioxide capture. They've honed in on the key component that makes carbon capture uneconomical: the actual capture mechanism. As they point out, this makes up about 70% of the cost of Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS).
Note that RITE is also working on the other important component of CCS: geological CO2 sequestration.
In February, Virgin announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million prize "To encourage a viable technology which will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects."
Since then, various research groups and companies have announced that they're entering the Earth Challenge. However, there's been a complete lack of news from Virgin or from the various entrants since then. One can only assume that the entries Virgin has received so far do not meet the criteria of the challenge, or that Virgin has not yet convened its panel of judges.
The Earth Challenge compares itself to other technology prizes such as the Ansari X Prize. However, with the X Prize, the various entrants were quite vocal about their efforts, the rockets they were working on, and the prize organizers themselves provided numerous updates. Even today the X Prize Foundation provides frequent updates about the all prize competitions they're running. This is not the case with the Virgin Earth Challenge: the "News" link on the Challenge website simply points to the original prize announcement.
This total lack of news does little to dispel the idea that the Virgin Earth Challenge was itself a cheap publicity stunt. To rescue the Challenge's reputation, the organizers should act quickly to provide updates such as: