Sometimes billionaires do good, as much as that may sicken lefty ideologists. CNN is reporting on the Bill Gates-backed company Heliogen and its recent achievement:
Heliogen, a clean energy company that emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday, said it has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and a field of mirrors to reflect so much sunlight that it generates extreme heat above 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Essentially, Heliogen created a solar oven — one capable of reaching temperatures that are roughly a quarter of what you’d find on the surface of the sun.
The breakthrough means that, for the first time, concentrated solar energy can be used to create the extreme heat required to make cement, steel, glass and other industrial processes. In other words, carbon-free sunlight can replace fossil fuels in a heavy carbon-emitting corner of the economy that has been untouched by the clean energy revolution.
I’m somewhat intrigued in that they’re claiming they had to use artificial intelligence to make their scheme fly. Their web site doesn’t really discuss it:
The breakthrough in Heliogen’s technology starts with our patented closed-loop control system that makes our field of mirrors act as a multi-acre magnifying glass to concentrate sunlight. The HelioMax system is an industry first and a critical step in harnessing the power of the sun. Our ability to concentrate and capture sunlight allows us to create carbon-free, ultra-high temperature heat (HelioHeat) commercially for the first time.
Their note about it being patented also piqued my interest. How does patents play into an artificial intelligence system? Think of pharmaceutical patents, where the owners will muck about a bit with drug formulas and patent the new ones as a way to extend their ownership of a drug. Can a patent be taken out on the information that necessarily lies at the heart of the artificial system, the machine intuition which I discussed a few days ago? Or do they extract a static version of that information and patent that?
This is hardly a panacea, either. There’s been a lot of strain on the raw materials for cement and concrete, so perfecting a non-carbon heat source for cement doesn’t relieve all of the problems associated with those materials. Treehugger hasn’t covered the Heliogen story yet, but Lloyd Alter has a connected piece of interest:
This is the fantasy of green hydrogen and carbon-free steel; yes, it can work, but we don’t have time. We would need to transform the entire industry, and produce billions and billions of tons of hydrogen, and build all the infrastructure to make it.
It’s why I always return to the same place. We have to substitute materials that we grow instead of those we dig out of the ground. We have to use less steel, half of which is going into construction and 16 percent of which is going into cars, which are 70 percent steel by weight. So build our buildings out of wood instead of steel; make cars smaller and lighter and get a bike.
Written before Heliogen went public with its claims. Will Heliogen be able to get around these problems? They claim they create hydrogen:
Heliogen said it is generating so much heat that its technology could eventually be used to create clean hydrogen at scale. That carbon-free hydrogen could then be turned into a fuel for trucks and airplanes.
“If you can make hydrogen that’s green, that’s a gamechanger,” said Gross. “Long term, we want to be the green hydrogen company.”
But enough to matter?
Finally, it looks like they plan to commercialize it and run it like any other business. I wonder if they ever considered giving it away. Otherwise, it may be difficult to get those companies involved in the carbon-releasing technology to switch over.
