A California-based company has achieved a significant milestone that could transform the way the world powers everything from artificial intelligence data centres to cargo ships.

This breakthrough means the company can now produce clean fuels that cost less than traditional fossil fuels.

Prometheus (the company responsible) demonstrated its technology’s potential by powering artificial intelligence entirely with fuel made from air and renewable electricity. This marks the first time in history that AI has been powered by liquid fuel created entirely from atmospheric carbon dioxide and solar electricity.

I continue to be amazed by advances in energy technology that persist in taking theory and stream lining processes until they become financially viable.

Well, if it scales up it sounds promising, but so far it has only raised something like $50 Million from what I can see, a large slice of it from BMW and is only a pilot plant. It has a long way to go.

It would solve a lot of problems if it works. You could stop electrification immediately and have a carbon neutral hydrocarbon-fuelled economy. That means the huge amounts of materials that need to be mined to try to electrify everything can stay in the ground, and our current manufacturing and logistics systems won't need to be discarded or significantly modified.

Also two-thirds of emissions are from processes that resist electrification like steel, cement, plastics, fertilisers, explosives, pharmaceuticals, lubricants, road surfaces...

You could also use nuclear to run the process, which again would do away with the problems renewables bring into the system.

Here's an idea. Instead of ploughing billions of subsidies into renewables that have made negligible changes to CO2 in the atmosphere, why not throw a fraction of that into hydrocarbons from air and water and see if there isn't a technological fix that works at a reasonable cost. That is the Bill Gates and Bjorn Lomborg approach. In fact I'm surprised Gates hasn't put some money into this technology if it is that good. (He has put money into a similar company called Infinium and his Breakthrough Energy Ventures is also active in the space).

Prometheus has been making these exact same claims since at least 2022 and, from memory, as far back as 2017.

From what we've seen so far, its the fuel of the future.... and always will be.

errr, seems to me that there might be a catch 22 in
this somewhere.
Like if we pull so much co2 out of the air might we
starve for the lack of bread etc ?
With low levels of co2 would we have "Global Freezing ?"
Perhaps not if the fuel when burnt put the co2 back into the air.
Is the energy in greater than the energy out ?

Hi WTF,

Good post, technical development takes time, and it is a long journey from concept to fruition. The steam engine took more than 50 years of development from the first successful engine produced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, to the commercially successful engine of James Watt in 1764. Good post by GY as well.

"and from memory" Trumpster you were going well until you put that bit in. Relying on your memory really, a goldfish has a memory capacity of 5 minutes, yours is somewhat less. I advise, you delete that memory reference completely. Try this line instead, "Prometheus has been making these exact same claims since at least 2022 and, the space aliens told me as far back as 2017." Far more creditable.

BTW, The Kudos Kid has not been around lately, did he get arrested in Melbourne with all the other Neo-Nazis

Commenting based on memory seems to be an unfathomable concept for poor old Paul.

BTW, checked it out. Prometheus was formed in 2019 but the founder was making these claims back in 2017.

If you're looking for the future of energy generation, I'd back geothermal....

http://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/06/super-hot-rocks-geothermal-technology-renewable-energy-three-rivers-mazama/

The beauty of this is that pretty much every nation on earth has access to the resource. Also it uses the same technology as used in fracking which I find to be rather poetic - the very technology that the alarmists have been whining about for two decades used to pull their net zero chestnuts out of the fire.

"Behold!" said cult leader Albo. "Cast thine eyes on the divine greatness that shall glorify the faith and smite our mockers.".

Fifty million eh Graham? Never doubt the ability of a BS story to interest the gullible and attract a dollar or two, but with the grifters here getting over 10b a year from taxpayers courtesy of gullible Albo, Prometheus Energy look like amateurs.

https://www.gasworld.com/feature/prometheus-rethinks-dac-to-drive-down-e-fuel-costs/2168372.article/

Hello Paul,

Interesting comment. I was also considering the steam train as an example of continuous technological advancement.

The English went from digging canals to accommodate horse draw barges to railways in a relatively short period of time.

mhaze - Prometheus has been releasing progress reports for a number of years. Releases from 2022 were saying that their techniques were not refined enough at that stage for their fuels to compete on a cost basis with then oil prices. That has changed. Welcome to the future.

Congratulations mhaze on your comments about geothermal energy.

With a little extra thought you might start to realise that the energy future will probably be a combination of a number of sources. This is something that some commentators on OLO have been saying for years.

I'm going to be curt here, Bazza, you do not have a clue.

"That has changed. Welcome to the future."

Well actually nothing's changed except the rhetoric. They say they're competitive with oil but have no numbers on that. Is that competitive with oil at $US100 or $US30?

Over the years I've seen any number of these claims of a major technological break-through which come to nought. Thorium is an excellent example - always gunna happen next year. Usually all these things generate is speculative investment and/or subsidy.

"With a little extra thought you might start to realise that the energy future will probably be a combination of a number of sources"

Well derr...
We've know this for three decades. But the hope is that none of them will be adopted because of false claims about CO2 and/or government subsidy.

Net zero was always going to be superfluous because (1) there is no need to reduce CO2 emissions and (2) technology was always going to render all the disputes mute. The only problem is that, while we reach that point, governments and activists are destroying the economies of those nations that feel for it.

Bjorn Lomborg predicted back in 2005 that batteries and solar would be competitive with fossil fuels (sans subsidy) around 2035. That remains likely.

The trouble with comments like yours is the assumption that unless someone has fully fallen for the renewables boondoggle then they must be all in on fossil fuels. Much better to have an "all of the above" approach and let the market work out the best solution - again sans government interference.

Yes WTF I do not have a clue but we have seen so many magic
solutions go down the gurgler because the energy needed
to run them exceeded the energy output.
When the transmission lines are finished we will see that
all over again with Solar & wind. Except it will be energy
and the money equivalent.

"Net zero was always going to be superfluous because (1) there is no need to reduce CO2 emissions "

Just a further thought on that....

When the history of the great CO2 scare is written, one of the heroes of the rationalist side of the debate will be Matt Ridley.

He's just written an article declaring the beginning of the end of the great scare and postulating how the political classes will find a way back to reality. Most won't like it but I'm seeing more and more of this recently.... http://thespectator.com/topic/climate-politics-come-down-to-earth/

Okay, so you ban nuclear and then get excited by something about as feasible as a perpetual motion machine? As Carl Sagan quipped, an open mind is good, but open it too much and your brain falls out.

End the ban and ditch the grifters.