“AI tackles CO2 one t-shirt at a time,” trumpets the press agents from Slice of MIT. “What if reducing global warming were as straightforward as wearing a T-shirt and tossing it in the wash? According to Patrick Teyssonneyre MBA ’19, the cofounder and CEO of Xinterra, it can be.”
Just treat T-shirts with Xinterra’s patent pending COzTERRA amine solution and the shirt will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Throw it in the wash and the captured gas turns into baking soda that washes down the drain, re-energizing the shirt for another day.
Wow. And yet …
“Hey Perplexity. What’s the total life cycle carbon footprint of a COzTERRA T-shirt over its chemically active life when you count the carbon released by the amine manufacturing process?”
“For every 62.8 grams of CO2 emitted to produce and apply the treatment, only 28.5 grams are captured from the atmosphere—a negative return on carbon investment of 55%.”
Whoops.
“MIT senior turns waste from the fishing industry into biodegradable plastic,” crow the press agents at MIT News. “Jacqueline Prawira, an MIT senior in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, transforms fish offal into a transparent, thin-film material that can be used for disposable products such as grocery bags, packaging, and utensils.”
Wow. And yet…
“Hey Perplexity. What’s the total life cycle carbon footprint of fish scale bioplastic compared to conventional plastic when both are disposed of in a landfill?”
“Conventional plastic sequesters carbon for 500+ years. When landfilled, fish scale bioplastic generates 7-8x more greenhouse gas than conventional plastics due to methane release.”
Whoops.
Don’t believe the Beave? Always remember to check out fishy claims for yourself now that we all have the power of AI at our fingertips.
Like any theatrical performance, STEM virtue theater requires a willing suspension of disbelief.