By RP Siegel
Peter Eisenberger was a department head at famed innovation hub Bell Labs when he heard that Exxon was worried the world was running out of oil. It was the 1980s, and the fossil fuel company was recruiting physicists to help it explore alternative energy sources. Intrigued by the opportunity, Eisenberger joined up.
Over the course of eight years, he studied potential oil and gas replacements, eventually coming to an epiphany: “The most sustainable economy is one that gets its energy from the sun, hydrogen from water, and carbon from the air, like nature does,” he tells Grist. From Exxon’s perspective, that meant the company needed to invest in solar — and fast.
Eisenberger’s employer, however, didn’t agree. Exxon punted on solar and doubled down on fossil fuels. So Eisenberger left. Twenty years later, he’s dealing with the consequences of that decision by addressing another parameter in his “most sustainable economy” trifecta: extracting carbon from an atmosphere that’s oversaturated with it.
