---
title: "Retrofitted Air Conditioners Could Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel"
description: "A team of researchers from Germany and Canada are proposing to turn old air conditioning units into devices that can turn harmful CO2 into fuel."
date: "2019-04-30"
modified: "2019-04-30"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/air-conditioners-carbon-dioxide-fuel"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "air conditioner"
  - "carbon dioxide"
  - "climate change"
  - "the digest"
---

# Retrofitted Air Conditioners Could Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel

![A team of researchers from Germany and Canada are proposing to turn old air conditioning units into devices that can turn harmful CO2 into fuel.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/air-conditioners-carbon-dioxide-fuel.png>)
*\<em\>Image: MaxPixel/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## CO2 Suckers

A team of researchers from Germany and Canada have proposed a radical environmental concept: retrofitting old air conditioning units so that they suck in excess carbon dioxide and turn it into renewable fuel — a concept they term "crowd oil."

In the journal *Nature Communications*, they [argued that](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09685-x>) the tech would allow "people to take control and collectively manage global warming and climate change, rather than depending on the fossil power industrial behemoths."

## Renewing the Renewable

[Carbon scrubbing](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/carbon-dioxide-scrubber-bigs>), which means sucking up carbon dioxide from exhaust gases, has been around for a while. In fact, Iceland even opened a ["negative emissions" power plant](<https://qz.com/1100221/the-worlds-first-negative-emissions-plant-has-opened-in-iceland-turning-carbon-dioxide-into-stone/>) in 2017 that turns carbon dioxide into carbonate minerals.

But turning the gas into useful "high-energy-density chemical fuel," as the paper describes it, is a much bigger challenge. Besides, the consumer-grade tech that could turn your old AC unit into a environment-saving miracle device has yet to be invented.

There's also the pesky reality that air conditioning units require a lot of electricity to run — though the authors of the letter suggest it could come from solar panels.

**READ MORE:** [Scientists lay out plan to use air conditioners to save the world](<https://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-lay-out-plan-to-use-air-conditioners-to-save-the-world/>) \[*CNET*\]

**More on CO2 and fuel:** *[New Artificial Leaf Design Could Absorb Far More CO2](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/artificial-leaves-convert-co2-fuel>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)