Partner Profile: Dahl Winters | |
"There are always obstacles, but I just keep going. You can’t let obstacles get in your way, because as soon as you do, you've basically lost the game."
This newsletter issue features Dahl Winters, CEO at TerraNexum - Quantum for Climate Progress
Dahl has formal training in biology, ecology, and systems engineering, but is self-taught in physics, geospatial analysis, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, quantum vacuum, quantum gravity, Bjerknes forces, acoustic radiation force, acoustic metamaterials. In her spare time, she is also an artist and a member of the OpenAir Collective.
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You have such an amazing, diverse background. How has that helped you?
Having a diverse perspective on things really helps me to find the commonalities between all those different fields of expertise. When you are just studying one core subject, you can't really see the broader picture. It's as if you have a field of ant hills, and you're really concentrated on just one ant hill. When you have a wider perspective, you can better see how all the things are connected.
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How is your diverse knowledge and background related to your founding Terranexum?
I've been working in solving problems using science and engineering for seven years prior to that within a different company that I started with my husband. At some point, I started thinking, “Climate is a big issue. I've been doing a lot in carbon dioxide removal. I can't do all the work myself.” I noticed that a lot of companies AirMiners and a lot of volunteers on the OpenAir collective– they're all doing individual things. And I thought, “We can actually drive progress a lot faster if we work together.” There's so many skills that we can bring together and different types of technologies that need deploying today.
Municipalities and companies in every state of every country in every part of the world are doing what they can locally to try to address the climate issue. They may not all be at the same level, though. It's my goal to help make the path forward accessible to everyone.
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I developed some quantum algorithms for optimization, which we have started to deploy in the cloud. We realized that we need to develop a company around this effort. After we recruited some new team members with different skills and worked on refining the process, we now have a solution that actually connects different entities and stakeholders, on a global scale, so that we can get funding to the people who are actually creating renewable energy powered carbon removal solutions and we can share ideas and processes with collaborators all over the world.
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Can you tell me a little bit about your work with the OpenAir Collective?
I have had an interest in climate for quite a while, even before my graduate work on plant migration due to climate change. I knew that CO2 wasn't really coming out of the air fast enough. I had already done everything I could to lower my personal footprint, but I realized I could also build a carbon removal device, since I had access to parts, materials, and research in that area. I designed a carbon removal device that minimizes cost and maximizes functionality and safety.I gave the device to the OpenAir Collective. It's a certified project–the first of its kind. Carbon dioxide removal devices have never before been certified through the Open Source Hardware Association, with which we work.
OpenAir Collective is really an astounding effort, led by Matt Parker and Christopher Neidl. There are many different people working on different aspects of science. And together, we're helping to innovate and answer some of the questions about making carbon removal more accessible to a wider audience.
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There are some companies here in the US and abroad (e.g. Mitsubishi) that are creating really promising, large carbon capture units. These types of units are too expensive or otherwise impractical for use in many venues, such as one’s house. You really need some distribution of different types of units, from small to large scale ones. In order to get these units implemented on a broader scale, we will need community support and a great way of getting that support is enabling everyone to have their own little unit that they can explore. People need to get introduced to the idea that there is something they can do for climate right now, in addition to marching or advocating for policy change, which are also really important. Once people are more familiar with the concept of direct air capture devices, perhaps it will generate more public support for other larger scale projects that are powered by clean, renewable energy, and that can really pave the way toward a better future.
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Are there any obstacles you've had to overcome in your career?
Many of the obstacles I encountered along the way had to do with making sure that I had access to things I needed to accelerate my career. There wasn't really a lot of opportunity in the small town where I grew up. Things really started picking off once I had the right access and was able to show people what I could do. I recognize that I was fortunate in that I eventually had access to opportunities; not everyone gets to be that fortunate. That's something that's really stuck with me throughout my career. I would estimate that 90% of the people I've known have not been as fortunate as I have. It’s important to acknowledge that because it is a huge problem. Being aware of issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and environmental justice is very important to make sure we get that broad set of skills to bring to any problem, especially a problem that's as big as climate change and sustainability.
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I hear about obstacles on LinkedIn all the time, for example I read that only 5% of female CEOs actually get venture capital funding. There are even fewer female CTOs–maybe around 1.6% in the world. I can't help being born in this body and looking the way that I do but I can help what I do and how I reach out to people. What I want to do is to help us through some major problems. I'm really grateful to have had opportunities to be able to work with folks at the OpenAir Collective and contribute my ideas about some paths forward.
There are always obstacles, but I just keep going. You can’t let obstacles get in your way, because as soon as you do, you've basically lost the game. Nobody else is going to help you, unless you're really trying to help yourself first. We're all out there working as much as we can to make sure that we can at least get the CO2 needle downward. It keeps accelerating every year, but it needs to curve and level out at some point–hopefully before 2030. Especially now that we have more government support, I think achieving this goal is really possible.
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The European Carbon Dioxide Utilisation Summit
October 5-6, 2022
This event will focus on new CO2 utilisation developments and technologies in the oil and gas, chemicals, energy, mineralisation and E-Fuels industries, as well as other-end markets.
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