# HIBT Lab! Climeworks: Jan Wurzbacher

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2022-06-30
- Length: 37m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher

## Summary

Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder and CEO of Climeworks, explains how he and co-founder Christoph Gebald built the world’s largest direct air capture facility, the Orca plant in Iceland, which removes 4,000 tons of CO2 annually. Wurzbacher details the company's evolution from selling captured CO2 to Coca-Cola and greenhouses to providing permanent carbon removal services for corporate clients like Microsoft and private individuals. He discusses the massive scaling challenges, including the need for 10 billion tons of annual removal by 2050, the capital intensity of hardware, and the strategic importance of pairing capture facilities with renewable energy sources like geothermal power.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=0) Introduction: Jan Wurzbacher and the Climate Challenge
- [3:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=184) Founding Climeworks and Early Engineering
- [5:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=333) The Science of Direct Air Capture
- [12:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=773) Early Business Model: Selling CO2 to Coca-Cola
- [17:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=1046) Technology: Filters, Heat, and Underground Storage
- [19:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=1176) Scaling and Financing the Orca Plant
- [29:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=1796) Corporate and Private Carbon Removal Markets
- [34:52](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-06-30-hibt-lab-climeworks-jan-wurzbacher#t=2092) The Future of the Carbon Capture Industry

## Topics

- [Energy & climate tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/energy-and-climate-tech)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Climeworks (company)
- Orca (product)
- Coca-Cola (company)
- Microsoft (company)
- Audi (company)
- Shopify (company)
- IPCC (other)
- ETH Zurich (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Using Cooling Towers to Scale Atmospheric CO2 Removal with Silvain Toromanoff, Co-Founder and CTO of NeoCarbon](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-06-08-using-cooling-towers-to-scale-atmospheric-co2-removal-with-silvain-toromanoff-co) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [DAC’s bumpy road to commercial scale](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2024-10-03-dacs-bumpy-road-to-commercial-scale) (Catalyst)
- [Fostering a Circular Carbon Economy with Direct Air Capture: Insights from Rob van Straten of Skytree](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2024-11-21-fostering-a-circular-carbon-economy-with-direct-air-capture-insights-from-rob-va) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Scalability, Sustainability, and Cost Efficiency in Direct Air Capture (DAC) for CO2 Removal with Julian Turecek of AspiraDAC](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-10-26-scalability-sustainability-and-cost-efficiency-in-direct-air-capture-dac-for-co2) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [A Sustainable Approach to Direct Air Capture with Noah McQueen, Head of Research & Co-Founder of Heirloom](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2022-07-07-a-sustainable-approach-to-direct-air-capture-with-noah-mcqueen-head-of-research) (Hardware to Save a Planet)

## Citing this page

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