Heliogen: The Bill Gates Funded AI Solar Project Which May Slash Global Emissions By Over 20 Per Cent

Heliogen - a startup backed by Billionaires Bill Gates and Patrick Soon-Shiong has achieved a major breakthrough to generate extreme heat in ranges above 1,000 degree Celsius using - solar power, reflective mirrors and Artificial Intelligence (AI), CNN Business has reported.

To explain briefly, Heliogen has created a solar oven which may potentially replace carbon emitting furnaces required in cement, steel and glass industries, thereby ushering in a green revolution.

The company is committed to make its technology cheaper and a lot greener than conventional fossil fuels, thus saving both money and the environment.

Currently over 20 per cent of global carbon emissions come from the industries including cement and steel making which may be disrupted by Heliogen’s tech. The cement industry in itself is responsible for about 7 per cent of the global CO2 emission.

Heliogen uses AI tech like computer vision software and automatic edge detection to align around a thousand mirrors at a single point to generate extreme heat.

To hedge against the unavailability of real time solar power (cloudy day), the company plans to develop energy storage units which can be used by industries.

“If we go to a cement company and say we'll give you green heat, no CO2, but we'll also save you money, then it becomes a no-brainer”, Heliogen founder Bill Gross has been quoted as saying.