Quantum computing just might save the planet

Quantum computing could help reduce emissions in some of the most challenging or emissions-intensive areas, such as agriculture or direct-air capture, and could accelerate improvements in technologies required at great scale.

Quantum computing could bring about step changes throughout the economy that would have a huge impact on carbon abatement and carbon removal

• Improving the energy density of lithium-ion batteries enables applications in electric vehicles and energy storage at an affordable cost
• Quantum computing could allow breakthroughs by providing a better understanding of electrolyte complex formation, by helping to find a replacement material for cathode/anode with the same properties, and/or by eliminating the battery separator
• Higher-density energy batteries can serve as a grid-scale storage solution

During calcination in the kiln for making clinker, a powder used to make cement, CO2 is released from raw materials.

Alternative cement-binding materials (or "clinkers") can eliminate these emissions, but there's currently no mature alternative clinker that can significantly reduce emissions at an affordable cost.

Currently, solar cells rely on crystalline silicon and have an efficiency on the order of 20 percent

Perovskite crystal structures, which have a theoretical efficiency of up to 40 percent, could be a better alternative

They present challenges, however, because they lack long-term stability and could, in some varieties, be more toxic

Quantum computing could help solve these challenges by allowing for precise simulation

If the theoretical efficiency increase can be reached, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) would decrease by 50 percent

• Improving electrolysis could significantly decrease the cost of hydrogen
• Electrolyzers have delicate membranes that allow the split hydrogen to pass from the anode to the cathode (but keeps the split oxygen out).
• Catalysts and membranes do not yet interact well
• Quantum computing can help model the energy state of pulse electrolysis to optimize catalyst usage
• Increased hydrogen use as a result of these improvements could reduce CO2 emissions by an additional 1.1 gigatons by 2035

Best known as a fertilizer, ammonia could also be used as fuel. Currently, it is made through an energy-intensive process using natural gas.

Other potential approaches include Nitrogenase bioelectrocatalysis.

This method is attractive because it can be done at room temperature and at 1 bar pressure

Quantum computing can help simulate the process of enhancing the stability of the enzyme, protecting it from oxygen and improving the rate of ammonia production by nitrogenase.

• CO2 can be captured directly from industrial sources such as a cement or steel blast furnace
• The vast majority of CO2 capture is too expensive to be viable for now
• One possible solution: novel solvents
• Quantum computing promises to enable more accurate modeling of molecular structure
• Could reduce the cost of the process by 30 to 50 percent
• Potential to decarbonize industrial processes

Twenty percent of annual greenhouse-gas emissions come from agriculture-and methane emitted by cattle and dairy is the primary contributor (7.9 gigatons of CO2e, based on 20-year global-warming potential).

Research has established that low-methane feed additives could effectively stop up to 90 percent of methane emissions, but applying those additives to free-range livestock is difficult.

With $3 to $5 trillion in value at stake in sustainability, according to McKinsey research, climate investment is an imperative for big companies.

Governments have an important role to play by creating programs at universities to develop quantum talent and by providing incentives for quantum innovation for climate, particularly for use cases that today do not have natural corporate partners, such as disaster prediction or that aren't economical.