The team is working to sequester carbon by sinking kelp grown and gathered in the high seas.
[California, February 5] – Pull To Refresh Inc. has been growing a team for nearly a year to develop an ocean carbon sequestration solution for the $100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition funded by the Musk Foundation. On Earth Day, 2022, XPRIZE will announce up to 15 teams that will each receive early financial support up to $1M. The grand prize winners will be announced at the end of the competition in 2025, with first place winning $50M, second receiving $20M, and third earning $10M. .
Pull To Refresh announces today that it has enlisted two new team members, macroalgae expert Louis Druehl, Ph.D., founder of Canadian Kelp Resources, and Kelp Seed Production Manager Amy McConnell. Druehl and McConnell have been providing guidance to the team about kelp spore cultivation for several months. As official members of Pull To Refresh, Druehl and McConnell will play a crucial role in developing climate solutions with the team.
Louis Druehl Ph.D. is an expert in all aspects of kelp, including its evolution, ecology, and physiology. He started the first commercial seaweed operation in North America in 1982 and wrote the bestselling book Pacific Seaweeds: A Guide to Common Seaweeds of the West Coast. Druehl has been referred to as the “seaweed guru” and the “kelp grandfather.”
For decades he has been cultivating giant kelp in British Columbia, Canada. His company Canadian Kelp Resources produces sea vegetables and operates a small test kelp farm for research purposes. Druehl has also been a professor of marine botany at Simon Fraser University and taught field-oriented seaweed courses at the Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories, the Bamfield Marine Station, and the University of Alaska. His motto is “Find Your Kelp.”
Amy McConnell heads the lab for Canadian Kelp Resources, where she produces kelp seed for outplanting on kelp farms and is experimenting with kelp restoration techniques.
Druehl stated: “The oceans have served mankind by connecting continents and feeding many. Recently we have come to understand they support the planet, serving as lungs and kidneys to our planet. After all of these years helping the kelp industry grow, it’s incredible to see that with the ingenuity of Pull To Refresh and others, we may be on the threshold of reversing our carbon excesses through carbon sequestration by open-ocean farmed kelp.”
Pull To Refresh Inc. will leverage its growing team to demonstrate custom semi-autonomous vessels, remote controlled nutrient delivery systems, and a globally connected cloud solution that brings monitoring and management of macroalgae based sequestration methods to a digital control space for maximum scalability and effectiveness.
Pull To Refresh continues to grow its XPRIZE Carbon Removal team and is actively seeking additional team members who have the skills required for the important work that lies ahead.
