At The Mover, we frequently bring you stories that we believe are interesting, even if they are not directly related to the moving industry. This is one such story.

We recently received a communication from The Obrist Group in Germany.  The company is run by Frank Obrist, who claims to be an inventor, entrepreneur and visionary with over 540 patents to his name.  He’s come up with an idea which, if it works, could completely transform the ‘net zero’ debate and consign man-made global warming to a blip in environmental history.  We shall allow you to be the judge.

The principle is to create methanol, which is a liquid at room temperature and an efficient fuel, from water in the atmosphere using sunlight as the fuel source.  The Obrist Group believes that this ‘green methanol’ could replace fossil fuels worldwide. Frank Obrist accepts that this sounds fanciful but claims: “As hard to imagine today as the iPhone was before its launch in 2007, green methanol will be as commonplace in 15 years as smartphones are today."

“The world faces a dilemma: the escalating threat of global warming from continued fossil fuel use and the uncertainties of relying solely on wind and solar power for energy,” Frank said. “The solution lies in solar energy – not as electricity, which is challenging to store and transport, but in the form of green methanol.”

CO₂-negative equals climate-positive
In simple terms, the process involves extracting water from the air and using solar energy to convert it into hydrogen, which is then transformed into methanol. Methanol, a liquid at room temperature, can be stored for long periods in standard containers and easily transported via conventional methods such as pipelines, tankers, trains, or trucks.

The key innovation: more CO₂ is captured from the atmosphere during methanol production than is released during its combustion.

This Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, developed and patented by Obrist, functions like a ‘CO₂ vacuum’, removing carbon dioxide that has accumulated in the atmosphere over decades of industrial activity. Obrist refers to this product as ‘Atmospheric Methanol’ and describes the process as ‘sub-zero’.  Unlike achieving net-zero emissions, this method goes further by actively reducing atmospheric CO₂ levels, making the process CO₂-negative and therefore climate-positive.

“Many people can only envision possibilities once they’ve become reality,” said Frank ...

Photo: Frank Obrist.

Click here to read the full story in The Mover magazine.

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