We all know of the impact gas guzzling engines have had on global warming. Reducing our reliance and consumption of gasoline produced by oil, however, is not in the best interest of the petro industry. And converting the entire world or even a significant number of existing automobiles to electric won’t happen fast enough to save our planet. But what if there is another way?

Enter Prometheus. No, not titan of Greek gods who stole fire from Zeus, and gave it to us mere mortals. We are talking about a new titan in town, possibly even a Titan of Tech: Rob McGinnis, the CEO of Prometheus Fuels. Rob moved his company into the westside of Santa Cruz recently. Prometheus is able to create gasoline from thin air. Yeah, I know, it sounds like voodoo, but it is real as great surf.

Rob’s journey started at Cabrillo College. As an undergrad, he studied philosophy and theater. At nights, when he wasn’t writing poetry or acting, he worked in labs on desalination projects. He transferred to Yale, received a BA in Theater, then went on to complete a PhD in Philosophy and Environmental Engineering. His focus on desalination became his first company: Oasys Water. His tech was able to convert saltwater to water at 150% less cost than conventional solutions. The success of Rob’s Boston-based company Oasys led to his purchase of a Tesla Roadster, but did not quench his thirst (see what I did there) for solving larger global issues. So he targeted the damage that oil-produced gasoline is doing to our planet. Theater and philosophy begat Oasys, Oasys begat Prometheus. And so on…

The engineers at Prometheus built a solution to pull carbon dioxide out of the air, and combine it with molecules to create gasoline. It is a net neutral process because it uses solar panels for energy to pull the carbon dioxide out of the air created by our gas-powered vehicles. In contrast, oil-produced gasoline release carbon from the ground, continuously compounding and poisoning our thin layer of breathable air. Corn ethanol? Same problem.

“Digging in to some more details,” explains Rob, “we absorb CO2 and water vapor from the air into an aqueous electrolyte. We then react the CO2 in the water with a copper catalyst to directly make alcohols like ethanol, butanol, propanol, etc. Both of these things have been done by many others and the science is known. Normally at this point one would have to use a thermal process (distillation) to get the fuel out of the water, and this is expensive and makes the economics really hard to get right. We don’t have to do this step thermally though, because we have a carbon nanotube membrane that replaces it, extracting the alcohols from water in a single step at room temperature. This makes a huge difference in cost. The last step is that we up-convert the alcohols to gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. This last step is also well known and we can actually buy this step from others.”

In a conversation with Rob, I asked him why he chose Santa Cruz for his new business. He explained that after Boston, he moved to SF to incubate his idea at Y Combinator. He contemplated the Bay Area for best cities for a tech startup. Santa Cruz went to the top of the list.

More importantly, the quality of life is better. We have everything from healthy organic food to the ocean and redwoods. People who live here love their community. It is hard to find this combination anywhere else.

“Santa Cruz is a less expensive place to build a tech business,” explains Rob. “Less expensive office space, and less expensive houses. More importantly, the quality of life is better. We have everything from healthy organic food to the ocean and redwoods. People who live here love their community. It is hard to find this combination anywhere else.”

I also asked if there were any downsides to living and growing a business in Santa Cruz. He said the only downside he was aware of is the very low availability of commercial space.

We have invited Rob to present at one of our upcoming New Tech events. Stay tuned. For now, you can read more about Rob and Prometheus Fuels at Bloomberg. Big thanks to Santa Cruz Works Member Ron Goodman for connecting us!

Making Gasoline Out of Thin Air