Tell your state leaders to support rooftop air-to-fuel tech!

In May 2025, New York startup Aircela successfully demoed a prototype world-first fridge-sized electricity-powered direct air capture machine that synthesizes fossil-free vehicle-ready gasoline fuel from thin air. It works by assembling hydrocarbon molecules, made from carbon atoms coming from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere captured with a potassium hydroxide solution plus hydrogen atoms coming from electrolysis of water, in a self-contained, “install-anywhere” process.

When the resulting gasoline is burned (it’s immediately usable in any standard internal combustion engine), this does release the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere again — but it’s just recirculating carbon that was already in the atmosphere, not adding more carbon that was previously locked underground. If gasoline made locally from air becomes widespread, it could dramatically reduce the effective emissions of the already-existing fleet of internal combustion engine cars for the rest of their usable lifespans.

This technology opens up fascinating new economic possibilities, from a household-level “rooftop gas station” to an oil rig-level production array of gasoline-producing Aircela-style machines powered by a nearby solar farm. Major transport company Maersk is already investing in Aircela with the hope of using their machines as a fuel source, and early deployments of more DAC machines should begin as soon as fall 2025.

This is early days for air-to-fuel technology, but the transformative potential is absolutely enormous. Any site on Earth could soon become a major gasoline producer, without releasing more locked-away fossil carbon. U.S. state leaders should seize the opportunity to create a highly supportive legal, regulatory, and permitting structure to incentivize the synthesis of fuel from atmospheric carbon dioxide!

Tell your state leaders to support rooftop air-to-fuel tech!