The unique powers of quantum computation may give humanity an important weapon — or several weapons — against climate change, according to one quantum computer pioneer.
One of the possible solutions for the excess carbon in the atmosphere and to reach global climate goals is to suck it out. It sounds pretty easy, but, in fact, the technology to do so cheaply and easily isn’t quite here yet, according to Jeremy O’Brien Chief Executive Officer, PsiQuantum, a quantum computing startup.
Currently, there is no way to simulate large complex molecules, like carbon dioxide. Current classical computers cannot simulate these types of molecules because the problem grows exponentially with the size or complexity of the simulated molecules, according to O’Brien, who wrote an article outlining the issue at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting held recently.
“Crudely speaking, if simulating a molecule with 10 atoms takes a minute, a molecule with 11 takes two minutes, one with 12 atoms takes four minutes and so on,” he writes. “This exponential scaling quickly renders a traditional computer useless: simulating a molecule with just 70 atoms would take longer than the lifetime of the universe (13 billion years).”
