Reimagining CO2 into something useful

Sponsored by Canada's oil sands industry, it's an interesting alternative to regulating our way to solving environmental problems (COSIA.ca):

The US$20 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE is a global initiative, operated by the XPRIZE Foundation, designed to accelerate new technologies by converting CO2 emissions from industrial facilities for electricity generation and oil and gas production into valuable and usable products.

The competition is structured as a two-track prize, with the new technologies tested at either a coal power plant or a natural gas power plant. A total of US$20M will be awarded to winning teams, with US$10M awarded for each track.

Of course the sad part, is that any current proposed regulation does nothing to account for any future innovations that might come out of this and would have far greater impact than the myopic regulations proposed.