What's Your Problem? Carbon Capture at Rock-Bottom Prices
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Sep 11, 2025 
Shashank Samala, the CEO and co-founder of Heirloom, discusses innovative carbon capture solutions using crushed limestone. He shares how his childhood in India shaped his passion for tackling climate change. The conversation dives into the cost-effective methods of capturing atmospheric CO2 and the role of government policies in supporting this industry. Shashank also highlights a groundbreaking project aimed at capturing one million tons of carbon annually, drawing parallels with the solar industry's evolution.
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Childhood Climate Shaped His Mission
- Shashank recounts growing up near Hyderabad where extreme floods and droughts were commonplace and disruptive to daily life.
- He connects that childhood experience to his motivation to work on climate and carbon removal.
Rocks Are A Cheap, Permanent Carbon Sponge
- Rocks provide a one-way, permanent sink for CO2 and are extremely cheap because Earth already formed the minerals.
- Reusing mineral feedstock across many cycles drives the rock cost per ton of CO2 to near-zero.
Capture Is Only Half The Energy Equation
- Carbon removal is an energy-optimization problem with capture and regeneration steps that both consume energy.
- Minimizing total energy across capture and release determines the cost per ton of CO2 removed.