Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: Chondrally on 01/02/2017 03:54:25
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How much CO2 can the Oceans Take up? Sucking CO2 from the air would not halt Global Warming!
The real solution might be an initiative by the World Governments to buildfloating platforms with distillation plants on them to separate the carbonate and CO2 from the laden deep ocean currents in the GulfStream and the Pacific circulation, and the Indian Ocean Circulation?We would need floating pipelines to the coast with the fresh water for the populations.Only Governments could finance it and do it because it is likely not a financial winner, but necessary to do.The politicians and civil servants should consider it seriously.SkyMine - Capturing CO2 for profit!https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/skymine-capturing... (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/skymine-capturing-carbon-profit)The govenments could capture the CO2 for profit, or just release it back into the atmosphere.For every ton of CO2 emitted, only one third to 40$ approximately ends up back in the Ocean.They could turn it into fuel or plastics needed by the population!The reason for doing this is because even if we take 25 billion tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere, it still won't save the oceans!
Sucking CO2 from the Air Would Not Halt Effects of Global WarmingSans reduced emissions, using extreme geoengineering to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide would not protect the oceans, models showhttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sucking-co2-from-the-air-woul... (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sucking-co2-from-the-air-would-not-halt-effects-of-global-warming/)
How Much CO2 can the Oceans Take up?https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/2013/07/03/how-much-co2-c... (https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/2013/07/03/how-much-co2-can-the-oceans-take-up/)
How do you measure Carbon Dioxide Emissions?https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-do-you-measure... (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-do-you-measure-carbon-dioxide-emissions)
How much CO2 does a car contribute?https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-much-co2-does-... (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-much-co2-does-car-contribute)
How many trees to offset carbon emissions in Britain?https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-many-trees-com... (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-many-trees-combat-climate-change)
A look at the future of the Oceanshttps://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked-oceans/considering-fut... (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked-oceans/considering-future-oceans)[/size][/font]
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The problem is to find a process for converting or sequestering CO2 that doesn't, over its lifetime, add more CO2 than it removes. If you include all other pollutants like mine tailings and scrap windmills, my feeling is that organic photosynthesis (which has evolved over billions of years with no human input) is the only feasible mechanism. It does at least have a long and successful history since it is responsible for all the wood and fossil fuel we are now using to put the CO2 back into the atmosphere!
So how do we redress the balance? Easy. All animals convert plant material into CO2. Most species rely on live or recently dead plants, and humans also use fossil fuels. So reduce the human population (easy - just make fewer babies) and its liking for farmed meat (easy - put a massive tax on meat) and wait for the forests to regrow. Having cleared the land of inefficient cattle, we can grow protein crops to feed our reduced population and sugar crops to feed internal combustion machines. No massive investment or new technology required, and our descendants will be very grateful.
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The problem is to find a process for converting or sequestering CO2 that doesn't, over its lifetime, add more CO2 than it removes. If you include all other pollutants like mine tailings and scrap windmills, my feeling is that organic photosynthesis (which has evolved over billions of years with no human input) is the only feasible mechanism. It does at least have a long and successful history since it is responsible for all the wood and fossil fuel we are now using to put the CO2 back into the atmosphere!
I believe artificial photosynthesis may in the future become a very efficient technology to sequestrate atmospheric CO2.
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I've been wondering about that for some time. Botanists tell me that the natural product is about as efficient as you can expect - after all it has had zillions of years of R&D - and produces edible products with no capital cost. So the answer, as with so many questions, is to reduce the human population to a sustainable level and stop worrying about everything else.