Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
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Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#2Economics rules everything. How much does this cost vs simply planting trees, when the value of harvesting the trees is included? Since tree farms are generally profitable, and wood is expensive, it seems this method is likely to be economically less efficient.
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#3This solves only part of the problem: it captures CO2 and can release it later. But you still need to figure out what to do with this CO2, how to turn it into something useful.
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#4Economics rules everything. How much does this cost vs simply planting trees, when the value of harvesting the trees is included? Since tree farms are generally profitable, and wood is expensive, it seems this method is likely to be economically less efficient.
The problem is you cannot plant enough trees around the globe to offset our CO2 emissions.
Also, a forest only absorbs CO2 while alive. Once it dies, it emits CO2 too.
You would need to permanently store the wood somewhere (submerging in water, etc).
Recent article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/28/africa-f...
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#5This solves only part of the problem: it captures CO2 and can release it later. But you still need to figure out what to do with this CO2, how to turn it into something useful.
you can inject it into peridotites and let it mineralize. there is enough exposed peridotite outcrops in the world that we could inject all the co2 produced and store it there indefinitely. this process also produces elemental hydrogen.
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#6Economics rules everything. How much does this cost vs simply planting trees, when the value of harvesting the trees is included? Since tree farms are generally profitable, and wood is expensive, it seems this method is likely to be economically less efficient.
I agree. Plants are not very efficient (1% or 2%) but they include packaging the CO2 in a stable form. You can store the grain or wood for long periods of times.
In this case, it looks like they get CO2 as a gas. It's cheaper because you don't have to use energy to undo the burning, but it's difficult to store for a long time.
(I'm not sure if someone tried to make a fake underground bog in abandoned mine. Just fill with wood and water to keep the oxygen low and make the wood decompose slowly.)
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#7What are the use cases of CO2 appart for making my Coke fizz?
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#8This solves only part of the problem: it captures CO2 and can release it later. But you still need to figure out what to do with this CO2, how to turn it into something useful.
I'm fine with keeping it inside something brick-shaped and chucking it down an abandoned mine from where it can be retrieved at a later time. It would definitely be a storage improvement over "the atmosphere and our lungs".
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
#9Economics rules everything. How much does this cost vs simply planting trees, when the value of harvesting the trees is included? Since tree farms are generally profitable, and wood is expensive, it seems this method is likely to be economically less efficient.
Planting trees is not effective since it takes decades to capture the carbon, but the next years are crucial for determining long term climate developments.
Re: Efficient method to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
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