11–20 of 62 posts
Before anyone points out that trees already handle this, let me clarify: We need to pursue all available options simultaneously to effectively combat climate change. This includes: Reducing reliance on carbon-based energy to lower emissions. Implementing carbon capture and long-term storage solutions to remove excess CO₂ from the atmosphere.
I think such an appliance had already been invented. They are called "trees". All they need to do their work is corporations leaving them alone.
It's the same reason biofuels cannot be a general replacement for fossil fuels.
Growing trees is nice for other reasons, of course, and some limited CO2 capture would come along for the ride. This would not eliminate the desirability of other kinds of CO2 capture.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And any operation of planting and cutting to drawdown CO2 must bury or properly process the biomass to actually put co2 somewhere Else it is an open cycle where co2 in == co2 out
Great thing about wood is you can build almost-permanent structures with it? And the remaining biomass (leaves, bark, etc.) is fine to compost and re-enter the carbon cycle. Also it's clearly not an open cycle, not in temperate climates. The accumulation of carbon in top soils etc. is one of the things that kept CO2 in balance for millions of years prior to us pulling it out of the ground. Peat bogs being another key…
I think such an appliance had already been invented. They are called "trees". All they need to do their work is corporations leaving them alone.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And any operation of planting and cutting to drawdown CO2 must bury or properly process the biomass to actually put co2 somewhere Else it is an open cycle where co2 in == co2 out
Great thing about wood is you can build almost-permanent structures with it? And the remaining biomass (leaves, bark, etc.) is fine to compost and re-enter the carbon cycle. Also it's clearly not an open cycle, not in temperate climates. The accumulation of carbon in top soils etc. is one of the things that kept CO2 in balance for millions of years prior to us pulling it out of the ground. Peat bogs being another key…
I think such an appliance had already been invented. They are called "trees". All they need to do their work is corporations leaving them alone.
Old trees don’t capture much CO2. It’s only young, growing trees that have a meaningful impact. Need a lot more than fewer corps
Before anyone points out that trees already handle this, let me clarify: We need to pursue all available options simultaneously to effectively combat climate change. This includes: Reducing reliance on carbon-based energy to lower emissions. Implementing carbon capture and long-term storage solutions to remove excess CO₂ from the atmosphere.
Fully agree. In my college ecology course, my professor stressed that sequestration/capture, while not ideal, will likely be crucial as our production of greenhouse gases outpaces the rate of absorption by plant biomass and ocean algae.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fully agree. In my college ecology course, my professor stressed that sequestration/capture, while not ideal, will likely be crucial as our production of greenhouse gases outpaces the rate of absorption by plant biomass and ocean algae.
Sequestration underground doesn't really work. It is based on lies. It will just bubble back up when the Earth's plates move. For capture to work, it has to be reacted with a stable absorber, so it cannot bubble back up into the atmosphere.
We have a worked example for geologically stable carbon sequestration without any novel chemical bonding, and that's storing carbon in compounds that are mostly unhydrogenated carbon by mass, deep underground:
Charcoal. If you aim to sequester carbon without some kind of reactant (and most reactants are incredibly energy intensive to make & stage, burning more CO2 than captured), you have to effectively make charcoal. Growing a forest, pyrolyzing it, and burying the charcoal, is the inverse process of coal mining, and is the default comparator on cost, effort, and materials for any sort of carbon sequestration scheme.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal%E2%80%93organic_framew...