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So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

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Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#41

Post by t0mpr1c3 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #29

You can sequester carbon with plants, but you can't let them decay or it will release it back into the environment (it's called the "carbon cycle" of a reason). A startup has solved this problem the following way (for example): grow microalgae near a very dry desert, and bury it in trenches. It never decays and thus never releases CO2 due to lack of water. Basically, we'd have to permanently stick it back underground…

You don't necessarily have to bury the plants to sequester the carbon. A lot of oceanic carbon just sinks to the bottom and is eventually covered over, especially near estuaries that spew silt.

Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#42

Post by arjie »

gamegod wrote: post #34
asdfman123 wrote: post #29

You can sequester carbon with plants, but you can't let them decay or it will release it back into the environment (it's called the "carbon cycle" of a reason). A startup has solved this problem the following way (for example): grow microalgae near a very dry desert, and bury it in trenches. It never decays and thus never releases CO2 due to lack of water. Basically, we'd have to permanently stick it back underground…

To me, this is great that demonstrates how ridiculous carbon capture and storage is. I just can't imagine us paying to do something like this at scale, when we have a much more straightforward alternative: Stop burning fossil fuels, and use clean energy instead. Right? Like why even both going through the effort of carbon capture, when we're still going to have to stop burning fossil fuels anyways, in order to fix th…

Think of it like a battery. We pour sunlight into the plant at one end and then we take this gasoline from the other side of the battery and burn it. The end-result is that we have full fuel cycle powered by the Sun.

This kind of battery is useful. All human hearts together produce about the same power in beating as a Falcon 9 in the final stage but you can't use hearts like that.

Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#43

Post by sephamorr »

tito wrote: post #40

I’ve always wanted to jam on how to create an indoor carbon dioxide removal system. (I think that’s what this article is about but perhaps it’s indirectly about the changing climate) 1 kg per day of material adds up fast but that assumes zero ventilation. If I simply wanted a system to keep my office below 500 ppm all day, I wonder how much material that would produce. Anyone ever build a little carbon dioxide zappin…

I think what you really want is an Energy Recovery Ventilator. It cycles in fresh air and uses an intercooler to limit the heat and humidity loss.

Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#44

Post by tito »

JTbane wrote: post #11

Sadly I am a bit hopeless about climate change. Even if every person on earth dropped everything and started making biochar to be buried it would not sequester enough carbon to make a difference.

Hi! I work a lot with carbon dioxide removal systems. If every person on Earth dropped everything and started making biochar, it would definitely make a huge difference. Yes, we add a lot of carbon dioxide to the air of a year, but it’s doable to remove it. Humanity has taken on much bigger challenges before and succeeded. Now that’s not to say that it’s likely. I think it’s entirely unlikely that we avert the worst impacts of climate change unless something big changes. Thankfully, we get to choose what to work on every day, and I get to choose to work on that alongside inspiring people. (and yes, this isn’t what the article is about, but it seems like it’s what everyone is responding to)

Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#46

Post by t0mpr1c3 »

gamegod wrote: post #34
asdfman123 wrote: post #29

You can sequester carbon with plants, but you can't let them decay or it will release it back into the environment (it's called the "carbon cycle" of a reason). A startup has solved this problem the following way (for example): grow microalgae near a very dry desert, and bury it in trenches. It never decays and thus never releases CO2 due to lack of water. Basically, we'd have to permanently stick it back underground…

To me, this is great that demonstrates how ridiculous carbon capture and storage is. I just can't imagine us paying to do something like this at scale, when we have a much more straightforward alternative: Stop burning fossil fuels, and use clean energy instead. Right? Like why even both going through the effort of carbon capture, when we're still going to have to stop burning fossil fuels anyways, in order to fix th…

Carbon capture is already done at scale because CO2 is commercially valuable.

The proposed carbon storage is permanent in the form of carbonates. This is a variant of the Solvay process used to make washing powder.

Chalk cliffs were once the shells of sea creatures. That's a whole load of sequestered carbon right there.

Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#47

Post by tito »

gamegod wrote: post #34
asdfman123 wrote: post #29

You can sequester carbon with plants, but you can't let them decay or it will release it back into the environment (it's called the "carbon cycle" of a reason). A startup has solved this problem the following way (for example): grow microalgae near a very dry desert, and bury it in trenches. It never decays and thus never releases CO2 due to lack of water. Basically, we'd have to permanently stick it back underground…

To me, this is great that demonstrates how ridiculous carbon capture and storage is. I just can't imagine us paying to do something like this at scale, when we have a much more straightforward alternative: Stop burning fossil fuels, and use clean energy instead. Right? Like why even both going through the effort of carbon capture, when we're still going to have to stop burning fossil fuels anyways, in order to fix th…

Just popping in here to say that the IPCC has no model for a stable climate that doesn’t involve removing many billion tons of carbon dioxide alongside complete decarbonization, so unfortunately simply stopping emissions at this point isn’t enough. Some level of carbon dioxide removal is required to maintain a stable climate.

Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#49

Post by tito »

sephamorr wrote: post #43
tito wrote: post #40

I’ve always wanted to jam on how to create an indoor carbon dioxide removal system. (I think that’s what this article is about but perhaps it’s indirectly about the changing climate) 1 kg per day of material adds up fast but that assumes zero ventilation. If I simply wanted a system to keep my office below 500 ppm all day, I wonder how much material that would produce. Anyone ever build a little carbon dioxide zappin…

I think what you really want is an Energy Recovery Ventilator. It cycles in fresh air and uses an intercooler to limit the heat and humidity loss.

That’s cool. Is that something that you’ve built or installed?

Even if that is a better solution, I am personally curious about an indoor carbon dioxide zapper, since what I work on is carbon dioxide removal at planetary scale.

Re: So you want to use plants to reduce CO₂

#50

Post by tito »

dynm wrote: post #48

(Author here) I've added the word "indoor" to the title, which will hopefully make it harder to miss that this is not about climate change or carbon sequestration.

As somebody who works on carbon dioxide removal at planetary scale, I was excited about your article about indoor air… but nearly every comment here seems to want to talk about the changing climate!
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