Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

cicero.oslo.no

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 221 posts

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#61

Post by pfdietz »

H8crilA wrote: post #14
Tuna-Fish wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Binding carbon from CO2 does not necessarily cost energy. The reactions CaO -> CaCO3 is exothermic, and the same is true for the equivalent reaction for magnesium, and the reactions forming carbonates from the silicates of those metals. Eroding volcanic rock naturally pulls CO2 out of the atmosphere, as erosion slowly reveals metals that were reduced by the volcanic heat. This process is naturally quite slow, but it…

CaO is created by frying CaCO3, typically heated with coal. You can then mix it with water to get cement. At least that's what I learned in school. How would you like to create CaO without providing energy if the reverse reaction is exothermic? Or am I missing the fact that there's a lot of unbound CaO in rocks? Also, production of cement is one of the major sources of CO2 emissions.

The exothermic reactions involved in mineral carbonation are silicates + CO2 => carbonates + SiO2. These reactions mimic those that naturally extract CO2 from the atmosphere over geologic time, but greatly accelerated.

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#62

Post by tito »

Surprising they include Direct Air Capture as CCS.

Here's the more detailed 32 page PDF that accompanies the linked CCS article: https://pub.cicero.oslo.no/cicero-xmlui/bitstream/handle/112...

I publish a weekly newsletter on carbon removal: http://bit.ly/carbon-updates

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#63

Post by johnmorrison »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #55
johnmorrison wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think looking at the total rate is naturally going to feel heavy. Instead, consider this: per country on average, that rate is between one every 4 years, and 2 every year, until 2050. That's not bad at all.

Presuming every country has the same ability to pay. Once you get outside the G20, or top 40, you may well be asking the impossible.

Of course I don't mean to suggest we should actually split it up by country - it's just a nice mental model that splits by ~40 million person groups.

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#64

Post by chriscappuccio »

the8472 wrote: post #47
algo_trader wrote: post #11

CC will probably never happen on the large scale. It is inherently inefficient and a final, last resort. Preventing emissions: Renewable electricity. EVs. Hydrogen. Synthetic food stuffs. Etc Handling the last 5%-10%: tax carbon, and allow nature to recover (rain forests, fisheries, natural bio-mass, etc). The idea of carbon capture while some developing country is cutting down forests is bizarre. Luckily population…

> It is inherently inefficient and a final, last resort. There's an entire horror cabinet of last resorts that people don't even want to discuss yet, carbon capture is merely a plan C.

What is in that cabinet?

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#65

Post by johnmorrison »

labawi wrote: post #59
johnmorrison wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think looking at the total rate is naturally going to feel heavy. Instead, consider this: per country on average, that rate is between one every 4 years, and 2 every year, until 2050. That's not bad at all.

Depends whether you are China or Vatican. Perhaps a per-capita calculation would be more appropriate: 1/day global = 1/day / 7000·1Mp = 1/20y per 1M people; 5/1y per 100M. USA should do a lot more, Africa can get a pass.

> Africa can get a pass.

As an African I disagree w/ this.

But you're right, global powers like the US/EU/China should and will likely contribute the most.

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#66

Post by trickstra »

Here you can try to create your own solution to keeping global warming below 2°C: https://en-roads.climateinteractive.org/scenario.html?v=2.7.... (rabbit hole warning: you can easily spend hours playing with this site)

It's not impossible to create solutions that don't require carbon capture, but those tend to have the uncomfortable side effect of raising electricity prices two- or three-fold in the next 20 years. But here is one that I created which keeps the prices stable and also achieves 2 degrees: https://en-roads.climateinteractive.org/scenario.html?p1=-1&...

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#67

Post by tito »

trickstra wrote: post #66

Here you can try to create your own solution to keeping global warming below 2°C: https://en-roads.climateinteractive.org/scenario.html?v=2.7.... (rabbit hole warning: you can easily spend hours playing with this site) It's not impossible to create solutions that don't require carbon capture, but those tend to have the uncomfortable side effect of raising electricity prices two- or three-fold in the next 20 years. Bu…

That looks like a powerful tool! I've been on the lookout for something interactive like that for awhile, only saw desktop-based simulators. Nice find, curious where you came across it.

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#68

Post by trickstra »

the8472 wrote: post #46
Valgrim wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cement releases CO2 as part of it's chemical curing process. It contributes to about 8% of worldwide emissions. Another industry where CO2 as a chemical byproduct is vented at a massive scale in the atmosphere is with the steel industry. Both are good targets for carbon capture at the source.

> Cement releases CO2 as part of it's chemical curing process. It contributes to about 8% of worldwide emissions. There are 2 sources of CO2 during cement manufacture. One is from the decomposition of lime, the other is from the energy production needed to make the process work. The latter could be avoided by electrical heating, a solar furnace or other renewable heat sources. The decomposition part can be compensate…

Could you point me to any of the newer cement chemistries?

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#69

Post by trickstra »

tito wrote: post #67
trickstra wrote: post #66

Here you can try to create your own solution to keeping global warming below 2°C: https://en-roads.climateinteractive.org/scenario.html?v=2.7.... (rabbit hole warning: you can easily spend hours playing with this site) It's not impossible to create solutions that don't require carbon capture, but those tend to have the uncomfortable side effect of raising electricity prices two- or three-fold in the next 20 years. Bu…

That looks like a powerful tool! I've been on the lookout for something interactive like that for awhile, only saw desktop-based simulators. Nice find, curious where you came across it.

It's also the third generation of their simulator - they've been collecting data and creating tools like this for a bunch of years now: https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/

I just randomly found it in some article about a month ago.

Re: Carbon Capture and Storage is necessary to keep global warming below 2°C

#70

Post by DenisM »

Perhaps we can reconsider recycling of paper products as a first step?

If you send a paper bag to the landfill it’s buried in the ground (sequester), a tree is cut down to make a new paper bag, and a new tree is planted to make new material for more bags. Thus carbon is continuously captured from the air and buried deep.

If you recycle a bag then the old tree dies of old age and decomposes releasing the captured carbon back into the air. The new tree repeats the cycle, with no net carbon capture.

Post reply on HN