CO2 scrubbing machines

[BonzaiDuck]

There are maybe 100 years-worth of oil in the ground available for future consumption.

Meanwhile, the Amazon is burning, Brazil's president is all in a huff about his national sovereignty, Trump talks of nuking hurricanes as he snubs climate talks at the G7.

Back in 2001 (approximately), LA Times published three full pages on the melting polar ice cap in the Arctic, with pictures of people trying to navigate through it and reach China in a "northwest passage". I remember telling several people there should be a national program to convert our gasoline-powered vehicles to natural gas -- as I remember, the kits for doing it were priced around $500.

Now, every day, between watching that Despicable Wretch pontificate and embarrass us all with his toxic nonsense, and seeing "breaking news" about the Amazon fires, it is hard to avoid depression. I don't have a clinical problem with depression. I get angry, but not depressed.

But it is hard to take my mind off the very big likelihood that the world is "ending" as we know it.

It was half a dozen years ago when I came across the notion of building scrubber machines to alter the atmospheric carbon content that we've created over the last two hundred years.

Someone has actually started an enterprise pointed at that very objective:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531346/can-sucking-co2-out-of-the-atmosphere-really-work/

Granted, we probably have the most destructive and degenerate person in much of human history occupying the White House. The Senate majority leader thinks his only job it to control the Supreme Court and prevent anything from being done.

Yet, we went to the moon and came back. We cleaned up Southern California air. Things unimagined when I was a boy are a reality today.

WHY ISN'T SOMEONE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THESE POSSIBILITIES? Even if they put out the Brazilian fires, we're headed toward an unimaginable breakdown in civilization by 2040 or 2050. Why isn't anyone doing something? I'm mad as hell, and don't want to take it anymore!

 

[Moonbeam]

There is only love and the sadness of separation. To suffer is to heal. Your pain is a reflection of the size of your broken heart. The beauty within you that seeks expression does so because it is real. We are not alone.

Did you ever lay on the grass as a child, watching the clouds float by and experience the perfection of being. Nothing real has changed. It is thinking that divides us from being. Let go of it gently. There is one infinitely valuable person you can save.

 

[dank69]

Is there any machine more efficient at sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere than a tree?

 

[K1052]

Is there any machine more efficient at sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere than a tree?

Nope. Between reforestation and biochar production we could sequester a shit load of carbon relatively cheaply. Direct air capture is very expensive but still an area worthy of research. If would be a good tech to soak up huge amounts of excess renewable power if it can be done at a more reasonable cost per ton.

 

[Moonbeam]

Is there any machine more efficient at sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere than a tree?

Lots of things being looked at. Some here: https://www.nature.com/subjects/carbon-capture-and-storage

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Is there any machine more efficient at sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere than a tree?

Trees need water. How long does it take a seedling to become a sapling, and a sapling to become a tree? Where are you going to plant all these trees? So again, will there be water?

Everywhere between here in So-Cal and Albuquerque, from Tucson to Reno to elsewhere, restrictions have been placed on golf courses, residential owners have been eliminating their grass and ornamental plants from their properties and replacing the landscaping with rock gardens. For years now, it has been common to drive down entire streets where the grass has been allowed to die and owners opt to save money on their water bill.

 

[Maxima1]

But it is hard to take my mind off the very big likelihood that the world is "ending" as we know it.

It was inevitable.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/doomsday-math-says-humanity-may-have-just-760-years-left-11561655839

 

[Greenman]

It was inevitable.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/doomsday-math-says-humanity-may-have-just-760-years-left-11561655839

That's longer than I would have thought.

 

[K1052]

Trees need water. How long does it take a seedling to become a sapling, and a sapling to become a tree? Where are you going to plant all these trees? So again, will there be water?

Everywhere between here in So-Cal and Albuquerque, from Tucson to Reno to elsewhere, restrictions have been placed on golf courses, residential owners have been eliminating their grass and ornamental plants from their properties and replacing the landscaping with rock gardens. For years now, it has been common to drive down entire streets where the grass has been allowed to die and owners opt to save money on their water bill.

We've got lots of country that isn't a desert and isn't likely to become one outside of a geologic timescale.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

We've got lots of country that isn't a desert and isn't likely to become one outside of a geologic timescale.

Right -- those are the places where there are still lots of trees, and for the moment, enough rain.

Things here in the West are changing. Consider how many acres have been burned in CA during the last three years. Last year, Sierra snowpack was slightly greater than normal after years of drought. This year, it will be lower again.

I remember a time in my youth when El Nino brought monsoonal rains here in the winter. I remember stepping out of a car to put my foot on a sidewalk, but there were ten inches of water covering that sidewalk. Those things don't happen anymore.

 

[Sunburn74]

1/2 the oxygen in the world is created not on land by phytoplankton in the sea. Perhaps someone can create a system of rapid farming and genetic modification of these organisms to address climate change.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

1/2 the oxygen in the world is created not on land by phytoplankton in the sea. Perhaps someone can create a system of rapid farming and genetic modification of these organisms to address climate change.

"Perhaps". As I said, 20 years ago there was a prospect of fitting vehicles with natural gas kits.

We've wasted twenty years in getting a jump on the problem -- all because of science deniers, climate deniers and the vested economic interests. Given what we know now, they should fine Exxon Mobil a $trillion and give past executives 99 years in the electric chair.

Granted, the solar industry has grown, and we're slowly replacing the use of fossil fuels, but we're dragging our feet. As time passes, those who dismiss the problem in hopes of keeping a status quo will bring us to a point that really radical, costly collective action will be required -- all after a significant degradation of the planet.

It would have been much better if we had faced those costs years ago.

 

[Maxima1]

That's longer than I would have thought.

It's still in the realm of possibility in this century. Only about 105 billion homo sapiens have ever lived going back to roughly 50,000 BC. About 7.7 billion alive today with maybe your birth rank at 5 billion. That's already around 7% living-to-dead. And to think civilizations would last billions of years as some conjecture? If civilizations reach incredible advancement so early with so few births during that period (relative to the potential births in the future) and live on for that long, we're really getting the short end of the stick. The only way to slow this shit down is to get people to stop sexing.

 

[JSt0rm]

It's still in the realm of possibility in this century. Only about 105 billion homo sapiens have ever lived going back to roughly 50,000 BC. About 7.7 billion alive today with maybe your birth rank at 5 billion. That's already around 7% living-to-dead. And to think civilizations would last billions of years as some conjecture? If civilizations reach incredible advancement so early with so few births during that period (relative to the potential births in the future) and live on for that long, we're really getting the short end of the stick. The only way to slow this shit down is to get people to stop sexing.

If we switch off fossil fuels and onto solar it would help big time. We need like the entire world to get on board,. The boomers dropped the ball. Lets not follow them.

 

[Exterous]

Nope. Between reforestation and biochar production we could sequester a shit load of carbon relatively cheaply.

Thats one of the things that has kinda surprised me - the large areas of open ground we keep creating. I know it won't solve the problem by itself but I would think planting trees would have a relatively low ongoing maintenance cost. A new high school was built in the area recently and they have these 400-600 yard grass areas leading up to it that aren't used for anything. (Practice, game fields are behind the school). Why not plant a bunch of trees. Or 190 leading up to O'Hare. Or or or. I know Europe and France in particular have had successful reforestation projects and we seem to have a lot of areas that would be good candidates for small scale efforts