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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/30/radical-ways-to-fix-the-earth-are-they-magic-bullets-or-just-band-aids>
"There is no prospect of a magic bullet rescuing the world from the impact of
global warming, scientists warned this weekend. As Earth completed the hottest
month ever recorded on its surface, climate experts and engineers made it clear
that only global reductions in fossil fuel burning could prevent the planet
from entering an era of intense overheating.
There have been proposals that still-to-be-developed global technologies could
avert impending climate catastrophe and prevent temperatures from soaring.
Examples include projects that could capture carbon emissions and store them
underground or schemes that could deflect sunlight away from Earth.
However, senior researchers say the only realistic hope for avoiding the worst
impacts of climate change would be to halt the burning of coal, gas and oil.
“The number one priority that we have is to replace fossil fuels with renewable
energy sources,” said Dr Greg Mutch of Newcastle University.
“That is going to be critical. After you have done that, then you think about
capturing any carbon emissions from industrial plants that cannot operate
without producing CO2.”
Examples of industrial processes that produce carbon dioxide include cement and
fertiliser manufacture. These generate carbon dioxide not just by burning
fossil fuels for heat but as chemical byproducts from the processes involved in
making these products. Industries like these generate about 5% of all carbon
dioxide emissions, so it will be worthwhile tackling them, say scientists.
However, capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it
underground – as a way to tackle the global problem of climate change – will be
far trickier. Although massive amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted every
year, it remains a very dilute component of the atmosphere. Around 400 parts
per million of air around us is now made up of carbon dioxide. That is 0.04% of
the atmosphere.
“That is very, very dilute and it will take an awful lot of energy to extract
that carbon dioxide. From an engineering point of view, it’s much easier to
separate a gas from a concentrated mixture than it is to extract a gas that is
only 0.04% of the mixture,” said Mutch."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
