Way to capture Carbon Dioxide

[Peter1469]

Maybe after they use this for a decade or two, they will realize that CO2 isn't the main driver of climate change.

[waltky]

CO2 levels go over 400ppm for first time in 4 million years...

Antarctica Reaches Symbolic Carbon Dioxide Level
June 17, 2016 - For the first time in 4 million years, Antarctica registered carbon dioxide levels over the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. government agency responsible for monitoring conditions of the oceans and atmosphere.

Scientists at NOAA say the South Pole “has shown the same, relentless upward trend in CO2 as the rest of world,” but that it took longer for it to register. “The far southern hemisphere was the last place on earth where CO2 had not yet reached this mark,” said Pieter Tans, the lead scientist of NOAA's Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. “Global CO2 levels will not return to values below 400 ppm in our lifetimes, and almost certainly for much longer.”

CO2 levels tend to rise in colder months, since the warmer months in the northern hemisphere see plants capture some of it. But NOAA says that plants aren’t enough, as CO2 levels have risen every year since 1958, when measurements began.

The pressure ridges (ice formations) below Observation Hill, a 754-foot hill adjacent to McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

The agency said that last year saw global CO2 reach 399 ppm, which it says means 2016 will almost surely reach 400 or more. The annual rate of increase jumped by more than three ppm last year, the largest increase ever measured. “We know from abundant and solid evidence that the CO2 increase is caused entirely by human activities,” Tans said. “Since emissions from fossil fuel burning have been at a record high during the last several years, the rate of CO2 increase has also been at a record high. And we know some of it will remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years.”

http://www.voanews.com/content/mht-a...e/3381197.html

[waltky]

India contributing to the battle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions...

Technology Helps Indian Factory Convert Carbon Emissions
January 06, 2017 — A new environmentally friendly technology being used by a factory in southern India to convert carbon dioxide into useful chemicals has won attention for contributing to the battle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The industrial plant in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu state captures carbon dioxide emissions from its own coal boiler and uses it to make soda ash – a base chemical with uses that include the manufacture of glass, sweeteners, detergents and paper products. The factory’s owner, Gopalan Ramachandran, estimates his plant could save up to 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. He gives a satisfied laugh as he tells VOA “I feel really proud about it whenever I see the chimney, OK – clean. Earlier there used to be lot of smoke there going out, now you find that everything is neat and clean.”

Carbon capture

Across the world, many projects are focusing on carbon capture because environmentalists believe this could be key to keeping global warming in check. Some have worked on storing the carbon dioxide, others on converting it into plastics and fuel. But high cost has remained a key concern. The new technology used by Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd appears to have overcome that hurdle and environmentalists say it represents a significant breakthrough in capturing carbon dioxide for use by some industries in an economically viable manner.

Tuticorin district, Tamil Nadu state, India.

Ramachandran, who adopted the technology from a pure business perspective rather than environmental concerns, says the expense he incurs is just marginally more than what he spent when he bought the gas from a nearby fertilizer plant. He began exploring how to utilize carbon dioxide from his own factory last year after the fertilizer plant could not supply it any longer. The technology has been developed by Carbon Clean Solutions – a start-up by two Indian engineers based in London focusing on carbon dioxide separation technology.

Arun Kumar at New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute is optimistic such initiatives will go a long way in helping the goal of reducing carbon emissions. “Where the captured carbon dioxide can be utilized for industrial production would be most cost effective compared to say when we talk of carbon capture storage from power plants,” he says. Many other businesses in the country could use such technology. “There are many chemicals exported out of India where CO2 is the raw material. Definitely you will find this a much, much simpler solution,” says Ramachandran.

Carbon footprint

[waltky]

Plants breathe CO2...

Researchers to See How Much Carbon Dioxide Forests Can Take
June 21, 2017 — Researchers at a British University have embarked on a decade-long experiment that will pump a forest full of carbon dioxide to measure how it copes with rising levels of the gas, a key driver of climate change.

The Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) will expose a fenced-off section of mature woodland in Norbury Park in Staffordshire, West Midlands, to levels of CO2 that experts predict will be prevalent in 2050. Scientists aim to measure the forest’s capacity to capture carbon released by fossil fuel burning, and answer questions about their capacity to absorb carbon pollution long-term. “[Forests] happily take a bit more CO2 because that’s their main nutrient. But we don’t know how much more and whether they can do that indefinitely,” BIFoR co-director Michael Tausz told Reuters.

A project in Washington state is ensuring that forest land remains intact around Mount Rainier National Park, so the trees can continue to grow and store carbon dioxide emissions. In England, researchers are testing how much carbon dioxide trees can take.

Carbon dioxide record


The apparatus for the experiment consists of a series of masts built into six 30-meter-wide sections of woodland, reaching up about 25 meters into the forest canopy. Concentrated CO2 is fed through pipes to the top of the masts where it is pumped into the foliage. Last year the U.N World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the global average of carbon dioxide, the main man-made greenhouse gas, reached 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere for the first time on record. “The forest here sees nearly 40 percent more CO2 than it sees normally, because that’s what it will be globally in about 2050; a value of 550 parts per million, compared to 400 parts per million now,” Tausz said.


Deforestation


With deforestation shrinking the carbon storage capacity of the world’s forests, researchers hope that a greater understanding of their role in climate change mitigation could help policymakers make informed decisions. “We could get a clear idea of whether they can keep helping us into the future by sucking up more CO2,” Tausz said. The remainder of the Norbury Park woodland is open to the public and will not be affected by the experiment.


https://www.voanews.com/a/researcher...s/3911001.html

[waltky]

Granny says dat's why it's been hard to catch her breath lately...

Record surge in atmospheric CO2 seen in 2016
Mon, 30 Oct 2017 - CO2 in Earth's atmosphere jumped to a record in 2016, says the World Meteorological Organization.

Concentrations of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere surged to a record high in 2016, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Last year's increase was 50% higher than the average of the past 10 years. Researchers say a combination of human activities and the El Niño weather phenomenon drove CO2 to a level not seen in 800,000 years. Scientists say this risks making global temperature targets largely unattainable. This year's greenhouse gas bulletin produced by the WMO, is based on measurements taken in 51 countries. Research stations dotted around the globe measure concentrations of warming gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The figures published by the WMO are what's left in the atmosphere after significant amounts are absorbed by the Earth's "sinks", which include the oceans and the biosphere.

Emissions from human activities have levelled off but concentrations in the atmosphere continue to grow

2016 saw average concentrations of CO2 hit 403.3 parts per million, up from 400ppm in 2015. "It is the largest increase we have ever seen in the 30 years we have had this network," Dr Oksana Tarasova, chief of WMO's global atmosphere watch programme, told BBC News. "The largest increase was in the previous El Niño, in 1997-1998 and it was 2.7ppm and now it is 3.3ppm, it is also 50% higher than the average of the last ten years." El Niño impacts the amount of carbon in the atmosphere by causing droughts that limit the uptake of CO2 by plants and trees. Emissions from human sources have slowed down in the last couple of years according to research, but according to Dr Tarasova, it is the cumulative total in the atmosphere that really matters as CO2 stays aloft and active for centuries. Over the past 70 years, says the report, the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is nearly 100 times larger than it was at the end of the last ice age.

Droughts related to El Niño, such as this one in Colombia, limited the ability of plants and trees to soak up carbon

Rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO2 and other gases have the potential, according to the study to "initiate unpredictable changes in the climate system... leading to severe ecological and economic disruptions." The study notes that since 1990 there has been a 40% increase in total radiative forcing, that's the warming effect on our climate of all greenhouse gases. "Geological-wise, it is like an injection of a huge amount of heat," said Dr Tarasova. "The changes will not take ten thousand years like they used to take before, they will happen fast - we don't have the knowledge of the system in this state, that is a bit worrisome!" According to experts, the last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was three to five million years ago, in the mid-Pliocene era. The climate then was 2-3C warmer, and sea levels were 10-20m higher due to the melting of Greenland and the West Antarctic ice sheets.

The British Antarctic Survey Halley base was one of the stations where atmospheric measurements were made

Other experts in the field of atmospheric research agreed that the WMO findings were a cause for concern. "The 3ppm CO2 growth rate in 2015 and 2016 is extreme - double the growth rate in the 1990-2000 decade," Prof Euan Nisbet from Royal Holloway University of London told BBC News. "It is urgent that we follow the Paris agreement and switch rapidly away from fossil fuels: there are signs this is beginning to happen, but so far the air is not yet recording the change." Another concern in the report is the continuing, mysterious rise of methane levels in the atmosphere, which were also larger than the average over the past ten years. Prof Nisbet says there is a fear of a vicious cycle, where methane drives up temperatures which in turn releases more methane from natural sources. "The rapid increase in methane since 2007, especially in 2014, 2015, and 2016, is different. This was not expected in the Paris agreement. Methane growth is strongest in the tropics and sub-tropics. The carbon isotopes in the methane show that growth is not being driven by fossil fuels. We do not understand why methane is rising. It may be a climate change feedback. It is very worrying."

Scientists handling air samples at the Cape Grim monitoring station in Australia

The implications of these new atmospheric measurements for the targets agreed under the Paris climate pact, are quite negative, say observers. "The numbers don't lie. We are still emitting far too much and this needs to be reversed," said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. "We have many of the solutions already to address this challenge. What we need now is global political will and a new sense of urgency." The report has been issued just a week ahead of the next instalment of UN climate talks, in Bonn. Despite the declaration by President Trump that he intends to take the US out of the deal, negotiators meeting in Germany will be aiming to advance and clarify the rulebook of the Paris agreement.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41778089

[waltky]

If ya remove alla CO2, it'll kill alla trees...

Removal of carbon dioxide ‘no silver bullet’: scientists
Fri, Feb 02, 2018 - IMPRACTICAL: While some technologies could have a role to play, all have drawbacks making them difficult to use on a large scale, a climate expert said

Technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help tackle global warming only have limited potential and more effort should be made to reduce emissions, European scientists said in a report on Wednesday. Proposals to use climate technologies, ranging from spraying sun-dimming chemicals high above the Earth to capturing and storing carbon dioxide underground, have been gaining more attention as the urgency to act on climate change mounts. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, world governments have agreed to limit global warming to well below 2?C above preindustrial levels, but a large gap remains between nations’ emissions plans and the reductions needed.

The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council, formed from the national science academies of EU members, has reviewed scientific evidence about several options for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with so-called negative-emission technologies. Examples of such technologies include the direct capture of carbon dioxide and trapping it underground (carbon capture and storage); afforestation and reforestation; land management to increase and fix carbon in soils; and ocean fertilization. The council, which advises European policymakers, said these technologies have “limited realistic potential to remove carbon from the atmosphere” and not at the scale in some climate forecasts, such as several gigatonnes of carbon each year after 2050.

Their deployment on a large scale would also involve high economic costs and have major impacts on terrestrial or marine ecosystems, the council said in the report. “Technologies capable of taking out CO2 [carbon dioxide] from the atmosphere are certainly no silver bullet — a point that should drive policymakers to renewed efforts to accelerate emissions reductions,” the report said. However, the world will need all possible tools to limit warming and some of these technologies can make contributions to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere even now, while further research, development and demonstration might allow others to make a limited future contribution, it added.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Watson, Royal Society research professor at the University of Exeter, said that while some technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could have a role to play in reducing climate change, all have drawbacks making them difficult to use on a large scale. “So our main focus and best hope for avoiding the worst effects of climate change still needs to be reducing our emissions,” Watson said. Last week, a leaked draft UN report said there is a high chance that the levels of carbon dioxide removal which might be required to meet the Paris goals might not be feasible due to the required scale and speed of technology deployment.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../02/2003686906

[jigglepete]

My niece at UCSB is going on another research trip (or "field campaign") with NASA called EXPORTS. It's all about CO2 in the ocean, way above my paygrade (in other words my niece is wicked smaht...her uncle Pete? not so much)
http://oceanexports.org

[waltky]

'Hothouse Earth' risks even if CO2 emissions slashed...

Climate change: 'Hothouse Earth' risks even if CO2 emissions slashed
6 August 2018 - It may sound like the title of a low budget sci-fi movie, but for planetary scientists, "Hothouse Earth" is a deadly serious concept.

Researchers believe we could soon cross a threshold leading to boiling hot temperatures and towering seas in the centuries to come. Even if countries succeed in meeting their CO2 targets, we could still lurch on to this "irreversible pathway". Their study shows it could happen if global temperatures rise by 2C. An international team of climate researchers, writing in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says the warming expected in the next few decades could turn some of the Earth's natural forces - that currently protect us - into our enemies.

Each year the Earth's forests, oceans and land soak up about 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon that would otherwise end up in our atmosphere adding to temperatures. But as the world experiences warming, these carbon sinks could become sources of carbon and make the problems of climate change significantly worse. So whether it is the permafrost in northern latitudes that now holds millions of tonnes of warming gases, or the Amazon rainforest, the fear is that the closer we get to 2 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels, the greater the chances that these natural allies will spew out more carbon than they currently now take in.

Many parts of the world would be significantly disrupted in a Hothouse Earth scenario

Back in 2015, governments of the world committed themselves to keeping temperature rises well below 2 degrees, and to strive to keep them under 1.5. According to the authors, the current plans to cut carbon may not be enough if their analysis is correct. "What we are saying is that when we reach 2 degrees of warming, we may be at a point where we hand over the control mechanism to Planet Earth herself," co-author Prof Johan Rockström, from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, told BBC News. "We are the ones in control right now, but once we go past 2 degrees, we see that the Earth system tips over from being a friend to a foe. We totally hand over our fate to an Earth system that starts rolling out of equilibrium."

Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as in this model, will be necessary, say the authors

Currently, global temperatures have risen about 1 degree above pre-industrial levels and they are rising by around 0.17C per decade. In their new study the authors looked at 10 natural systems, which they term "feedback processes". Right now, these help humanity to avoid the worst impacts of carbon and temperature rises, and include forests, Arctic sea-ice, and methane hydrates on the ocean floor. The worry is that if one of these systems tips over and starts pushing large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, the rest could follow like a row of dominoes.


What exactly is a Hothouse Earth scenario?

[Lummy]

All this science I don't understand. All people really want to know is, can they keep the AC on or should they turn it off?

Each year the Earth's forests, oceans and land soak up about 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon that would otherwise end up in our atmosphere adding to temperatures. But as the world experiences warming, these carbon sinks could become sources of carbon and make the problems of climate change significantly worse. So whether it is the permafrost in northern latitudes that now holds millions of tonnes of warming gases, or the Amazon rainforest, the fear is that the closer we get to 2 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels, the greater the chances that these natural allies will spew out more carbon than they currently now take in.

Now I'm really confused.

[MisterVeritis]

Carbon dioxide, a gas we exhale becomes carbon so we think of it as something dirty and polluting. Plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight to make food. Oxygen is a waste product.

Have you noticed the doom predictions are always a few decades away?