Sequestering All That CO2 … In Macroalgae

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Certainly, we have to set up extra clear, renewable vitality and get extra electrical automobiles on the street as a way to cease heating up the Earth. Nevertheless, we want greater than that now as a result of we’ve already added too many greenhouse gases to the environment. Everyone knows that, however it’s exhausting to know what to do about it. On that notice…

Hans-Josef Fell, Member of the German Parliament from 1998–2013, who offered at a CleanTechnica convention in Germany a number of years in the past, lately reached out to me on this matter. “I’ve usually learn the great details about carbon sinks in CleanTechnica,” he wrote. “Thus far, nobody has been in a position to present any actual steerage on learn how to clear the environment of 1700 Gt of CO2 to get under the planetary restrict of 350 ppm. However adhering to the planetary restrict is a elementary prerequisite for stopping human civilization from perishing from the warming of the environment and oceans.” Certainly.

“We (the Power Watch Group) have now compiled the analysis outcomes from seaweed analysis and located that floating macroalgae can take away these enormous quantities of carbon in only a few a long time, maybe bringing the Earth again to under 1°C above pre-industrial ranges.” Attention-grabbing. To look into it and study extra, he directed me to their new report, Cooling our planet with ocean farming: CO₂ removing because the third pillar of local weather safety.

“Seaweeds develop in a short time, particularly when provided with nutrient-rich deep water. Within the huge, at the moment unused subtropical gyres, massive seaweed farms might be created that completely take away CO₂ and create new marine habitats,” the report summarizes. “The biomass produced can substitute fossil fuels and fossil gas based mostly uncooked supplies in addition to improve world meals safety. This creates a sustainable marine economic system — with alternatives particularly for international locations within the World South and for funding massive scale carbon removing.”

All of it sounds nice. It’s an necessary problem that, frankly, I believe most of us are scared to even take into consideration. The problem of safely and effectively eradicating CO2 from the environment is big, with most strategies carrying alongside a great deal of unwanted side effects, issues, and impracticalities. However is “ocean farming” like this the important thing answer? Can this be a sustainable, efficient, and protected path ahead?

I encourage you to dive into the full coverage paper.