I don’t think so – Absolute Zero
Hey, I wrote a book about the Apollo program ;-)
RobertL18C wrote:
Today’s Grauniad (for our ex UK readers affectionately misspelt because of their somewhat dyslexic typesetting) has an optimistic essay on the topic.
I think that’s the main issue with the climate debate. It’s also why most engineers are skeptical to the point of just laughing at it. The climate debate is run in an environment almost void of normal engineering thinking. It’s run by people who are technology pessimists. In simpler words, it is run by people who see problems, not by those who see solutions. Collecting and storing CO2 from the air has never been a problem, it’s a “technology” that has been known for thousands of years – plant trees, chop them down, and don’t use them for fuel. This can be industrialized in many different forms, but the principle is the same. The climate change is no unsolvable threat to the globe to anyone other than the most ignorant pessimists. Than we also have lots of “idealists” using climate change as a reason for political revolt, because that is supposedly what is needed to solve it. It’s nuts.
However, if the electricity were fed into photosynthesis modules it could be used to produce valuable chemicals. This would help to reduce demand for petroleum and thus cut greenhouse gas emissions.
So using electricity to produce chemicals is suddenly a new thing?
LeSving wrote:
plant trees, chop them down, and don’t use them for fuel
That’s actually what all this “Carbon Footprint Compensation” is about. But it costs money, which few people are ready to give if they don’t get anything out of it directly.
I have no opinion about the climate debate, except that it is being diverted away from the core points. I think nobody questions the fact that CO2 is one of the gases that contributes to a warmer atmosphere, and few people question that a warmer atmosphere changes the weather for the worse in many parts of the earth. In the end, where nobody seems to agree, is trying to predict what exactly (if anything serious) will happen in 50 years. But only the first two facts should be enough to convince you that we should reduce CO2 emissions wherever possible.
That being said, the only occasion where I compensate CO2 is when I use car sharing, because they offer this as a hassle free option. Their money goes to myclimate, one of the better outfits in this business IMHO. It’s just a small percentage of the total cost and gives you this warm, fuzzy feeling.
