Transmat World: CO2 seqestration

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

What Do We Do Now That We Know Climate Change is Inevitable?

Climate change experts say global emissions of CO2 must be reduced to 45% from 2010 levels by 2030. It must reach a “net” zero” level by 2050 in order to limit warming to 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees centigrade). The goal was originally set at 2 degrees centigrade (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), but the Paris negotiations changed it to 1.5 degrees C. to appeal to a broader base of nations. This half degree means 10 million fewer people are displaced by the ocean’s rising, a 50% reduction of people experiencing water shortages around the globe, 50% reduction in species losing half their habitat, and a 80-90% destruction of coral reefs instead of 100%. The level of atmospheric CO2, however, has risen from 387 ppm in 2010 to 413 ppm in 2019, a 6.7% increase.

For the first time, Saudi Aramco revealed its finances publicly. Although it was April 1, this was no April Fool’s prank. The company made $111 billion last year, twice as much as Apple, the most profitable public company in the world. ExxonMobil made $20.8 billion. Royal Dutch Shell made $23.4 billion. The financial inertia of the fossil fuel industry is making a mockery of world climate goals. It is not just the fossil fuel industry but the industries it fuels as well. Trucking, shipping, airlines, auto, steel and concrete industries must all switch to electric or hydrogen by 2050 for “net zero” to happen. That’s 31 years away. Can you see all of these industries making the staggering commitments necessary to switch over without laws in place to make them? Can you see all 195 countries on Earth passing laws to force them to do this? It is not going to happen.

If CO2 levels rose 6.7% from 2010 to early 2019, it’s safe to say that by sometime in 2020 it will be an even 7% for the decade and the CO2 level in Jan. 2020 will be 420 ppm, 449.4 ppm in 2030, 480.9 in 2040 and 514.6 ppm by 2050. This does not take into consideration the positive feedback loops evaporating mass quantities of natural gas (methane) into the atmosphere from melting permafrost. Methane is 21 times better at warming the atmosphere than CO2. The hotter it gets, the more methane injected into the atmosphere and so on.

Use those plastic grocery bags again. Save money. Save the world. Here’s how.

So what would more than 2 degrees centigrade do in terms of damage to the world? It could kill 50-80% of the fish in the oceans. Ice melting could raise sea levels by more than three feet by the end of the century. If Greenland and Arctic ice eventually melts, it could raise oceans 230 feet. While it is doubtful this could happen on Earth, positive feedback loops and runaway greenhouse gasses created the hellish conditions seen on Venus.

That is not going to happen on Earth. As soon as the general population realizes fossil fuel companies have been gas lighting (no pun intended) them for decades, it will become possible to overcome their propaganda efforts and the legalized bribery our congressmen and senators disingenuously call lobbying. By 2050, strict environmental laws will force the fossil fuel industry to change or die. Don’t feel sorry for them. They will build a lot of renewable energy plants and CO2 sequestration plants and still be making money. Taxes will have to go up to pay for research on how to do this. The U.S. saw marginal rates of around 70% to 92% from 1950 to 1981. When you hear rich people complaining nowadays about taxes, take it with a grain of salt. They will be bitching until it’s zero.

The political process will be too slow to mediate the effects of climate change. We must develop a slew of technologies and social standards to counter this lack of social progress.

1. Carbon dioxide sequestration and other technologies actively removing CO2 must be developed and implemented. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies are already being developed, but more work must be done to make it economically viable.

2. Reforestation must take place on a grand scale. This will assist in carbon capture and restore habitats to insects and animals.

3. Cheap water technology will need to be implemented to offset the increasing scarcity of potable water.

4. We must find a way to capture energy from low temperature heat from industrial processes and server farms. This is a huge inefficiency in our global society.

5. Grants and prizes must be increased for the development of new technologies to mediate and reverse greenhouse gas levels.

6. Products will have to be designed to be recycled with the least amount of energy possible.

Our social evolution must strive to keep up with technology. Stringent laws concerning carbon output must be enacted on industry and society. One half of the population acting as if nothing is wrong and living a huge carbon footprint is not going to work.

Saving the world one bag at a time. Recycling genius.

It is a sad commentary on humanity that the captains of the industries that have taken us so far so fast would play chicken with a world threatening event. It is our responsibility as citizens of this world to reign them in and redirect their efforts to the common good. The only way to do this is to change our leadership by any means, preferably democratic, to people that are clear-headed, logical, moral, and responsible enough to lead us successfully through this age of salvation and into a brave new society of technological marvels in balance with the natural world.

Other articles you may enjoy:

There May Be a Quadrillion Dollars Lying About on the Moon

Mining That First Asteroid - Manned Mission or AI?

A Convergence of Technologies Will Create a New Age of Space Exploration

Steampunk Meets Star Wars: A Harrowing Micro-Tale of Future Spacefarers

The Space Habitat Revisited and Revised

Are Seeds of Conflict Brewing Over the Moon?

Just What Are NASA’s Plans Under Trump

Thruster On a Chip: An Alternative Rocket Science That Could Revolutionize Space Travel

Oumuamua: Alien Probe or Asteroid? It Could Be Both

Cryptocurrency Is Going Into Space

Going Back To the Moon Is Not Just for Governments Anymore

Why It Is a Certainty We Will Become a Space-Based Civilization

Asteroid Mining - How to Pick the Right Asteroid

Recycling Asteroids For Fun and Profit

Taking the 06-03-25 Asteroid Shuttle to Mars - An Alternative to Planned Mars Missions

A Heavy Metal, Cannibalistic Asteroid Propulsion System

Sticking the Landing On Your Billion Dollar Asteroid

Artificial Intelligence and Asteroid Mining Will Be a (Necessary) Match Made In the Heavens

The Weapon of Mass Destruction Nobody Is Talking About

How We Can Diminish the Possibility of Water Wars

There's An Asteroid Out There With All of Our Names On It

What Will Be the Most Common Currency In a Future Space-Based Society?

Workers In Space Will Live In Igloos

How We Will Get Asteroid Material Back To Earth

The Military Values High Ground - Space Is the Highest

Very Large Scale 3D Printing In Space

Energy and Space; Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

China’s Strategy for the Future Is Scary Smart

We Will Live on the Moon: the How and Why

Friday, March 22, 2019

Why the Oceans Will Be Humanity’s Life Raft

Photo by Giga Khurtsilava on Unsplash

It’s the year 2100. Nobody lives near the coast. Too dangerous. Hurricane Xena took out Miami in 2085. Most coastal cities have been ravaged. Besides, the land has been soaked with seawater so many times, it won’t grow but the hardiest saline-loving plants. Ports are the only inhabited portions of coastline. Ports are specially designed to shelter people and vessels. Ports are very expensive nowadays. The water is always rising, claiming more land. People build sturdy houses on high ground away from the coast. Many build in the ground on high ground, living in basement caves. The good thing about the coast is it doesn’t stink as much now as when the great aquatic die-offs were taking place.

The political will wasn’t there to fight climate change until the middle of the century, when truly scary things begin to happen. People started living in their vehicles to escape locally violent winds, floods, heat, and snowstorms. Insects and wild animals became rare. Dead things mummified instead of rotting to a skeleton. People don’t even wonder about that now. Hurricane names went through the alphabet every year with half being Cat 4 or better. The weather alternated between violent storms and extended drought. The Southwestern United States went five years without a drop of rain. Annual rainfall in the northeast increased to over 100 inches per year. Crops failed. Many died of starvation. A chunk of methane hydrate the size of Manhattan surfaced off the coast of San Francisco. Lightning set it ablaze, and it burned for six years. Scientists say this is fortunate. The evaporating methane would have been worse for the atmosphere than its products of combustion.

The nations of Earth finally came together in 2050 to pass laws. Fossil fuel usage is now rare. Wind, hydro, biomass, wave, solar, nuclear fission and fusion are what power everything. All vehicles, including planes, run on hydrogen made by hydrolysis of water. Population growth is under control. Weather related deaths have leveled off to two billion since 2050. In 2100, the world’s population is only eight billion, not the eleven billion projected in the early part of the 21st century.

The average global temperature has started to stabilize as huge CO2 sequestration plants suck it from the air and turn it into plastic and lubricating oils. The seas are still warm and acidic with few creatures sturdy enough to survive the low oxygen levels. Yet, this is where the majority of humans now live - on the vast oceans. You see, it is only the top 200 meter layer of the oceans that is warm. The next layer is the 1000 meter thermocline which separates the surface ocean from the deep ocean. The deep ocean represents 80-90 percent of the oceans’ volume and is frigidly cold. While the surface layer takes about 100 years to mix temperatures, the deep ocean works on a longer timeline - 1,000 to 100,000 years. The cold melt from those disappearing glaciers and arctic ice over the past 150 years seeped to the bottom of the ocean becoming part of this vast reservoir of coolness not thought about until it was absolutely necessary.

Mankind retreated to the sea. With a pipe stuck 1200 meters into the ocean, one can draw out 32-45 degree Fahrenheit water. Run it through a heat exchanger along with ambient air and cold, pure condensate comes pouring out, dripping off the coils. It is used for drinking, bathing, growing crops, and trade with the people who still live on land. The cold, dry air gushing out of that same heat exchanger is used for refrigeration and air conditioning. The best thing, though, is the still cool, oxygenated, nutrient dense sea water that floods the insulated fish tanks where the precious sea creatures saved from the dying oceans thrive. Some are grown for food, but many simply find sanctuary from the warm death on the other side of their tank wall. As cool ocean water warms, it is released into the ocean. Still cooler than the ambient water, it helps to bring down the temperature of the world's oceans.

Moveable, manmade islands proliferated and became nations. They number in the thousands now from the tiny Gilligan's with a population of seven to the huge New Miami with a population of 150,000. Some islands are engineered for safety, efficiency, and longevity. Some are cobbled together from sea barges and yachts. Ocean liners and merchant vessels sometimes form the nucleus. Even aircraft carriers and other military ships form parts of the hundreds of island nations that dot the seas. Large vessels make good bases for the big wind turbines that stretch into the sky above the islands. It is hard to pick out individual vessels as most everything is covered in dense vegetation. Flashes of light reflected from windows dispersed through the greenery are the only indication of dwellings underneath the plant growth.

Floating solar farms surround the islands with channels through them, accessing the ports near the center of the islands. From these same ports, deep sea drones launch to the bottom of the ocean, looking for wrecks and mineral treasures and to monitor the temperature and condition of the most precious commodity left to humanity - the ocean deep’s cold-water refuge from the heat. We can only hope that it lasts until the Earth is healed.