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So, what can be done? I posted this question on Reddit ages ago with no replys, would be interesting to hear anyone on heres opinion on it... > Hi all, Im sure

by kodroid 10y ago

So, what can be done? I posted this question on Reddit ages ago with no replys, would be interesting to hear anyone on heres opinion on it... > Hi all, Im sure there are many reasons why this would not work but thought would be good to get some input. I came across this article about creating carbon fibre from atmospheric carbon https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540706/researcher-demonstrates-how-to-suck-carbon-from-the-air-make-stuff-from-it/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/540706/researcher-demonst... and as carbon fibre utilising 3d printers now exist like https://markforged.com/product/mark-one-composite-3d-printer/ https://markforged.com/product/mark-one-composite-3d-printer... this seems like something with amazing potential. Of course one of the main challenges is the energy needed to operated such a machine - but in the right places (which im guessing is windy as the carbon pulling machine needs high air exposure anyway) renewable forms of energy could maybe be used? In a daydream I thought it would be amazing to replace steels and plastics with atmospheric carbon. Reduce oil dependency, lower carbon footprint (even thought its not putting it back in the ground it seems like a good second), created a fantastic building element. Anyhow - would be great to hear why this wont (or would!) work from someone who knows more than me about this stuff. :)

pjc50 10y ago
Money? There isn't currently a market for this product, there may never be, and it requires a big upfront investment. Scaling? "given an area less than 10 percent of the size of the Sahara Desert" does nobody have any idea how large that is? If he'd said "an area the size of Texas and California combined" it might look less feasible. But really it needs millions in altruistic funding to even get a pilot plant going. It's a lot like Tesla's plan to get everyone driving electric cars: no technical barrier, but the financial one is huge and it takes a while to scale even if it's successful.
the8472 10y ago
It takes a lot of energy. If we built enough clean energy to have some to spare for pulling carbon out of the atmosphere then we would already have met the goals of decarbonizing the economy. This would merely be going the extra mile on top of that. And we already have self-replicating zero-emission carbon extraction machines. They're called trees. You could just plant trees, wait a few decades and then drop them with some weights into the ocean if you wanted to get rid of carbon. Of course you would have to do that at industrial scale and somehow find a way to replace all the nutrient minerals you're also sinking into the ocean. And we're talking about gigatons per year. The only thing that's comparable in human production is concrete. We would have to build all our roads, cities and megastructures out of carbon to reverse current emissions.

by kodroid 10y ago

pjc50 10y ago

Money? There isn't currently a market for this product, there may never be, and it requires a big upfront investment. Scaling? "given an area less than 10 percent of the size of the Sahara Desert" does nobody have any idea how large that is? If he'd said "an area the size of Texas and California combined" it might look less feasible. But really it needs millions in altruistic funding to even get a pilot plant going. It's a lot like Tesla's plan to get everyone driving electric cars: no technical barrier, but the financial one is huge and it takes a while to scale even if it's successful.

the8472 10y ago

It takes a lot of energy. If we built enough clean energy to have some to spare for pulling carbon out of the atmosphere then we would already have met the goals of decarbonizing the economy. This would merely be going the extra mile on top of that. And we already have self-replicating zero-emission carbon extraction machines. They're called trees. You could just plant trees, wait a few decades and then drop them with some weights into the ocean if you wanted to get rid of carbon. Of course you would have to do that at industrial scale and somehow find a way to replace all the nutrient minerals you're also sinking into the ocean. And we're talking about gigatons per year. The only thing that's comparable in human production is concrete. We would have to build all our roads, cities and megastructures out of carbon to reverse current emissions.