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I see this actually as a nice plot someone could turn into a book. 1. Build a machine that pulls significant amounts of CO² out of the atmosphere. 2. Go to th

I see this actually as a nice plot someone could turn into a book. 1. Build a machine that pulls significant amounts of CO² out of the atmosphere. 2. Go to the UN an straight up tell them "we can make this problem go away, give us 1tn$ and 20 square kilometers of land in these countries, over this schedule with these milestones". 3. Profit.

pjc50 10y ago
I think the technology for that is already there, or nearly so; the financial will really isn't. There's no way you can get $1trn for anything other than a war.
viach 10y ago
And what if this machinery starts taking out CO2 too fast? Who will stop it, taking into a count the beaurocraty level in UN and lobby behind such a money making machine? Indeed, worth a book.
bennettfeely 10y ago
> Build a machine that pulls significant amounts of CO² out of the atmosphere Or you could plant a tree.
dredmorbius 10y ago
Costs of carbon sequestration range from about $20 to $70 per tonne, as part of exhaust capture (CCS). For direct capture from the atmosphere, values are closer to $150/tonne. The world is dumping 38 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. (I'll ignore the additional gigatonnes we've already committed.) That's $2.6 trillion per year for sequestration, just to stay even. (The value's actually lower than I'd expected.) For comparison, global GDP is about $70 trillion, so this is 3% of global GDP. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/carbon-dioxide-emissions-rise-to-24-million-pounds-per-second/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/carbon-dioxide-emissions-rise-to... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration
- gambiting 10y ago
  You also have to keep in mind that it's this expensive because it's not done on a huge scale. If it was, the cost would very likely be much much lower than the quoted $150.
  - dredmorbius 10y ago
    The costs are dominated by the chemical energy requirements, as I understand. They seem unlikely to fall greatly.

pjc50 10y ago

I think the technology for that is already there, or nearly so; the financial will really isn't. There's no way you can get $1trn for anything other than a war.

viach 10y ago

And what if this machinery starts taking out CO2 too fast? Who will stop it, taking into a count the beaurocraty level in UN and lobby behind such a money making machine? Indeed, worth a book.

bennettfeely 10y ago

> Build a machine that pulls significant amounts of CO² out of the atmosphere Or you could plant a tree.

dredmorbius 10y ago

Costs of carbon sequestration range from about $20 to $70 per tonne, as part of exhaust capture (CCS). For direct capture from the atmosphere, values are closer to $150/tonne. The world is dumping 38 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. (I'll ignore the additional gigatonnes we've already committed.) That's $2.6 trillion per year for sequestration, just to stay even. (The value's actually lower than I'd expected.) For comparison, global GDP is about $70 trillion, so this is 3% of global GDP. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/carbon-dioxide-emissions-rise-to-24-million-pounds-per-second/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/carbon-dioxide-emissions-rise-to... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration

gambiting 10y ago
You also have to keep in mind that it's this expensive because it's not done on a huge scale. If it was, the cost would very likely be much much lower than the quoted $150.
- dredmorbius 10y ago
  The costs are dominated by the chemical energy requirements, as I understand. They seem unlikely to fall greatly.