3 ms·
Plants are basically self-replicating solar panels with efficient CO2 removal & storage.
by bouncycastle 3y ago
Plants are basically self-replicating solar panels with efficient CO2 removal & storage.
- david-gpu 3y agoPlant matter is carbon neutral unless you cut it down and find a way to stop it from burning down or decomposing for thousands of years.
- phh 3y agoIt's carbon neutral on the order of magnitude of a century. If we were to plant a forest in the Sahara, it'll largely be net positive capture for at least 3 decades, and then we'll be able to replace coal with that wood, making a global net zero (but we'd already have reduced co2 in the atmosphere). Replacing oil with wood would probably require quite a lot of work though (as making the desalination plants to make a forest)
- truculent 3y agoOr you can permanently increase the area given over to plant matter
- Aerroon 3y agoThat's a one-time thing though and plants have already naturally spread to basically everywhere that they can spread.
- truculent 3y agoSo, for example, we have cleared forests to make way for farmland. Reversing that would increase the total amount of carbon held. Perhaps I should have said increasing the amount of equilibrium biomass or something to more clearly include rewilding or ecosystem changes. It’s not just plants that are a carbon store, after all. I don’t think this is likely to represent a full solution, if that is the subtext to your comment.
- bouncycastle 3y agoEverything is carbon neutral on a long enough scale. Unless you send that carbon out to space.