Removing CO2 From the Air Efficiently

Canadian scientists have created a device that efficiently removes CO2 from the atmosphere. "The proposed air capture system differs from existing carbon capture and storage technology ... while CCS involves installing equipment at, say, a coal-fired power plant to capture CO2 produced during the coal-burning process, ... air capture machines will be able to literally remove the CO2 present in ambient air everywhere. [The team used] ... a custom-built tower to capture CO2 directly from the air while requiring less than 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per tonne of carbon dioxide."

Comments

Natural device?

[TheMidnight]

Don't we have a device that removes CO2 from the air? I thought they were called "trees."

Re:Natural device?

[Fluffeh]

Oh honestly, you green bottomed hairy hippie! Why plant trees that will cleanly and effectively remove the carbon from the air, when we can invent a MACHINE to do it that will use electricity and require parts and labour and all that? You greenies and your whacky nature ideas. Honestly! How exactly do trees generate jobs?

I suppose you eat dolphin safe tuna as well?!

Re:Natural device?

[Ihlosi]

Don't we have a device that removes CO2 from the air? I thought they were called "trees."

I hooked a tree up to 100kW, and it added CO2 to the air instead.

Re:Natural device?

[marco.antonio.costa]

Man! Cut it out!

It's THREE steps, not four, and you CAN'T specify the intermediate one! Jeezuz...

Re:Natural device?

[TarrVetus]

This may be Bad Math, but... The article says, "The tower unit was able to capture the equivalent of approximately 20 tonnes per year of CO2 on a single square metre of scrubbing material -- which amounts to the average level of emissions produced by one person each year in North America." A page I dug up claims a single tree removes "on average 50 pounds (22 kg) of carbon dioxide annually over 40 years."

The scrubber sounds pretty effective. No waiting for it to grow, and it's more space-efficient, which is good for cities and industrialized areas.

Re:Natural device?

[Crudely_Indecent]

How exactly do trees generate jobs?

Well...people could be paid to plant them. Yeah, I know that trees can do this on their own....but can they do it in nice neat rows?

Re:Natural device?

[Captain Hook]

I suppose you eat dolphin safe tuna as well?!

No, but I do eat tuna safe dolphines. hmmm

Re:Natural device?

[rohan972]

How exactly do trees generate jobs?

Well...people could be paid to plant them. Yeah, I know that trees can do this on their own....but can they do it in nice neat rows?

That's a great idea ... we could even employ people to selectively cut the trees down, and others to mill the timber, and others to make things with it. I think it's possible to come up with a viable business model where we sell people products made from converted atmospheric carbon.

I'm off to the patent office!

Re:Natural device?

[fprintf]

Trees are fairly "low maintainence" and produce at least one useful by product. Some (including one which should be obvious to Canadians) produce more than one useful product.

Hockey sticks?

Counterproductive

[invisibleairwaves]

> Canadian scientists have created a device that efficiently removes CO2 from the atmosphere.

As a Canadian, I have to say I'm disappointed in my fellow countrymen. Just when you thought global warming would make our climate mildly tolerable, they go and mess it all up.

Thanks, guys. I'm sure you'll regret this in a few months. No, I will not shovel your driveway.

Reference point to CO2 emissions

[Hays]

Assuming that 1 tonne = 1000kg, this machine requires approximately 1 kilowatt hour of electricity to remove 10kg of Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere. How efficient is this?

From http://www.glumac.com/section.asp?catid=140&subid=152&pageid=564

"For home energy use, carbon dioxide emissions vary widely from state-to-state and from day-to-day. The national average is about 1.3 pounds of carbon dioxide for every kilowatt-hour of electricity used in your home."

Not bad. If it really works, you can redirect 10 to 15% of your electricity to achieve Carbon neutrality.

If they want to remove CO2...

[Mashiki]

Goto where the farmers are burning down the rain forests, teach/give/train them how to plant high yield crops and stop them from clear cutting/burning them down. And shock...you'll get somewhere.

Sometimes the most obvious solutions are sitting in front of their faces.

And what do we do with the CO2?

[scottme]

This extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere is all well and good, but are there any reliable and cost-effective ways to store it or dispose of it?

Cow Farts... wrong end!

[Enter the Shoggoth]

Actually, it's a common misconception that "cow emissions" are from cow's farting, it's actually the way a ruminant will burp during the processing of a cud that produces large volumes of methane (which is of course more troubling than CO2 emissions)

They won't be making a pile of cash out of trees.

Can't resist:

1) Identify a possible source of trouble 2) Invent a fix, no matter how convoluted it is 3) Patent it and market it 4) Profit

Just wonder how much do we have to wait for a fart capture device (cow farts are actually a major source of trouble)