CO2-negative industries

[emordnilap]

Good discussion, people - some good thinking going on.

I was talking to a climate change advocate yesterday about that carboniferous period and he said, "Well then, the answer is to genetically modify trees to be resistant to being broken down."

The words 'unintended consequences' was in the reply and he said, "Yeah, you treehuggers always come back with that."

Hemp sounds great, r-b.

[adam2]

In theory, carbon dioxide could be permanently removed by placing it in spaceships and sending it to outer space, sufficiently far away that it cant come back again.

In practice the carbon emmisions from making and fueling the spaceships would far exceed the amount that could be exported.

[UndercoverElephant]

Maybe I could eat some of it?

Yes, I missed that bit, but have found it now. The thought of intelligent fungi stalking the earth is quite disconcerting.

Not intelligent, but...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... ungus.html

Scientists have identified the Godzilla of fungi - a giant, prehistoric fossil that has evaded classification for more than a century.

A chemical analysis has shown that the 6-metre-tall organism with a tree-like trunk was a fungus that became extinct more than 350 million years ago.

Known as Prototaxites, the giant fungus has intrigued scientists, who originally thought it was a conifer.

This is before the first trees appeared.

[woodburner]

Attempts to store CO2 produced in processes, or to remove it from the atmosphere will be as effective as standing under a waterfall with a mop and bucket, and trying to store the water collected in 45 gallon drums.

[Little John]

Good discussion, people - some good thinking going on.

I was talking to a climate change advocate yesterday about that carboniferous period and he said, "Well then, the answer is to genetically modify trees to be resistant to being broken down."

The words 'unintended consequences' was in the reply and he said, "Yeah, you treehuggers always come back with that."

Hemp sounds great, r-b.

Actually, his suggestion doesn't sound like too bad an idea because you can bet that the microorganisms that currently eat up the dead trees would relatively quickly evolve to be able to start munching the genetically modified strains of trees. However, they might take a few decades or even centuries to do that and, in the meantime, we get to lock some of the carbon away.

Then again, if we get trees that do not rot, the economic motivation to have large tracts of land turned over to trees becomes less strong because there will be less money to make out of crops due to their greater longevity of use following harvesting. This, in turn, might produce a situation where the ecological benefit of having trees that more permanently lock carbon away is unfortunately offset by having less economic incentive to have as many trees in the ecosystem as we currently have.

In short, a so-called free market approach is never going to save the day because the short to medium term economic incentives in a free-market are never going to map onto the longer term ecological imperatives. This is all going to have to be top down imposed.

Just thinking out loud here......

[biffvernon]

Since the tree-eating microorganisms form the bottom of pretty much every terrestrial food web, interfering with them is about the stupidest idea anyone has ever had.

[Little John]

Since the tree-eating microorganisms form the bottom of pretty much every terrestrial food web, interfering with them is about the stupidest idea anyone has ever had.

yep.

Just had a little longer think...this time not so out loud...

[RenewableCandy]

Maybe I could eat some of it?

Yes, I missed that bit, but have found it now. The thought of intelligent fungi stalking the earth is quite disconcerting.

Only if they get into your house and rot the wood there

Meanwhile, I'd love to get hold of an olde oil drum and make our own charcoal for the Plot! http://www.allotmentforestry.com/fact/Charcoal.htm

[woodburner]

These people supply drums for not a lot (watch the carriage though).

I used to make charcoal burning 3 tons of wood in a kiln, with 2 kilns and ran courses. It is a stink producing exercise, and even an oil drum will draw adverse comments from those down wind. The allotment forestry method is simple, crude, and wasteful. It will produce charcoal suitable for barbecues and forges, but the temperature doesn't really get high enough for bio-char applications. A retort will be better where the wood gases are burnt externally to heat the drum.

Getting the particle size right is another time consuming exercise too.

Hugelkultur would be a better approach, that way you get the benefit of the nutrients in the wood.

[JohnB]

Hugelkultur would be a better approach, that way you get the benefit of the nutrients in the wood.

I'd prefer to try Hugelkultur, but am concerned about the tree eating fungus that inhabits my wood. I wish I could get real honey out of it!

[woodburner]

Is honey fungus a problem then? I thought it just ate dead roots. It's fungi in Hugelkultur that release the nutrients from the wood.

[JohnB]

Is honey fungus a problem then? I thought it just ate dead roots. It's fungi in Hugelkultur that release the nutrients from the wood.

As I understand it, it attacks the roots of live trees. Eventually they fall over, and the honey fungus eats it.