Canadian Scientist comes up with CO2 scrubbing machine...

[loupblanc]

I'm not sure if this is the correct subforum to post this but I saw it on slashdot earlier and it just made me wonder if that was a hoax or what. In any case, see for yourself and make your mind on the idea:

An ever-present point of concern for the planet’s future welfare, worries over damaging CO2 emissions could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a University of Calgary climate change scientist (http://www.ucalgary.ca/~keith/AirCapture.html) who’s developed a machine capable of removing CO2 from the air.

Canadian scientist creates atmosphere-saving CO2 scrubbing machine (http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200840/2155/Canadian-scientist-creates-atmosphere-saving-CO2-scrubbing-machine)

On the one hand it would be a great idea for quick short-term solution to prevent hitting tipping points or positive feedback (assuming it's not too late anyway). On the other, it might give oil corporation excuses to keep doing what they're doing by offsetting their emissions with this... rather than funding research or renewable energies...

Just my own concerns, doesn't mean that's what would actually happen ;)

[Ted]

Unfortunately that is probably exactly what would happen.

Also the embedded energy (and therefore CO2) in making these devices needs to be accounted for. This is all up-front 'cost', as it is with wind turbines, and means that we initially have to generate even more CO2 in order to start reducing it. If this leads to over-topping the tipping point then it will end up doing more harm than good.

We need very careful CO2 accounting of all types in the coming years to guard against these situations.

I still think that the best machines for scrubbing excess CO2 from the atmosphere are trees.

[gaiasdaughter]

Canadian scientist creates atmosphere-saving CO2 scrubbing machine (http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200840/2155/Canadian-scientist-creates-atmosphere-saving-CO2-scrubbing-machine)

On the one hand it would be a great idea for quick short-term solution to prevent hitting tipping points or positive feedback (assuming it's not too late anyway). On the other, it might give oil corporation excuses to keep doing what they're doing by offsetting their emissions with this... rather than funding research or renewable energies...

I saw that in Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080929123941.htm) as well and had some of the same concerns you express. We may very well need such a device to prevent worst case scenarios -- considering how much CO2 is already in the atmosphere -- but I'm afraid it would also give free license to CO2 emitters. And they did not say how the captured carbon would be stored. My understanding is that could be problematic.

From the article:

"A company could, in principle, contract with an oilsands plant near Fort McMurray to remove CO2 from the air and could build its air capture plant wherever it's cheapest – China, for example – and the same amount of CO2 would be removed," Keith says.
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Their custom-built tower was able to capture the equivalent of about 20 tonnes per year of CO2 on a single square metre of scrubbing material – the average amount of emissions that one person produces each year in the North American-wide economy.
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The technology is still in its early stage, Keith stresses. "It now looks like we could capture CO2 from the air with an energy demand comparable to that needed for CO2 capture from conventional power plants, although costs will certainly be higher and there are many pitfalls along the path to commercialization."

[loupblanc]

I agree, the lack of information as how the stored CO2 would be disposed of / recycled is a bit of a downer.

Another concern I have is an abuse of those machines by those who don't understand the subtle balance of the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and bring the balance down the other direction (probably paranoid but you can't take chances with the amount of ignorant people out there)