Earth from orbit

Can tomorrow’s tech save this planet?

Written by: Alexa Stone

Here’s the challenge: The fragile ecosystem we live in has been thrown off balance by Greenhouse Gases (GhG). Carbon dioxide (CO2), which comprises 72% of GhG[1], is primarily the result of mining, drilling, and burning of coal and petroleum. Combustion and industrial emissions from fossil fuels send over 35 gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.[2] That has boosted atmospheric CO2 concentration to 48% greater than in pre-industrial times.[3]

The 35-gigaton impact reverberates across the globe. Storms, fires, drought, famine, and sea level rise are in the daily news. In too many places, it’s local news. With that news, we hear limited responses to today’s suffering and tomorrow’s peril:

  • Solutions are being discussed
  • Treaties have been signed
  • Goals have been confirmed
  • Data has been collected
  • Research has been published

Those responses leave a substantial need for action today while tomorrow’s technology is developed.

TODAY’S ACTION

Decarbonization

A familiar analogy describes an overflowing bathtub and recommends turning off the tap before mopping the floor. If that wisdom applies to the climate crisis, GhG sources must be turned off before decarbonizing the atmosphere.

The World Resources Institute has compiled ways to reduce — if not turn off — sources of CO2 and other GhG.[4]

  1. Phase out coal plants
  2. Invest in clean energy and efficiency
  3. Retrofit and decarbonize buildings
  4. Decarbonize cement, steel, and plastics
  5. Shift to electric vehicles
  6. Increase public transport, biking, and walking
  7. Decarbonize aviation and shipping
  8. Halt deforestation and restore degraded lands
  9. Reduce food loss and waste and improve agricultural processes
  10. Eat more plants and less meat
Renewable energy

As coal and petroleum power are phased out, abundant energy is available from the sun, wind, and sea

Sequestration

  • CARBON SINKS

    Biological carbon sequestration is the natural process where the CO2 in grassland and forest vegetation forms carbon sinks. As those repositories are preserved and cultivated, more carbon is removed from our atmosphere. A single hectare (2.5 acres) of forest removes up to 33 tons of CO2 annually.[5] In forests worldwide, estimated annual sequestration is two gigatons… the weight equivalent to 20,000 U.S. aircraft carriers.

    Grasslands and wetlands store more carbon per acre and more quickly than forests.[6] The oxygen-poor soil there inhibits CO2 release.

Tidal marsh

The biomass beneath salt marshes sequesters more than 1,000 tons of carbon. Soil organic carbon in forests totals less than 1/3 of that.

  • FARMLAND

    Whether cultivated or left fallow, strategic use of farm acreage is vital to sequestering carbon.

    One strategy involves adding organic materials to the soil. Another is the cultivation of longer-rooted crops.

    Carbon is also sequestered when land is set aside and remains uncultivated.

Grasslands

The Farm Service Agency pays rent for acreage that farmers reserve for grasslands, wetlands, and forests.

  • BIOENERGY WITH CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE (BECCS)

    Each year, BECCS stores an estimated 0.3 billion tons of atmospheric carbon as river and ocean sediment. It’s a natural process!

    Carbon capture begins when rainwater dissolves CO2in the atmosphere. This produces carbonic acid, which — in rainwater — slowly dissolves rocks. Rivers transport the dissolved, carbon-laden material into the oceans, where it may remain as sediment for thousands of years.[7]

    To boost the natural process, crushed rock can be spread over extensive areas of land or water. That increases the surface area where the natural process occurs. Also, crushed rocks can be exposed to CO2 in a reaction chamber. That industrial process yields results similar to natural chemical weathering.

At mining sites like these, every rainy day brings chemical weathering as carbonic acid in rainwater interacts with the scattered rocks.

TOMORROW’S TECHNOLOGY

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

  • INDUSTRIAL CCS

    The CO2 emissions released during power generation, steelmaking, or cement production can be captured through decarbonization. That process has taken many forms since being first patented in 1915.[8]

    Industrial CCS can be stabilized in concrete or plastic. Some may be further processed into graphene for smartphone screens and other tech devices. It also can be injected into saline aquafers — underground expanses of porous, sedimentary rock filled with salt water.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

Germany implemented CCS processes at a coal-fired plant in 2008.[9]

Direct Air Carbon (DAC)

CO2 mixes evenly throughout the atmosphere, but the air is denser near ground level. That means CO2 concentrations are greatest in the troposphere, the first 10 kilometers above ground level.

Devices for scrubbing CO2 from breathable air have already been deployed on submarines and in space vehicles. Those will not scale large enough to cleanse the atmosphere. Research continues at the Arizona State University (ASU) Center for Negative Carbon Emissions and in university, government, and corporate laboratories worldwide.

Today’s industrial facilities have a combined global capacity to capture 40 million tons of CO2. That’s less than 1% of the amount industry produces.

A candidate technology from Carbon Engineering, Ltd. would deploy semi-trailer-sized boxes filled with a material that absorbs CO2 1,000 times more efficiently than plants. The material has been laboratory-tested and will soon be demonstrated on a small scale.

Air contactor (rendering)

This image illustrates a portion of Carbon Engineering’s proposed DAC network. The completed network would capture an estimated 110 million tons of CO2 daily, costing $30 per ton.

Biochar

Biochar is approximately 70% carbon. It is the product of torrefaction, the controlled burning of organic waste from forestry and agriculture. The result is lightweight and looks like porous charcoal.

Torrefaction requires the wood chips, leaf litter, dead plants, and other biomass to be burned in a container with very little oxygen. During the process, a few fumes are released. The product, biochar, captures carbon in a stable form that is slow to decompose and cleaner than charcoal.

Less-refined biochar has been spread on farmlands for centuries, enriching the soil. The slow, low-temperature torrefaction process has only recently been devised for carbon sequestration.

Biochar facility

After torrefaction (roasting), wood and other biomass have increased carbon density. Decreased weight makes biochar easier to transport and store.

Genetic modification

Tree planting is a promising yet painstaking way to capture atmospheric CO2. Trees are roughly half carbon. They absorb that carbon through photosynthesis, a process which over months and years converts CO2 to the more stable form of carbon — the wood of a tree’s trunk and roots. Genetic modification aims to accelerate the process!

The relatively inefficient photosynthesis of most trees limits the energy for tree growth. Researchers at one biotech company are genetically-enhancing trees to better absorb atmospheric CO2. In one 4-month trial, the researchers used bacteria to insert genes from pumpkin and green algae into poplar trees. Those trees proved to be more efficient at recycling carbon, adding 53% more weight than a control group of unmodified poplars.[10]

Plant genetics

The United Nations, through its International Atomic Energy Agency, conducts plant breeding and genetics research in Seibersdorf, Austria.

Feeding phytoplankton

Feeding phytoplankton may have potential as a fast, low-cost tactic for carbon sequestration. Even so, the potential disruption of fisheries and other ocean ecosystems must not be overlooked. Other concerns include substantial energy requirements that would raise the cost.[11]

Individual phytoplankton, including single-celled green algae, are less than 2 microns in diameter but have a significant ability to absorb CO2. In controlled settings, vast numbers of the plantlike organisms could sequester carbon for about two dollars per ton. To grow, they only need water and nutrients that are iron and nitrogen-rich.

CO2 could be sequestered from High Nutrient, Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) regions in the North Pacific, Equatorial Pacific, and Southern Ocean, where phytoplankton is abundant.[12] One proposed demonstration would fertilize 5,000 square miles of a Pacific HNLC region. Doing so would sequester an estimated 600,000-2,000,000 tons of CO2 in just 20 days!

Phytoplankton

During photosynthesis, phytoplankton absorb CO2 and release oxygen.

Ionic liquids

Iconic Liquid (IL) is an uncommon term, but IL has a scientifically-proven ability to capture CO2 from emissions that would otherwise contribute to global warming.

    • ILs are chemical salts in liquid form.
    • Most of them are colorless and viscous.
    • All of them have polysyllabic names like 1-butyl-3-propylamineimidazolium tetrafluoroborate.

In a CO2 absorption device, feed gas would pass through columns containing IL that would absorb and strip away all but CO2-rich gas. That output could then be sequestered.[13]

Iconic Liquid

BMIM-PF6 is one of many polysyllabic ILs with proven ability to absorb CO2

RECIPE TO RESTORE THE ATMOSPHERE

INGREDIENTS

  • Decarbonization
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Removal

STEPS

  1. Completely phase out the use of fossil fuels for power generation.
  2. Eliminate the carbon emissions from all forms of transport: vehicles, trains, aircraft, and ships.
  3. Conserve and expand grasslands, wetlands, and forests as carbon sinks.
  4. Remove carbon from the air and stabilize it in solid and dissolved forms using CCS, DAC, biochar, genetic modification, phytoplankton enrichment, ionic liquids, and other emerging technologies.

ecoPreserve helps organizations and communities toward achieving net zero!
A free consultation call can be scheduled online.

SOURCES:

[1] Ensia.com — Published at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, Ensia is a solutions-focused media outlet reporting on our changing planet.
[2] UCDavis.edu
[3] NationalGrid.com
[4] WRI.org — World Research Institute
[5] Ensia.com — Published at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, Ensia is a solutions-focused media outlet reporting on our changing planet.
[6] CBSNews.com — 60-minutes-2022-10-09
[7] NBC-2.com — WBBH – Southwest Florida
[8] TerraPass.com
[9] DW.com — Deutsche Welle (German Wave)
[10] CNET.com
[11] FrontiersIn.org — Frontiers in Marnie Science
[12] ResearchGate.net
[13] NIH.gov — National Institutes of Health

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AWARE of CDC and NIH guidelines

The Baseline Property Condition Assessments described in ASTM E2018-15 do not specify consideration of infectious disease transmission concerns. In a pandemic and post-pandemic environment, that inspection and documentation is essential.

Buildings open to the public must comply with local regulations. For best results and greatest public acceptance, any planning for building repairs and maintenance should not overlook current CDC and NIH guidelines.

Optionally, ecoPreserve's can assist with a comprehensive GBAC STAR™ Accreditation which extends beyond the building to include the goals, actions, equipment, and supplies needed to implement best practices for outbreak prevention, response, and recovery.

Tools tailored to location and need

Disaster resilience requires a select toolset, identified, adapted, or created as needed based on planning calls and inclusive workshop participation.

Business and government organizations today are confronted by threat categories that range from drought to flood, from fire to hurricane, and extend globally to pandemics and sea level rise. Threat categories are broad and diverse, but ecoPreserve and collaborating organizations design resiliency tools for specific local context.

Local needs are identified and verified. Building from that essential understanding, tools are designed, tested in pilot programs, refined, then implemented through action plans.

Today's challenges/
tomorrow's potential

ecoPreserve collaborates with major community and private organizations in optimizing the resiliency and resource efficiency of their workplaces, venues, and public spaces.

In response to ever-increasing environmental, sociopolitical, and public health challenges, we advocate for and participate in assessment and planning actions that directly address disaster preparations, recovery activities, infrastructure improvements, and smart building/city design.

Online and in-person workshops

ecoPreserve designs and leads workshops in varied formats, to achieve varied goals.

Often an event is held for skill and knowledge development, but some needs of an organization or community are better resolved through collaboration to identify requirements and to design solutions. A range of Disaster Resilience workshops are available for solutions planning and development, as well as for training and communication.

Disaster Planning and Recovery Workshops

  • Identify technical and business process gaps
  • Define stakeholders, recovery teams, and processes/functionalities necessary for operation
  • Highlight missed expectations from a data loss and recovery time perspective
  • Address compliance with regulatory agencies and industry standards
Here's how to request further information. Thank you for reaching out!

Here's how to request further information. Thank you for reaching out!

Facility Condition Report

The report is prepared in accordance with the recommendations of ASTM E2018-15, Standard Guide for Property Condition Assessments. This is a partial list of contents:

  • PHYSICAL CONDITION
    • General condition of the building, grounds, and appurtenances
    • Physical deficiencies, their significance, and suggested remedies
    • Photographs
    • Safety issues observed
  • INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPREAD POTENTIAL
  • OPPORTUNITIES
    • Potential operating efficiencies
    • Electricity and water use reductions
    • High-efficiency interior and exterior lighting
  • ORDER OF MAGNITUDE RENOVATION BUDGET
    • Recommended interior finishes
    • Construction costs

Risk Mitigation Improvements

  • IAQ
    • Airflow
    • Temperature and humidity
    • Vertical transportation (escalators and elevators)
  • HVAC EQUIPMENT
    • Settings
    • Conditions
    • Capability
    • Filtration
  • FLOORPLAN
    • Traffic patterns
  • FURNISHINGS
    • Placement for social distancing
    • Clear barriers where social distancing is not possible

Interior Elements

  • Foundation
  • Building frame and roof
  • Structural elements
    • Floors, walls, ceilings
    • Access and egress
    • Vertical transportation (escalators and elevators)
  • HVAC equipment and ductwork
  • Utilities
    • Electrical
    • Plumbing
  • Safety and fire protection

Grounds and Appurtenances

  • Façades or curtainwall
  • Topography
  • Storm water drainage
  • Paving, curbing, and parking
  • Flatwork
  • Landscaping
  • Recreational facilities
Here's how to request further information. Thank you for reaching out!

AWARE of CDC and NIH guidelines

The Baseline Property Condition Assessments described in ASTM E2018-15 do not specify consideration of infectious disease transmission concerns. In a pandemic and post-pandemic environment, that inspection and documentation is essential.

Buildings open to the public must comply with local regulations. For best results and greatest public acceptance, any planning for building repairs and maintenance should not overlook current CDC and NIH guidelines.

Optionally, ecoPreserve's can assist with a comprehensive GBAC STAR™ Accreditation which extends beyond the building to include the goals, actions, equipment, and supplies needed to implement best practices for outbreak prevention, response, and recovery.

An OPTIMIZED Assessment

Certified Sustainability Consultants on a facility assessment team can discover ways to lower energy costs. Their understanding of HVAC equipment suitability and condition along with the specifics of LED lighting retrofits can provide offsets for needed investments in upgrades and replacements.

Knowledge of water systems can bring further savings while averting water waste. It can all be part of an assessment which might otherwise overlook water fixtures and irrigation schedules.

How should a facility be ASSESSED?

A thorough facility assessment finds the issues - on the surface or below - which have a potential negative impact on the building. That brings the facility to meet building codes. Beyond that, the assessment proactively addresses the deficiencies not covered by code.

The occupants of a building benefit as the assessment reveals conditions having a potential impact on their health or safety. The assessment must not overlook those conditions, nor fail to consider the frequency and duration of occupant visits.