Geoengineering PDF

What is Geoengineering? Deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change Wide range of proposals that mostly fit into two categories Solar Carbon Climate engineering - Wikipedia  Sola...

What is Geoengineering? Deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change Wide range of proposals that mostly fit into two categories Solar Carbon Climate engineering - Wikipedia  Solar Albedo enhancement Increasing the reflectiveness of clouds or the land surface so that more of the Sun’s heat is reflected back into space. Space reflectors Blocking a small proportion of sunlight before it reaches the Earth. Aerosols Using small particles to reflect some sunlight before it reaches the surface of the Earth. The solar shield: Lagrange points in the Earth- Sun system Rather than building a single large mirror, it is more practical to fly about one trillion smaller (2-ft. diameter) lenses (Roger Angel, PNAS, 2006) Technically, this is called a Fresnel lens Offsetting one CO2 doubling would require deflecting about 2% of the incident sunlight Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put. At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.  Stratospheric aerosols Introducing small, reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect some sunlight before it reaches the surface of the Earth. Eruptions ranking 4 or greater on the Volcanic Explosivity Index inject SO2 and water vapor directly into the stratosphere, where they react to create sulfate aerosol plumes. Only stratovolcanoes containing primarily felsic magmas are responsible for these fluxes, as mafic magma erupted in shield volcanoes doesn't result in plumes which reach the stratosphere. The other major source are chemical reactions with dimethyl sulfide (DMS), predominantly sourced from marine plankton, with a smaller contribution from swamps and other such wetlands Harvard physicist David Keith and his colleagues plan to spray a small amount of water vapor into the stratosphere, 2018. Goal is to see how well this artificial cloud reflects the sun's energy back into space, before it can heat the Earth Nov 2018 Vox FuturePerfect Article high-altitude balloon to a height of 12 miles. spray up to two pounds of material (initially water) about half a mile long and about as wide as the length of an American football field Then the balloon will monitor how the particles interact with each other how they distribute themselves through the air how well they scatter light 2021 -Keutsch Group at Harvard - SCoPEx Calcium Carbonate Over Sweden An Update on SCoPEx - The Salata Institute August 2023 - Cancelled  Marine Cloud Brightening | The Keith Group (har vard.edu) Marine Cloud Brightening – Can geoengineering help with climate change? (duke.edu) Aims to create whiter clouds in order to reflect more sunlight back to space. The brightening of the clouds is to be attained by enhancing the concentration of smaller cloud droplets. Shooting large amounts of tiny particles, such as sea salt aerosols, into marine clouds. Spraying seawater from vessels with nozzles able to turn saltwater into tiny particles. Particles would act as cloud condensation nuclei: molecules of water vapor would gather around these condensation nuclei to form tiny cloud droplets. Brighter clouds could theoretically diminish the solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface and would therefore reduce the temperature of the atmosphere and oceans because they absorb less solar energy. Could have impacts on weather patterns with potential ecological impacts on entire regions  Earth Radiation Management Proposed Geoengineering Technologies – Geoengineering Monitor ERM proponents suggest that negative effects of climate change can be offset by allowing heat to escape into space – for example, by thinning cirrus clouds. Injecting ice nuclei – such as bismuth triiodide or aerosol particles as sulfuric or nitric acid – into regions where cirrus clouds form. This, they infer, would produce cirrus clouds with larger ice crystals with shorter life spans, while also reducing their optical depth, which means more long- wave terrestrial radiation would be transmitted into space. Injection of “too many” ice-nucleating particles into cirrus clouds may produce the opposite effect – more and thicker clouds may be produced, so that even more heat is trapped, which could lead to increased global warming. The Growing Case for Geoengineering – MIT Technology Review David Mitchell, Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada Fleets of large drones would crisscross the upper latitudes of the globe during winter months, sprinkling the skies with tons of extremely fine dust-like materials every year Could ease global temperatures by as much as 1.4 °C Estimated that it would take around 160 tons of the material annually to seed clouds in the areas he has in mind, at a cost of about $6 million Might mean adding more dust would, on balance, create thicker clouds that trap more heat. G4Foam Experiment 2015-2017 Increase the reflectivity of the ocean surface (or other water bodies) by creating tiny bubbles or dispersing foaming agents on the surface of the water. acp-17-595-2017.pdf Possible Issues? Disrupt the flux of light for ocean life May also reduce oxygen in the upper layers of the ocean, negatively affecting biodiversity  Effects of Solar Intervention? Mt Pinatubo Eruption 1991 Caused world wide cooling effect Suspected of influencing shift in precipitation patterns Floods along Mississippi Droughts in African Sahel What if’s? June 1972 Rapid City, South Dakota Used cloud seeding Storm flooded town Court case ruled, probably would have happened anyway Ex: U.S. uses solar geoengineering to reduce global warming but then Russia suffers drought and loses Preparing the United States for security and governance in a geoengineering future (brooki crop production… ngs.edu) Solar Power? Should Solar Geoengineering Be a Tool to Slow Global Warming, or is Manipulating the Atmosp here Too Dangerous? - Inside Climate News Vegetation?  Legalities At the international level, the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP Convention) obligates those countries which have ratified it to reduce their emissions of particular transboundary air pollutants. Notably, both solar radiation management and climate change (as well as greenhouse gases) could satisfy the definition of "air pollution" which the signatories commit to reduce, depending on their actual negative effects. Commitments to specific values of the pollutants, including sulfates, are made through protocols to the CLRTAP Convention. The stratospheric injection of sulfate aerosols would cause the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer to be applicable due to their possible deleterious effects on stratospheric ozone. That treaty generally obligates its Parties to enact policies to control activities which "have or are likely to have adverse effects resulting from modification or likely modification of the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention prohibits the production of certain ozone depleting substances, via phase outs. Sulfates are presently not among the prohibited substances. In the United States, the Clean Air Act might give the United States Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate stratospheric sulfate aerosols.  Carbon Solutions: Reducing the Threat There are three major strategies 1. Improve energy efficiency to reduce fossil fuel use 2. Shift from carbon-based fossil fuels to carbon-free renewable energy resources 3. Sequester or store as much CO2 as possible in soil, vegetation, the underground, and the deep ocean.  Carbon Capture Afforestation Engaging in a global-scale tree planting effort. Ambient Air Capture Building large machines that can remove carbon dioxide directly from ambient air and store it elsewhere. Biochar 'Charring' biomass and burying it so that its carbon is locked up in the soil. Bio-energy with carbon capture and sequestration Growing biomass, burning it to create energy and capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide created in the process. Enhanced Weathering Exposing large quantities of minerals that will react with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and storing the resulting compound in the ocean or soil. Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Grinding up, dispersing, and dissolving rocks such as limestone, silicates, or calcium hydroxide in the ocean to increase its ability to store carbon and directly ameliorate ocean acidification. Ocean Fertilization Adding nutrients (iron) to the ocean in selected locations to increase primary production which draws down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Artificial Upwelling Transporting nutrient-rich deep ocean water to the sea surface by pumping or other artificial means Increased phytoplankton growth which will absorb more atmospheric carbon dioxide. The absorbed carbon will then be stored long-term when the dead phytoplankton biomass sinks to the ocean floor. Not really feasible; limited benefits With risks of ocean deoxygenation, increased release of methane and substantial changes in species composition, as well as potential transboundary impacts on artisanal fisherfolk, coastal communities, fisheries and weather patterns Nature and Sequestration Coastal Blue Carbon (noaa.gov) – protecting and increasing coastal wetlands Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands | MN Board of Water, Soil Resources (state.mn.us) Soil-Based Carbon Sequestration | MIT Climate Portal How Forests Store Carbon (psu.edu) Trees Are Climate Change, Carbon Storage Heroes | US Forest Service (usda.gov) An Introduction to Forest Carbon | Spring 2023 | Articles | Forest Carbon Series (northernwoodlands. org) We don’t need to reinvent the planet; we need to rewild it. How and Why We Work With Carbon Markets to Fight Climate Change (nature.org)  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Improved agricultural practices and forest-related mitigation activities can make a significant contribution to the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at relatively low cost. Improved crop and grazing land management—for instance, more efficient fertilizer use to prevent the leaching of unused nitrates, tillage practices that minimize soil erosion, the restoration of organic soils, and the restoration of degraded lands. There are many economic and technical challenges to implementing carbon capture and storage on a large scale. Estimated that carbon capture and storage would increase the cost of electricity generation by about one to five cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the fuel, technology, and location. CPS current = 12.5 ¢/kWh Carbon sequestration | Definition, Methods, & Climate Change | Britannica  https://www.carbfix.com/ Carbon Sequestration Iceland 2011 Pacific Northwest Journal 2018 Carbon Storage in B asalt 2014 BBC Iceland 2018 2020 – 90% of CO2 turned into minerals in 2 years Citronelle-SECARB-Project.PDF (doe. gov) 2012, test phase for 3 years, now post-monitoring Alabama Saline reservoir injection site, 1.8 miles (2.9km) deep Basal shale formation is the cap stone Pulverized coal-fired carbon capture from #5 Unit of James M Barry Electric Generating Plant Flue exhaust is captured and scrubbed for CO2, compressed, and piped 12 miles to injection site  Zero Carbon Humb er UK, southern North Sea, 90km offshore Saline aquifer “Endurance” 1 mile below seabed Goal: East Coast Cluster store 50% of total UK emissions Estimated 10 million tonnes of CO2 captured by 2 clusters by 2030 37% of CO2 emissions come from 6 largest industrial clusters in the Humber Additionally moving towards Hydrogen to get to ?decarbonize?  What is the difference between CCS and CCUS? As well as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), there is a related concept, Carbon Capture Utilization (Usage) and Storage (CCUS). The idea is that, instead of storing carbon, it could be re-used in industrial processes by converting it into, for example, plastics, concrete or biofuel. Graphene production - Mass-Producing Graphene | American Scientist (2018) The production of graphene requires CO2 as a raw material. Although limited to certain industries, it’s used heavily in the production of the tech devices we use on a day-to-day basis, such smartphones or computer processors. Engineered molecules A fairly new science, scientists can change the shape of molecules to form new compounds by capturing carbon from the air. In practice, this could present an efficient way of creating raw materials while reducing atmospheric carbon. What is Carbon Capture and Storage? | National Grid Group Putting CO2 to Use – Analysis - IEA  ExxonMobil cont. Carbonate fuel cell technology In 2015, ExxonMobil captured 6.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide for sequestration – the equivalent of eliminating the annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 1 million passenger vehicles.  ExxonMobil Controlled Freeze Zone (CFZ) Technology Clear Lake Pilot Plant, near Houston, Texas, first demonstrated the CFZ technology concept in 1986 Efficiently removes impurities from natural gas and is less expensive than existing technologies, requiring fewer processing steps and equipment. This increases its attractiveness, especially for offshore and remote applications. Removes CO2 and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from natural gas in a specially-designed section of a distillation tower, where CO2 is allowed to freeze in a controlled manner Next, CO2 is melted and further distilled to recover valuable methane. This CO2 can then be injected underground either for sequestering or for use in enhanced oil recovery. The remaining natural gas now contains the desired level of purity discharges the CO2 as a high pressure liquid, offering a strong commercial advantage Petra Nova NRG and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration, carbon capture facility at NRG's WA Parish generating station southwest of Houston, Texas World’s largest captures more than 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) Used to boost oil production West Ranch, Jackson TX, estimated 300 barrels/day Other CCS examples Gorgon Project — Australia.chevron.com Norway’s Sleipner : Where CO2 has been buried in the rock since 1996 – Vattenfall Sleipner gas field – Wikipedia Canada switches on world's first carbon capture power plant | Carbon capture and storage (CCS) | The Guardian Boundary Dam Power Station (saskpower.com) Quest Carbon Capture and Storage | Shell Canada General Overviews What is Carbon Sequestration and How Does it Work? | CLEAR Center (ucdavis.edu) What is carbon sequestration? | National Grid Group What is carbon sequestration? | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov) 6 Ways to Remove Carbon Pollution from the Atmosphere | World Re sources Institute (wri.org)