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Post by david on Aug 11, 2023 11:39:35 GMT -5
This seems an odd and expensive experiment:
"Can vacuums slow global warming? Administration bets $1.2 billion on it.
Texas and Louisiana will become a global testing ground for giant machines that suck carbon from the air.
The move positions the United States as a leader in trying to mitigate emissions by installing hulking, costly machinery that aims to pull greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere and bury them underground. The Texas project, led by the Occidental Petroleum Corp., also known as Oxy, already ranks as one of the world’s largest experiments in “direct air capture.”
It will share $1.2 billion in Energy Department funding with a Louisiana project and be designated the nation’s first “hubs” for developing and testing the machinery, administration officials announced Friday morning."
The above from "The Washington Post" August 11, 2023
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Post by majorminor on Aug 11, 2023 11:50:16 GMT -5
.....and so it begins.  |
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Post by Marty on Aug 11, 2023 12:04:56 GMT -5
Want to not totally solve but lessen a whole lot of problems at once.
As cruel as it sounds, cut the population in half. I personally think a bigger cut would be needed but it would be a start.
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Post by howard lee on Aug 11, 2023 12:07:38 GMT -5
Then what happens to the little green Mole Men who live "almost to the center of the earth"?
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Aug 11, 2023 13:36:02 GMT -5
Want to not totally solve but lessen a whole lot of problems at once. As cruel as it sounds, cut the population in half. I personally think a bigger cut would be needed but it would be a start. When I was born in 1942 the global population was around 2.2 billion people. Today, the global population is over 8 billion, give or take 50 million or so. Nearly four times as many people as when I was born. A single lifetime. Pete Seeger was right about doubling every 42 years.  |
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Post by Village Idiot on Aug 11, 2023 19:34:50 GMT -5
Not the same thing, but something along the same vein is how hog farmers have been keeping the smell of their confinements down by piping anything odoriferous deep into the ground.
I've always wondered about the long-term effects of that.
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Post by jdd2 on Aug 11, 2023 19:59:11 GMT -5
Someone will mine it someday.
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Post by aquaduct on Aug 11, 2023 20:26:23 GMT -5
Want to not totally solve but lessen a whole lot of problems at once. As cruel as it sounds, cut the population in half. I personally think a bigger cut would be needed but it would be a start. That's the untold purpose of the climate change fraud. As Scrooge once said, to "decrease the surplus population". The IPCC and the Davos political set won't tell you that, but the end result of the wasteful stupidity involved in this government funded boondoggle is simply to cripple much of the world's ability to ever horn in on their first world grandeur. Rather than mess around with this stuff, it would be much more efficient to stand on the corner and hand out $1.2 billion in fentanyl. |
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Aug 11, 2023 22:35:47 GMT -5
Want to not totally solve but lessen a whole lot of problems at once. As cruel as it sounds, cut the population in half. I personally think a bigger cut would be needed but it would be a start. Disposing of 4 billion bodies will be a challenge. |
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Post by james on Aug 11, 2023 22:55:51 GMT -5
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Post by jdd2 on Aug 11, 2023 23:05:26 GMT -5
Want to not totally solve but lessen a whole lot of problems at once. As cruel as it sounds, cut the population in half. I personally think a bigger cut would be needed but it would be a start. Disposing of 4 billion bodies will be a challenge. Insects of the world would rejoice. |
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Post by aquaduct on Aug 12, 2023 7:54:53 GMT -5
Disposing of 4 billion bodies will be a challenge. Insects of the world would rejoice. They should. They'll be all that's left. |
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Post by Marty on Aug 12, 2023 13:19:00 GMT -5
Disposing of 4 billion bodies will be a challenge. Insects of the world would rejoice. There is always a trade off. |
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Post by epaul on Aug 12, 2023 19:52:37 GMT -5
Science Fictiony, granted, but fifty years from now, giant CO2 suckers may well be employed as part of system earth scientists use to manage the composition of our atmosphere, keeping its composition, as regards climate, within a certain determined range. This could include the release of captured and stored greenhouse gasses as well as just the removal.
Macro climate will come to be, if not controlled, managed.
To anyone who thinks this to be too far-fetched, I will put five bucks on it!
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Post by millring on Aug 13, 2023 6:58:12 GMT -5
I wonder just how good is our track record at manipulating nature to what we suppose it should be?
I suspect there's at least a small amount of collective misunderstanding the way evolution works that has us believing that we can make the world either hold still, or we can anticipate the changes such that we can avoid what are inevitable changes.
We all grew up on National Geographic/PBS Nature specials that dramatized an evolution in which organisms adapted to environmental changes as those changes occurred, and those are the organisms we are left with. But it's really not that way. It's really that organisms change (because that's what organisms do) and then the environment changes -- and only the ones fortunate enough to have whatever changes allowed survival remained.
There is no intent in the change. There is no anticipation in the change.
I suspect that we confuse the facts arrived at scientifically with conclusions and predictions arrived at philosophically ... and then make the claim that we're "believing in science".
You're entitled to your own facts. You're not entitled to your own truth.
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Post by theevan on Aug 13, 2023 7:15:14 GMT -5
Rather than mess around with this stuff, it would be much more efficient to stand on the corner and hand out $1.2 billion in fentanyl. The ultimate Soma. |
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Post by drlj on Aug 13, 2023 7:51:49 GMT -5
Carbon Suckers. Great band out of the Pittsburg steel mill area. The guys played weekends at the same bar that was featured in Flashdance, but they never did the water thing because they would probably have been electrocuted. They worked in the BOP Shop at the 84 inch Mill. Except for Lenny. He was on the Electrolytic Line.
Anyway, they made quite a name for themselves in the area and it’s said Bruce Springsteen used to visit the bar with Little Stevie and was seen frantically scribbling notes as the Suckers played.
Tragically, Lenny got careless one Monday morning after a long night at the club and was sucked into the electrolytic rollers past his elbow before someone shut down the line. He survived, but never played again. The rest of the band couldn’t go on without Lenny. So, they drifted into obscurity.
They are all retired now and living in condos along the Gulf Coast. Except Lenny. He is still in Pittsburgh living in a basement apartment close to the mill.
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Post by Marshall on Aug 14, 2023 8:28:15 GMT -5
Not the same thing, but something along the same vein is how hog farmers have been keeping the smell of their confinements down by piping anything odoriferous deep into the ground. I've always wondered about the long-term effects of that. Raunchy volcanos |
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Post by Marshall on Aug 14, 2023 8:44:22 GMT -5
I wonder just how good is our track record at manipulating nature to what we suppose it should be? I suspect there's at least a small amount of collective misunderstanding the way evolution works that has us believing that we can make the world either hold still, or we can anticipate the changes such that we can avoid what are inevitable changes. We grew up on National Geographic/PBS Nature specials that dramatized an evolution in which organisms adapted to environmental changes as they occurred and those are the organisms we are left with. But it's really not that way. It's really organisms change (because that's what organisms do) and then the environment changes and only the ones fortunate enough to have whatever changes allowed survival remained. There is no intent in the change. There is no anticipation in the change. I suspect that we confuse the facts arrived at scientifically with conclusions and predictions arrived at philosophically ... and then making the claim that we're "believing in science". You're entitled to your own facts. You're not entitled to your own truth. It was good until the 2nd to last paragraph. Actually, the world climate has gone through multiple changes over the existence of the planet. At one point it was an ice planet. I think the theory is that volcanic activity changed that. And at another point it was a much hotter planet, with evidence of tropical plants living at the poles. But I do believe the present observation that human activity is accelerating change on the planet. Is the change good for our species? Probably not. Can we do much about it? Probably not. Just see Dub's graph. No matter how we improve our impact-per-person, our shear numbers are going to continue the overall affect. We're like ants crawling over a dropped ice cream cone. Sure, I believe "it is far better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." And mankind is nowhere near an apocalyptic end. Plus I'm too old to spend much time worrying about it. I'm just looking for my next ice cream cone. |
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Post by PaulKay on Aug 14, 2023 8:53:37 GMT -5
On its face it just seems to be an entirely futile effort.
Which made me wonder what the financial angle is to spending so much money on it.
What's the business model for carbon capture systems? We know it isn't capitalists doing out of the kindness of their hearts.
So there is this.
A business model driven almost entirely by tax incentives?
Between this and bitcoin mining, I'm not sure which business model is worse.
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