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Carbon Dioxide; cap and trade, sequestration, climate change

02 Dec 09 | Commentary

I have been reading with interest the debate on the evils of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and various proposed methods to reduce its presence in the atmosphere.

First a few basic facts:

  1. Carbon Dioxide is a product of combustion, all combustion of any organic material creates heat and carbon dioxide.
  2. Carbon Dioxide is a know green house gas.  It traps heat in the atmosphere by reflecting long wavelength IR back to the surface of the earth
  3. Carbon Dioxide is an extremely resilient molecule because of the energy in the carbon – oxygen bond.  It does not readily break down in the atmosphere as other green house gases do.  The best proven way to break it down is by plants using photosynthesis.
Carbon Dioxide Molecule

Carbon Dioxide Molecule

The only sure fire method of reducing carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere is to reduce combustion.  Some fuels produce less CO2 than others, say natural gas over coal, for example.  However, the differences are not that significant, burning natural gas still releases tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each second of every day.

Cap and trade is a polution reducing scheme that was put in place by the first President Bush to reduce acid rain.  It was designed to reduce Nitric and Sulfur emissions from various industry types, most notably electric generating facilities.  Since both nitrogen and sulfur, particularly sulfur, can be remove from the combustion process before the fuel is burned and after with smoke stack scrubbers, it was a good incentive for polluters to clean up their act.  CO2 on the other hand, cannot be removed from the combustion process, it is like saying you are going to remove the wet from water.  Cap and trade would then have to be based on the type of fuel burned, since natural gas produces less CO2 per BTU than coal or oil, most electrical power plant operators would be forced to convert to natural gas.  That would be hugely expensive and in the long run, net little result in reduction of CO2.

CO2 sequestration is an even sillier idea.  In order to store CO2 in the ground, it would have to be liquified, which requires reducing the temperature to -70° F and keeping it there.  Underground temperatures at oil well depth are generally 150° F and higher, thus it would be difficult to keep the CO2 underground.  A leak from a CO2 storage facility could potentially displace the Oxygen in the surrounding area, creating a hazard for those living and working nearby.  Further, storing vast quantities of CO2 under ground could lead to things like atmospheric Oxygen depletion.

And to what end?  The roll that CO2 is playing in climate change is still debatable.  The best way to reduce CO2 and all other emissions that come from burning fossil fuels is to install renewable energy systems.  Wind, Solar, Hydro, Wave power and even Nuclear Power (although nuclear is not a renewable energy source) have zero CO2 emissions.  Zero emissions is far better than any “clean coal” technology (which doesn’t exist), Cap and trade schemes for CO2 (which will not work) and CO2 squestration (which seems dangerous).

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02 Dec 09 | Commentary
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Reader's Comments

  1. Eric | December 11th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    Nice post as usual. I want to add one HUGE FACT that is often lost. The US’s CO2 emissions are measured in TGCO2 eq (Teregrams of CO2 equivelant). Does anyone know what a Teragram is? 1 Teragram is equal to 1 million metric tons! In 2006, the US emitted something like 2,000 TGCO2eq. The great pyramid of Giza is estimated to weigh 6 TG’s. If people knew to what extent we were REALLY polluting, there would be riots in the streets.

    Solar Epiphany



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