A technology many hoped would fight climate change would cause even bigger environmental problems, scientists say
Widespread use of a futuristic energy technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would create severe environmental problems, scientists argue in a new critique, casting doubt on one potential method of helping humanity escape the worst effects of climate change. The technology, known as bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), comes in many variations.
From article, (Widespread use of a futuristic energy technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would create severe environmental problems, scientists argue in a new critique, casting doubt on one potential method of helping humanity escape the worst effects of climate change.
The technology, known as bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), comes in many variations. But the core idea is burning trees or other plants for energy while pulling in the resulting carbon dioxide and storing it below ground. When the plants grow back again, they would pull more carbon dioxide from the air, resulting in a net removal of the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
The study found that large-scale BECCS initiatives, with biomass plantations stretching over millions of square miles, could store between 1.2 and 6.3 billion tons of carbon annually. That's enough to make a very large dent in global greenhouse gas emissions. However, at this scale, BECCS "could trigger critical environmental feedbacks to the Earth system," the study finds.
BECCS at such a scale would lead to millions of square miles of forest loss and large pressures on biodiversity, the study found. Meanwhile, the huge plantations would require tens of millions of tons of nitrogen fertilizer that would alter flow of this chemical around the Earth, and huge amounts of water — over a trillion tons of it each year.)
Me, "I disagree! I read an article not to long ago that claimed that if farmers used Compost and Manure, this could naturally reinvigorate soil, plants and trees are grown in, for BECCS. It is not just a healthier way of growing plants. It all but reduces the need for Nitrogen Phosphate fertilizers. Manure is a byproduct of pigs and cows, in the meat and dairy industry. You always hear about huge dams full of liquid manure, that breach, and get into a local river. Instead this manure can be used as a natural fertilizer, creating a new revenue source for the pork, meat and dairy industry. Compost is made from leaves and branches of trees with the use of worms. With BECCS you don't need to burn the leaves, smaller branches, and roots. Just the Trunk. The leaves, small branches, and roots can be crushed up, sprinkled with worms, to make compost.
As for water? I think you just leave that to the rain. We are not growing fruits and vegetables here where water is a necessity. We are growing fast growing weeds and trees. Weeds will grow anywhere and trees grow at their own rates, anyway, regardless of if we water them or not. But, if BECCS farmers want to water the weeds and trees? Can't they just build their own reservoirs filled with water from rain? Remember, this water does not need to be fit for consumption by humans, just by plants, so you can collect it from many flat area, roofs, roads, etc."
As for water? I think you just leave that to the rain. We are not growing fruits and vegetables here where water is a necessity. We are growing fast growing weeds and trees. Weeds will grow anywhere and trees grow at their own rates, anyway, regardless of if we water them or not. But, if BECCS farmers want to water the weeds and trees? Can't they just build their own reservoirs filled with water from rain? Remember, this water does not need to be fit for consumption by humans, just by plants, so you can collect it from many flat area, roofs, roads, etc."
From that article, (The techniques that regenerative farmers use vary with soil, climate and crop. They start from the understanding that healthy soil teems with more than a billion microorganisms per teaspoon and the behavior of those organisms facilitates hardy plant life.
To fertilize their fields, regenerative farmers use nutrient-rich manure or compost, avoiding as much as possible chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which can kill huge quantities of organic matter and reduce plants’ resilience. They don’t like to till the soil, since tillage increases carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
California began in 2015 to incorporate soil health into the state’s farm and ranch operations. Some of the pioneering studies showing regenerative agriculture’s benefits have been carried out at the Marin Carbon Project on a self-proclaimed carbon-farming ranch in the pastoral reaches of Marin County, 30 miles northwest of San Francisco. A four-year study there showed that a one-time application of compost caused an increase in plant productivity that has continued ever since, and that the soil’s carbon content grew year after year, at a rate equivalent to the removal from the atmosphere of 1.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide per acre annually.)
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