Iceland pioneered genuine carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) by injecting CO2 into hot fracked basalt at the bottom of a well. Now various experiments have shown that we can do even better with common minerals crushed to sand and spread on farm fields as fertilizer. Basalts, serpentines, and olivines combine with CO2 to form geologically stable carbonates.
Sustainability Magazine:
How Icelandic Carbon Capture Gained World’s First AAA Rating
After it is captured, the CO2 is pumped out of the collector containers and prepared for storage below the surface in basalt rocks via mineralisation.
The entire process is powered by geothermal energy.
This is not the bogus CCS that Fossil Carbon companies have been pushing for ages—pumping CO2 into aging oil wells to get more oil out. We need to understand the real story, and at the same time counter this denial, rent-seeking (profiting from political shenanigans), and obstruction.
Scientists use common minerals to remove CO2 from the atmosphere news.stanford.edu/...
chemists have developed a practical, low-cost way to permanently remove atmospheric carbon dioxide
"Our process would require less than half the energy used by leading direct air capture technologies, and we think we can be very competitive from a cost point of view,"
their approach can be used beyond the laboratory to capture CO2 at industrial scale.
"You can imagine spreading magnesium oxide and calcium silicate over large land areas to remove CO2 from ambient air,"
this approach could have co-benefits for farmers
"Adding our product would eliminate the need for liming
Ideally, farmers would pay for these minerals because they're beneficial to farm productivity and the health of the soil -- and as a bonus, there's the carbon removal."
Mokurai→T Maysle
Somebody needs to go into the relative costs of this approach and using other common minerals that also act as fertilizer, including basalts, serpentines, and olivines. All of them react with CO2 to form stable carbonate minerals, and all are available by the cubic kilometer. I’ll see what I can find.
And here we are.
- Magnesium oxide, $120-$200/ton
- Calcium silicate, $200-$800/ton
- Olivine, $20/ton
- Serpentine, $200/ton
- Basalt, $70-$190/ton
- Lime, $50–$70 per ton
No asbestos/chrysotile, a variety of serpentine, please.
Olivines are a class of magnesium iron silicate mineral, (Mg,Fe)₂SiO₄. They are extremely abundant, and would make good fertilizer.
Crushing these minerals to find sand would cost about $10/ton. We could do with a few teratons of them to take a teraton of carbon out of the atmosphere. Not a trivial cost, but much cheaper than Global Warming damage. Not that we would actually spread a teraton of mineral dust on our 4.8 billion hectares of farm fields, but whatever we can convince farmers to do, we should.
This is a great overview and conversation about the myriad aspects of 'enhanced rock weathering' as a carbon removal/storage technique — a good place to start if you've wanted to learn about this topic; and not just the geology/geochemistry, but the overall feasibility, scaling issues, and more [image or embed]
— Brian Romans (@clasticdetritus.bsky.social) February 15, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Here is another version, to be done in the oceans. It corrects the acidity due to carbonic acid buildup in the water as it produces stable calcium carbonate.
Interesting and very comprehensive #review of #reseach into enhanced #olivine #weathering as a method for fixing #CO2 in the ocean. Not a bit fan of #geoengineering as a solution for the #ClimateCrisis but happy to see it being thoroughly researched at least. bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/... [image or embed]
— Niels de Winter (@nielsjdewinter.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 5:48 AM
From Bluesky
I have sometimes mentioned that there is getting to be more good news on renewables than I can cover. It is now getting out of hand. Well, it’s a good problem to have, really,
Please clap for this very cool chart I made showing that solar + storage is now cheaper for peaker capacity than gas (using a specific coal->gas conversion project Duke Energy is working on as reference to reflect how tight the market for constructing gas capacity has gotten) [image or embed]
— George Pearkes (@peark.es) February 26, 2025 at 11:29 AM
📚| Planted #mangroves stored up to 75% of carbon found in intact mature stands.
40 years of data show biomass carbon peaks within 20 years post-planting, providing key insights for climate action and restoration.
Read the full publication:➡️ http://bit.ly/3LHeUsi
#TreesPeoplePlanet [image or embed]
— CIFOR-ICRAF (@cifor-icraf.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 12:30 AM
You know, a terawatt here, a terawatt there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real power.
1/2 2024 astonishingly good year for clean energy. World installed 599 GW solar panels, 1/3 more> 2023. Generating power only 15% of time, those panels should produce ~ 787 TWh electricity — equivalent to output of 1/3 of world’s nuclear reactors. fixthenews.com/287-secret-p... [image or embed]
— Dr Alex Wodak AM (@alexwodak.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Chapter 5 - Developing Nations Don't Have to Pollute in Order to Develop
#Africa is also surrounded by unlimited #Water and #Hydrogen in the #oceans, and should go directly to #ZeroEmissions, with #Solar, #Wind, and #Hydrogen instead of #developing with #Coal & #Oil. #ClimateJustice [image or embed]
— Ideas To Save Planet: I'm On It! (@ideabomber.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Same story in Latin America. Water, sun, wind…Here is one small example.
📍 Santuario, #Honduras! 🌍 For years, this remote village lived without electricity & had limited opp. to build a better future. Their reality changed with the installation of solar panels, which are now lighting homes, powering #livelihoods, & securing #healthcare access. Read: bit.ly/41m6cao [image or embed]
— International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) (@irena-official.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Then there is the lure of $$$Real Money$$$TM to Republicans in the US.
In a functioning competitive market without unconscionable subsidies for Fossil Foolishness, negative prices for wind and solar would utterly destroy fossil fuel generation, instead of being held up as a problem for renewables.
Curtailment & Negative Pricing is rising. While large developers get paid to switch off, but smaller projects with active connections don’t. Negative pricing events tripled in 2024, adding financial risk for asset owners. #RenewableEnergy #GridInfrastructure #EnergyStorage #NetZero #Sustainability [image or embed]
— David Linsley-Hood (@davidllh.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 2:34 AM
#Tesla sales plummeted in the EU last month, falling by a whopping 45.2%. It sold just under 10,000 cars versus over 18,000 in January 2024, and its market share fell from 1.8% to 1% this year. IWith -63% its sales Tesla fell off a cliff in France insideevs.com/news/751787/... #elonmusk #DonaldTrump [image or embed]
— alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social (@alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Denial and Obstruction
The Environmental Protection Network launched #EPAFacts and EPAFacts.org to counter misinformation from the Trump administration and educate the public about the impact that Musk-led cuts will have on clean air, clean water, and the economy. www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/epafacts/ [image or embed]
— Martina Igini (@martinaigini.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 12:21 AM
These next posts are about bogus kinds of CCS, not about the enhanced rock weathering described above.
Great new downloadable, printable fact sheet on the harms, risks, and fraud of carbon capture and storage!
Good for tabling, public comment periods, letters to editors and electeds, handing out to the neighbors, and all kinds of public testimony.
ecojusticecollaborative.org/newly-releas... [image or embed]
— Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️🌈 (@ssteingraber1.bsky.social) February 21, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Remember, #NoNewNukes. They are just a sink for subsidies provided by governments in corrupt deals.
Like 'clean coal', carbon capture & storage (CCS) and the ‘gas fired recovery’, #nuclear is just a new distraction designed to serve fossil fuel corporations and stall the transition to renewable energy.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... [image or embed]
— Environment Victoria (@envirovic.bsky.social) February 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM
"$1.325 billion … could potentially go to waste as the current administration begins to undo the progress made over the last four years to modernize the government's transportation fleet."
Gosh — that's quite the blow against 'waste,' hm? insideevs.com/news/751754/... [image or embed]
— Greg Greene (he/him/his) (@greene.haus) February 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM