1000 USD / ton carbon tax? Local weather researcher calls for that the alleged harm brought on by fossil fuels be absolutely assessed – what is the level?
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Climate researcher David Lowe is appalled that democratic governments like New Zealand are charging only double-digit carbon prices – he believes the real cost of carbon is around $ 1000 / tonne and should be imposed in a way that extends beyond administration.
People already have the resources to fight climate change, but we lack the leadership
In this excerpt, top atmospheric researcher Dave Lowe explains why, despite political inaction, he believes we can build a sustainable future
Dave Lowe
Mon 10 May 2021 06.00 AEST
When it comes to the political will and leadership required to lead the world towards a sustainable future, I am a pessimist. Time and again I have heard rhetoric from politicians who focus on short-term goals at the expense of future planning. In 2021, mainstream media are promoting responsible journalism and taking a hard line with climate deniers. Many journalists hold governments accountable for climate change goals. However, hard scientific data is still often manipulated and selected by politicians. I’ve spoken to many and compared the experience to walking through treacle.
Does their mild decision-making have anything to do with the very structure of democracy?with its short terms and the lack of incentives for incumbent politicians to make tough and binding decisions for decades to come?
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The skills and experience of engineers will be critical to the urgent transition to a low-carbon future. Over the years I have spoken to many groups of engineers, including oil and gas engineers, about climate change. You would think a climatologist talking to a gas engineer would lead to an argument, but that wasn’t my experience.
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Their skills can be transferred to an economy in which, for example, “green hydrogen” is used on a large scale. Green hydrogen, produced by the electrolysis of water using excess electricity from wind and other renewable energy sources, is already used in Germany and a number of other countries for steel production, energy storage and transportation.
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If you asked a chemist how and how much it would cost to remove a ton of CO2 from the atmosphere, they’d probably throw up their hands in horror and get a number of NZ $ 1,000 per ton and a very complex apparatus. One climate researcher would answer the question with another: “How much do you think the 2020 wildfires cost in Australia, California, Colorado, Siberia and the Arctic?” And a New Zealand economist would quote the current carbon price on the New Zealand Emissions Trading System website, which was around NZ $ 37 per ton in early 2021. That sounds ridiculously cheap to me when you roughly measure the cost of the damage from carbon emissions in our only atmosphere.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/10/humans-already-have-the-tools-to-combat-climate-change-but-we-lack-leadership
Here’s a thought, Dave. Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is?
Why not lead by example and start a project where climate believers can pay you $ 1,000 to remove a ton of carbon from the atmosphere instead of thinking about how we’re all paying $ 1,000 a ton should?
Chemical extraction of CO2 from air is simple and not complicated as you suggested. All you need to extract CO2 from the air is blow air through a large tank of saturated lime water.
Calcium hydroxide (garden lime) is sparingly soluble in water, but calcium carbonate (limestone) precipitates and falls to the bottom of your tank. This method has been used for centuries to determine the CO2 content of a gas stream. It’s even taught in schools as a basic chemistry experiment – students blow into a tube and watch as calcium carbonate clouds appear in the bottle they’re blowing air in. Lime water is very good at removing CO2 from the air or from people’s breath to fetch.
Of course, lime production is a very carbon intensive process, so you really need to recycle your calcium carbonate precipitate. Part of your CO2 recovery process should be to regenerate the lime from the precipitated calcium carbonate in a solar oven and dispose of the concentrated CO2 from the regenerator. And you need a fairly large tank of lime water to absorb a ton of CO2 in a reasonable amount of time. But the chemistry is simple.
All of the components in your facility should be made using renewable energy, but hey, let’s be generous – since this is a pilot plant, I’ll give you ID if you use solar panels and mild steel and plastic and copper and whatever else you need , all made in the coal furnaces of China.
I doubt I’ll be one of your customers – but I assure you I will share your progress in attracting customers to your $ 1000 / ton carbon disposal system. You never know, you might even make some money – there are plenty of rich celebrities out there who are stupid enough to pay $ 1,000 to dispose of a ton of CO2. You could send customers a nice framed certificate saying thank you for helping save the earth.
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