Okay, so the title has absolutely nothing to do with this post other than the Professor from Columbia University is named Klaus Lachner. And Professor Lackner, if you do for whatever reason stumble upon our COP15 blog I sincerely apologize for taking your name and relating it to a certain jolly individual in the North Pole.
Yet, on the other hand, Klaus Lackner is a bit like St. Nick that is, if his idea of artificial trees ever comes to fruition. In Mann and Kump’s Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming, they briefly mention Lachner’s approach to carbon capture and sequestration or storage (CCS). The idea of CCS is to essentially divert CO2 emissions away from the atmosphere by “capturing” it from large emission sources such as power plants, factories and other industrial behemoths. This differs slightly from Lackner’s concept. Lachner wants to go after the CO2 that is already in the air that is being emitted by vehicles and other small producers. These small producers however, take up a good portion of emissions.
This is an artists rendering of what Lackner’s idea might look like. It is whats being called “synthetic trees”-high-tech stations with that intake air and eliminate the carbon dioxide from the air and store it as a liquid. These towers would be on top of buildings or placed near towns–one tower would facilitate a small town. The CO2 would the be buried and stored permanently underground.
Klaus’ idea is a sound one–yet one that is still tough to wrap my Mass Media Studies brain around. Essentially, instead of going right to the source of the emission–say 100-200 feet from a factory, these towers would be spread out all over the world and collect CO2 that is already in the air. If this gentleman is not going to be at the COP15 he should be, because this Carbon Capture innovation is something that could take down emissions in both developing countries and developed countries.
In interviews with the NYT and CNN Lackner claims that his synthetic trees will collect one ton of carbon dioxide per day at a low cost:
“If you were to install 10 million of them, you would pull back on the order of 3.6 gigatons of C02 a year. The world right now produces 30 gigatons of C02 a year. In 2006, the world made 73 million cars. They are comparable in size, and ultimately comparable in cost.”
Klaus also mentions in a NYT interview about using ultramafic rocks–rocks in the Sierra Nevada and Applachian that are perfect for sequestering carbon:
“My view is that ultramafic rocks can take up more C02 than we can ever make. What’s nice about it is, though, yes, you make big piles, you know it stays in there. Once you form a carbonate, it doesn’t want to go back. The biggest ultramafic deposit in the world happens to be in Oman. Those ultramafic rocks alone could take the world’s CO2. You could imagine having air collectors in the desert of Oman and putting C02 directly into mineral carbonates.”
This YouTube Video also provides a bit more insight via BBC about what Klaus’ innovation will do, the exact science behind it, and when/if we can expect to see his invention in the field so to speak.
To read more about Klaus’ endeavors read the following articles:
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/scrubbing-co2-with-synthetic-trees/#more-14733
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/06/22/synthetic.tree.climate.change.ccs/index.html?eref=rss_tech
http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/articles/view/2523
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/29/science/sci-carbon29
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/16722257/2007_hot_issue/11 –yes, this man was in Rolling Stone. However, the article is 2 years old–costs and other details are inaccurate.
And if you have time and want to watch this 78 minute lecture about it–here you are.
Tags: Carbon Sequestering, Carbon Trees, CCS, CO2 Emissions, Klaus Lachner
