http://www.physorg.com/...
"In the Solar Thermal Electrochemical Photo (STEP) carbon capture process, the sun’s visible light and heat are used to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to solid carbon for storage or carbon monoxide for fuel generation."
Potentially this is good news, but don't get too excited. It's not just about carbon dioxide. And even if it works, there are aspects to consider.
"The significance of the study is twofold," Stuart Licht, a chemistry professor at George Washington University, told PhysOrg.com. "Carbon dioxide, a non-reactive and normally difficult-to-remove compound, can be easily captured with solar energy using our new low-energy, lithium carbonate electrolysis STEP process, and with scale-up, sufficient resources exist for STEP to decrease carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels within 10 years."
--- meanwhile, in other news .. not good .. perhaps this yet another race against time itself ..
http://www.physorg.com/...
July 23rd, 2010
The Arctic Ocean has recently soaked up substantial amounts of carbon dioxide and may already be well on its way to reaching its limit as a carbon sink.
These findings are reported by Wei-Jun Cai and colleagues, who measured carbon dioxide levels in water samples taken from across the Arctic Ocean's Canada Basin. As the ocean warms and its sea ice continues to melt, more of the ocean's surface will be exposed. Because these waters are cold and home to large amounts of photosynthesizing microbes, researchers have noted the Arctic's important potential for taking up atmospheric carbon dioxide.
With politicians seemingly impotent or uninterested to do even the least effective window dressing to address climate change, it may be that science has part of the answer.
HOWEVER.
Some important caveats about the STEP process.
Even if the solar process can sequester carbon dioxide, it's unlikely to be able to be used in colder polar climates. The Arctic will continue to have increased warming, at a rate unprecedented through any projected historical reference. This rapid change in climate will STILL have massive effects, even if we can sequester carbon dioxide globally.
And then there's methane to deal with.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Scientists have recorded a massive spike in the amount of a powerful greenhouse gas seeping from Arctic permafrost, in a discovery that highlights the risks of a dangerous climate tipping point.
Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blame.
The discovery follows a string of reports from the region in recent years that previously frozen boggy soils are melting and releasing methane in greater quantities. Such Arctic soils currently lock away billions of tonnes of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, leading some scientists to describe melting permafrost as a ticking time bomb that could overwhelm efforts to tackle climate change.