I have mixed opinions on a lot of “geoengineering” solutions but I feel like that one is just gonna be necessary. Even if we stopped burning fossil fuels today ocean iron fertilization will probably need to happen.
This only works in areas that are iron deficient but that have abundant levels of other important nutrients. These conditions exist but not everywhere. In any case, dumping iron would create a short bloom of algae but oceans are enormous so probably not enough to meaningfully increase overall phytoplankton levels.
I found some interesting material about Fe fertilization as a carbon sequestration technique when I read about this a while ago and that also seems cool but is a lot less practical than it sounds because of very limited places on earth where it could physically sequester carbon, and also because fish and ocean critters are smarter than you think and eat marine snow, preventing carbon from being actually sequestered.
Could they ever try sequestering carbon via algae farming on a large scale? Even then, where might the carbon be stored so it does not reenter the atmosphere?
Is it time to try ocean iron fertilization?
I have mixed opinions on a lot of “geoengineering” solutions but I feel like that one is just gonna be necessary. Even if we stopped burning fossil fuels today ocean iron fertilization will probably need to happen.
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This only works in areas that are iron deficient but that have abundant levels of other important nutrients. These conditions exist but not everywhere. In any case, dumping iron would create a short bloom of algae but oceans are enormous so probably not enough to meaningfully increase overall phytoplankton levels.
I found some interesting material about Fe fertilization as a carbon sequestration technique when I read about this a while ago and that also seems cool but is a lot less practical than it sounds because of very limited places on earth where it could physically sequester carbon, and also because fish and ocean critters are smarter than you think and eat marine snow, preventing carbon from being actually sequestered.
Could they ever try sequestering carbon via algae farming on a large scale? Even then, where might the carbon be stored so it does not reenter the atmosphere?
There's been conversations about doing it in the desert to take advantage of the abundant sunshine, but scaling is a challenge.
That's what I was thinking of. The problem of doing it at a large enough scale.
That's probably a thing people are talking about if not actually doing. Maybe dried algae could be buried.
https://www.brilliantplanet.com/
This company claims they can do just that. The problem is it’s basically a money dump. It doesn’t produce anything of value
Thanks. I wish someone could come up with something that's not just some get rich quick scheme.
I guess another problem is that investors might wait for other options that can prove to be more profitable.
I mean let’s see if it ever scales