A Commonsense Solution to CO2 (Part II)

I have been preaching for years that the solution to cut CO2 emissions should not to disturb the current global economy. This requires innovative and creative outside the box thinking, which politicians and most energy scientists obviously lack. Even if CO2 is not causing climate change, we can all agree it is a pollutant that is harmful to our health. After all, CO2 is a deadly gas. After years of scanning for a solution, I have finally come across a person who has the right idea when it comes to solving the CO2 problem in our atmosphere. Physicist, Klaus Lackner, at Columbia University is creating a way to “Suck CO2” out of the air using “CO2 scrubber” technology. A CO2 scrubber filters CO2 directly out of the air we breathe. The theory using CO2 scrubbers already exists and has been incorporated in submarine and space shuttle technology. Anyone who has seen “Apollo 13” understands the importance of CO2 scrubbers in space. However, the trick is developing a CO2 scrubber that is not cost prohibitive. In fact, large CO2 scrubbing stations could consume a large amount of power and therefore, should be powered by low cost renewable energy such as hydropower. The key to Lackner’s technology is that he has developed a plastic sponge that absorbs CO2 rapidly, but at the same time, the CO2 is easily cleaned from the filter using water in a vacuum chamber. Hence, Lackner’s CO2 scrubber uses much less power to absorb and clean the CO2 from the filter than earlier forms of the technology. The next step in the process is the hardest to implement – how to dispose of the extracted CO2? The most likely solution is to keep the CO2 in a liquid form and pump under the earth’s surface where the CO2 can be absorbed by rocks. This is the same technology being investigated by “clean coal” power plants. They too want to capture harmful CO2 and then dispose of it deep into the earth’s crust. But there is still plenty of concern as to whether or not the CO2 will remain underground without eventually leaking back into the earth’s atmosphere. Another option is to add hydrogen to the CO2 and convert it back to liquid hydrocarbons. Here is some information on Klaus Lackner: http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/articles/view/2523 A CO2 scrubbing station would consist of a motor to push wind through the filter. Once the filter is saturated with CO2, it is lowered into a vacuum and rinsed with water. The filter then returns to its operating state, meanwhile the CO2 is separated from the water, compressed into a liquid and pumped underground. The genius of the Lackner solution to filter and dispose of CO2 emissions is it does not require a change to our lifestyles or to our economy. We can continue to use less expensive coal and fossil fuel sources of energy until renewable energies can be produced at an acceptable cost level. And Lackner’s CO2 scrubber will also remove CO2 emissions generated from hydrocarbon life forms (humans and animals). And better yet, Lackner’s CO2 scrubber will eliminate CO2 emissions that currently exist in our atmosphere from nearly two centuries of industrial pollution. Thus, the use of CO2 scrubbers could theoretically lower the current level (390 parts per million) of CO2 in our atmosphere. This is something the liberal green energy agenda not only fails to accomplish; they do not want Lackner’s idea to ruin their plan of progressive power and wealth. My Book: Is America Dying? (Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble)