<Another 100 billion barrels of oil found in Iraq?The Oil Drum: EuropeGHAWAR: an estimate of remaining oil reserves and production decline (Part 1 - background and methodology)>

7 comments on Today's Photo

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

bunyonhead on April 24, 2007 - 5:16am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I was down in Kent the other weekend, it was a sea of yellow.

With regards poly tunnels, I have often wonderd why we don't surround power stations with poly-covered fields, pump the CO2 into the tunnels and grow stuff all year round.

I heard anecdotally a few ywars ago of a small CHP power sttaion which pumped its CO2 into a big greenhouse (growing tomatoes) and thus became a net zero emission power station.

is it just the sheer scale of the required land that precludes such an idea, or am I missing other (obvious) problems? Certainly seems cheaper to me than sequestering in depleted offshore fields.....

With regards wheat, there has also been a problem with plantings in the US. Early mild weather encouraged growth and then a very cold snap couped with a lot of rain has killed off a large swathe of crop. Wheat futures up 13% so far this month...

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
Valuethinker on April 24, 2007 - 9:07am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You have to take the CO2 out of the exhaust stream.

The plants won't, unless the acreage is truly vast, absorb a meaningful proportion of the CO2.

There is some work being done with genetically engineered algae on this one, but all kinds of reasons to think why it wouldn't work that well (eg photosynthesis only takes place during the day; the concentration of algae would have to be truly huge, etc.).

On your tomatoes CHP there are certainly a number of CHP units associated with hothouse fruit and vegetable operations, however they work because those need a constant supply of *heat*. I've never heard of one just for the CO2.

By and large, plants find enough CO2 in the existing atmosphere. Increase the CO2 concentration, and their uptake is *less*.

0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.