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115 comments on The Carbon Economy

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dinaz on January 30, 2006 - 2:27am

I now understand all the hoopla around the acidification of the oceans. The idea that the oceanic carbon sink is buffering the massive and rapid release of carbon that was effectvely removed from the biosphere some hubdreds of millions of years ago is scary. Does anyone recall doing titration labs in high school(or later)? I may have to be corrected here, but does a buffering solution (the ocean pH 8.2)not accept a certain amount of acid with little change and then suddenly become acid itself? That is why we call it a buffer right?

So hot or not, more CO2 = more oceanic uptake = more carbonic acid = acid oceans? Or is there some suspicion that the uptake will slow if the pH of the oceans start to drop? I'm gonna find out here.

Thanks for this post Stuart. Though I'm a bit dazzled by the analysis, identifying a difference between the preindustrial carbon levels and those of today is crucial. I have often tried to explain to the curious the difference between short cycle and fossil carbon. Too few people understand the different climatological impact of burning wood versus burning coal or oil.

We are launching ourselves into the upside of a carbon cycle that spans many millions of years. This carbon enrichment of the biosphere is the atmospheric reenactment of a time in which humanity did not exist.

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BioDiesel on January 30, 2006 - 2:37am

Also a good article here from NASA about phytoplankton and hurricanes

Just more checks and balances that the earth has. As hurricanes increase it stirs up the ocean causing more phytoplankton to bloom.
Phytoplankton is where half our Oxy comes from. Now I see why all this talk about biofuels coming from algae, is so big.

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eric blair on January 30, 2006 - 12:17pm

Now I see why all this talk about biofuels coming from algae, is so big.

Problems with Algae:

De-wetting the oil-algae
Energy/materials needed to contain the growing algae (including the land set aside)
Most of the 'cost effective' projects are using CO2 output from some other burning hydrocarbon event going on.

I was 'excited' by algae - until I looked into the need for non CO2 feedstocks, location and energy investment needed to make the algae holding areas.

Then I became less excited.

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porsena on January 31, 2006 - 12:31am

Some of that hoopla surrounds the finding that a small drop in pH will prevent some marine organisms from producing a shell. Lower pH being more favourable to the dissolution of carbonates, the shell seems to dissolve faster than it is produced.