Time for reflection

Fourteen posts ago, as I began my inquiries into geoengineering I concluded my first post stating that ‘I hold a hesitant view of geoengineering’, believing it to be a distraction from the main agenda and that instead the world ‘should be investing significantly more into renewable industries’ immediately.

Upon reflection of books, journals, magazine extracts and case studies that I have examined over the past three months, I must admit that my viewpoint on geoengineering has changed. I now see carbon removal methods such as Carbon Capture and Storage as well as artificial trees as somewhat favourable. Moreover, I’m keen to keep on reading into these methods to monitor future developments into this field.

The passion that this process has stirred up within myself has also had further personal impacts. Firstly, as a final year undergraduate student with no life plan after May 2017, I have begun looking into potential Masters courses based on Carbon Capture themes, which combines climate issues learned here with my Earth Sciences background. Secondly, after reading into the catastrophic impacts that humans are having on the Earth’s climate, I have developed a moral guilt towards how I personally treat the environment. As a result, I have started to adapt my current lifestyle through acts including majorly reducing my meat intake and switching to soya based products, avoiding environmentally destructive dairy products almost completely. 

I would like to thank any readers who have kept up to date with my posts, and hope you may have learned a thing or two (I certainly have!). I intend provide updates on important geoengineering developments in the coming future.

 

Until then, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.

A conclusion: A cunning concept or a treacherous trail?

The conclusion, finally! In this weeks post I'll be attempting to evaluate the geoengineering methods discussed in all previous posts to identify what (if any) methods are viable options for future energy policies. 

The geoengineering techniques that I have deemed viable are:

• Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS)
• Artificial trees
• Algae covered buildings

Non-viable geoengineering methods

Fig.1. Methods that should not be used, and my reasoning for this decision.

Why those three methods viable?

The quintessential reason for my choice of these three methods is that they all remove CO₂ from the atmosphere without posing excessive health risks or political complexities. The removal of CO₂ is absolutely crucial in balancing the earth’s climate, limiting our chances of exceeding Steffen's planetary boundaries and in committing to sustainable goals such as the Paris agreement. Although methods are expensive, they are reasonably cost-effective, based on the fact that a lot of the technology required for these processes is has already been developed.

Where should they be deployed?

In terms of where to deploy them, I believe that CCS should be deployed on a larger scale, in coal mines first. This is because coal is the biggest fuel source for China, India and USA whilst also being a larger producer of carbon per tonne than natural gas or oil. Artificial trees could be deployed alongside the busiest motorways in the world. This would also benefit cities such as Beijing, Athens and Los Angeles that are prone to dense smog which results in health deteriorations for its citizens.

Although Algal covered buildings would not have a dramatic impact, they would reduce carbon emissions, and perhaps more importantly would act as a symbolic gesture to spread awareness for environmental causes.

Hold on, I thought fossil fuels weren't the future?

Don’t get me wrong, the future energy market will eventually become reliant on renewable energies, bio-fuels and carbon neutral technologies. But one has to analyse the current and immediate future global energy market. The beginning of mainstream fracking in America combined with Saudi Arabia's unwillingness to curb their production to increase the market price of oil has seen oil prices plummet. This means that fossil fuels are still attractive to governments around the world as they are currently a cheaper option than a change to renewable energy. Therefore it is clear that the global transition to renewable energies will be a very gradual process. This gradual transition will mean that for several years to come, nations will still continue to pump CO₂ into the atmosphere. Hence, governments need a strategy to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Fig.2. Results of a climate simulation without the removal
of CO₂ from the atmosphere via afforestation.

To further present my point, I have ran climate simulations tests, with the results visible through fig.2. and fig.3. Fig.2. shows the result of a climate model where I have entered extremely optimistic figures in which nations reach their peak emissions year next year (unlikely) and begin reducing their emissions from 2020 onwards. Even with a biased data entry, we still see that by 2100 global temperatures will rise by 2.1ᵒC. This temperature increase would have profound effects on the planet, and also means that the targets of the Paris Agreement would not be met. 

Fig.3. Results of a climate simulation taking into account
 the removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Conversely,  fig.3. identifies that through increases in afforestation – actively removing carbon from the atmosphere – global temperatures by 2100 will fall below 2ᵒC, thus surpassing climate goals set in Paris. As well as this, sea level rise and ocean acidification would be reduced.

Conclusion

I must conclude by pointing out that for the most part, geoengineering is in fact a treacherous trail, apart from the three methods aforementioned. Methods such as SRM, giant space mirrors and reflective blankets for Greenland offer little potential when compared with the astronomical risks they face. Moreover, I believe that it would be a cunning environmental move to incorporate CCS alongside artificial trees and algae covered buildings into environmental strategies, as these options offer conceivable benefits to the challenges we face as a planet.