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Geoengineering 2013

VIEW Proposals
Proposal creation

CoLab members create proposals

Jun 1, 2012 12:00 EDT - Jun 16, 2013 02:59 EDT
Finalist selection
Expert judges select finalists

Jun 16, 2013 03:00 EDT - Jun 30, 2013 11:59 EDT
Proposal revisions
Finalists can improve their proposals

Jul 1, 2013 12:00 EDT - Jul 15, 2013 11:59 EDT
Selection of winners
CoLab members vote and judges also select winners

Jul 16, 2013 12:00 EDT - Aug 31, 2013 11:59 EDT
Completed
Winners are awarded

Sep 1, 2013 12:00 EDT
What climate-engineering initiatives might be feasible, especially to avoid methane feedbacks caused by global warming?

Climate CoLab members are invited to read Comments by Expert Reviewers on the Geoengineering Proposals

The IPCC defines geoengineering as “intentionally modifying the Earth’s climate at large scale.” This contest invites proposals on all approaches to geoengineering, with particular interest in ideas that would be effective in limiting warming contributions from excitation of positive methane feedbacks in the Earth’s environment. See more...

Photo caption: Large amounts of methane are tied up in frozen soils; thawing caused by warming can release methane in high enough concentrations that it can be ignited. Photo source: Real Climate, Much ado about methane, Jan 2012

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33 Proposals
Interested in air CO2 removal, carbon-negative fuel, saving the ocean, and redrawing the global energy map? Read further.
Industrial ocean based system for algae production, powered by wave, tide, current and sun, aim to fix more CO2 than total human emissions
Pull up sunken nutrients to create CO2-capturing plankton blooms, then push new organic carbon into ocean depths before it reverts to CO2.
Deep water supersaturated with methane can be degassed by lifting it to the surface. This process can be self-sustaining once initiated.
Agricultural polytunnels can be placed on soils which seep methane. The polytunnels will concentrate methane, allowing recovery & treatment.
Pumping oxygen-rich surface waters down into anoxic deep waters will discourage methanogenesis and enhance methanotrophy.
Clathrate deposits may break down & release methane to the atmosphere as AGW occurs. Mining these deposits will avoid uncontrolled release.
Radicals constitute the principle sink for atmospheric CH4. By manipulating NOx, it's possible to reduce CH4 lifetimes - at cost of O3 loss.
Cloud seeding can induce fresh snowfalls, altering the albedo of underlying snow, rock or vegetation. This can retain permafrost & sea ice.
Use unfuelled Diesel engines to heat air by compression. Any methane in the air will be burned off, if compression is high enough.
Use electrical sparks to ignite small point sources.
Bubbles from underwater seeps can be captured using sheeting/ducts. Relief wells can be drilled, preventing this methane reaching the water.
Adding detergents to lake & rivers can trap methane bubbles in foams. These foams can then be processed to flare or recover the methane.
Wetlands can be drained to prevent methanogenesis. The downside is oxidation of carbon reservoirs in these wetlands.
generate and control hurricanes to produce clouds to reflect the sun's rays back into space and provide water for drinking and agriculture.
The walls of log houses is an easily verifiable carbon storage. CO2, which is naturally captured by trees, could be safely stored there.
Highly accurate location of the sources and dispersion of greenhouse gases via archival hyperspectral imaging should be guiding remediation.
Geothermal mapping can and should be dramatically improved with bottom hole temperature data already available from oil and gas companies.
Earth's poles are heating up faster than elsewhere with Arctic ice declining. A shaped cloud of dust in LEO polar orbit could reverse this.
CO2 scrubbing will require power, the generation of which will contribute to global emissions. Can this problem be solved ?
Geo-Safe(CDR) is a self-funded and effective Carbon Dioxide and Methane Removal Process where all benefits go directly back to the people!
What could have been accomplished if our planet could have harnessed the wasted energy of volcanoes?
The World Health Organization estimates that 4.6 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution.
This proposal is focused to help provide the essentials to families destined to walk that fine line between adaptation and migration.
"THE BETTER MOUSETRAP"
Coral reef and fish stock development!
For worst-case scenarios we might need a "last chance option" in which we mimic the natural effect of aerosols at a longer time scale.
Government to subsidize painting of existing residential roofs to white and also provide a tax credit as a reward.
Block sunlight from thawing arctic ice and permafrost.
Pipe Carbon Dioxide to Antarctica where it can be frozen and sequestered.
If micro-organisms can be engineered to consume N2O at just slightly higher O2 levels, there would be a drastic reduction in N2O emissions.
Ocean Macroalgal Afforestation is a sustainable ecosystem, not geoengineering. Even so, it may be the fastest way to reverse CO2.