Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmosphere than expected (2017)

Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by raverbashing on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @05:00AM (#17704876)

At least one good news

Maybe we should look into farming seaweed (and other algae)

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by Shoh3pif on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @05:41AM (#17705034)

From the article:

> All in all, super-powered seaweeds could sequester around 173 million metric tons (190 million tons) of carbon each year, about as much as the annual emissions of the state of New York.

It's not that much in comparison to the emissions of the entire industrialized world.

Every bit helps of course, but it's not a magical solution to our problems.

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by DennisP on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @08:13AM (#17705752)

That's how much is happening naturally, with a low percentage of seaweed sinking to the depths. Large-scale farming operations could do a lot more.

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by Shoh3pif on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @09:13AM (#17706228)

Intensive farming only happens when the material is used in a profitable way. Growing things only to dump them in the oceans is only profitable with subsidies or carbon taxes.

Extensive farming would likely have the natural rate of sequestration.

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by King-Aaron on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @05:26AM (#17704971)

They've been farming seaweed in places like Japan since the 1600's/1700's and is a $2 billion industry. They also farm it all through south-east asia :)

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by Gustomaximus on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @05:44AM (#17705048)

Being done in Australia: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-16/king-island-kelpers-ke...

Looking at opening more in Australia: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-30/not-just-for-sushi-the...

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by atourgates on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @12:21PM (#17707989)

It's happening in the US as well, though currently on a smaller scale: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-seaweed-farming-and-...

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by Apfel on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @06:44AM (#17705301)

https://www.greenwave.org/

There's some really cool stuff happening in this field. IIRC some farming designs have been open sourced, too.

All you really need is a few hundred metres of rope and some seed spools.

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by sdiq on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @05:25AM (#17704961)

https://www.google.com/search?q=seaweed+farming+in+zanzibar

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by GunlogAlm on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @05:33AM (#17705001)

There are already significant seaweed farms in Japan, and farms exist in China, Korea, Fiji, Zanzibar, and even the UK.

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Re:Seaweed could be scrubbing more carbon from the atmospher... by jstsch on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @07:05AM (#17705393)

Also see northseafarm.org

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