Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from science fiction to reality

Re:Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from scie... by viraptor on Sunday September 10, 2023 @04:30AM (#37453970)

Sounds good, but... Where's the desalination tech which allows to use water in the desert without diverting the existing limited resources from surrounding areas? How do you transport and establish the usable quantities of soil where you have a desert now? That's not a "just plant some trees" solution.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from scie... by kaba0 on Sunday September 10, 2023 @06:32AM (#37454565)

You can gradually move from an existing forest line towards the desert. Forests do alter their micro-climate as well.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from scie... by viraptor on Sunday September 10, 2023 @07:27AM (#37454840)

Given enough time, yes. We need solutions within decades though - not hundreds of years needed for something like this.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from scie... by WalterBright on Sunday September 10, 2023 @06:13PM (#37460644)

> use water in the desert

Cheaper than building a zillion solar panels.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from scie... by viraptor on Sunday September 10, 2023 @08:29PM (#37461467)

Have you got the numbers to support that?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Sucking carbon dioxide out of the sky is moving from scie... by viraptor on Monday September 11, 2023 @06:51AM (#37465370)

For the record, back of a napkin calculation says: 500000km2 of medium density forest of medium water requirement trees needs ~100MW of energy just for desalination. Then the construction of the irrigation grid, maintaining it, pumping the water, staffing the initial works, machinery, etc. goes on top of that.

[ Parent | on HN ]