Good News at last. A part of our CO2 release could be saved….
Or could it?? This post doesn’t analyze the emissions of crushing, transporting and spreading the rock dust
Originally posted on The Extinction Chronicles: https://scitechdaily.comBy UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD JULY 11, 2020
2 Billion Tonnes of CO2 Could be Absorbed From the Atmosphere Each Year by Applying Rock Dust to Farmland Adding crushed rock dust to farmland could draw down up to two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the…
Shockingly Simple: How Farmland Could Absorb an Extra 2 Billion Tonnes of CO2 From the Atmosphere Each Year — Alexanders’ Blog
Adding crushed rock dust to farmland could draw down up to two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air per year and help meet key global climate targets, according to a major new study led by the University of Sheffield.
- Major new study shows adding rock dust to farmland could remove carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent to more than the current total emissions from global aviation and shipping combined — or around half of Europe’s current total emissions
- Research identifies the nation-by-nation potential for CO2 drawdown, as well as the costs and the engineering challenges involved
- Findings reveal the world’s highest emitters (China, India and the US) also have the greatest potential to remove CO2 from the atmosphere using this method
- Scientists suggest unused materials from mining and the construction industry could be used to help soils remove CO2 from the atmosphere
The technique, known as enhanced rock weathering, involves spreading finely crushed basalt, a natural volcanic rock, on fields to boost the soil’s ability to extract CO2 from the air.
In the first nation-by-nation assessment, published in Nature, scientists have demonstrated the method’s potential for carbon drawdown by major economies, and identified the costs and engineering challenges of scaling up the approach to help meet ambitious global CO2 removal targets. The research was led by experts at the University of Sheffield’s Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation, and the University’s Energy Institute.
