Thingsters.com

After meeting a “Scientist” who proclaimed that Carbon Capture was the ownly scalable solution to address climate change, I decided to explore the problem and well-known solutions.

From 1980–2023 (as of November 8, 2023), there have been 373 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect United States. These events included 31 drought events, 42 flooding events, 9 freeze events, 186 severe storm events, 61 tropical cyclone events, 22 wildfire events, and 22 winter storm events. Overall, these events resulted in the deaths of 16,322 people and had significant economic effects on the areas impacted.

For 54% of Americans, the effects of man-made climate change are undeniable, as are the financial and human costs. Many are still confused about previous mass extinction events and what caused them. But 69% favor the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050.
While 67% of U.S. adults say the country should prioritize developing renewable energy sources over expanding the production of oil, coal, and natural gas.

Globally, we emit around 50 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. According to the Global Carbon Project, the United States is the world’s second-largest carbon dioxide emitter, after China, and 5th in per capita emissions. The United States is responsible for 15% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with each person contributing 15.74 tons on average.

Metric tons of carbon dioxide (tCO2)	1950	2000	2022	Change 1950–2000	Change 2000–2022
China	0.1B	3.6B	11.4B	4,529%	213%
Asia (excl. China, Japan, and India)	0.2B	3.2B	6.2B	1,973%	95%
United States of America	2.5B	6.0B	5.1B	136%	-16%
European Union	1.8B	4.2B	3.1B	134%	-26%
Rest of World	0.4B	2.5B	2.9B	465%	16%
India	0.1B	1.0B	2.8B	1,500%	189%
Russia	0.4B	1.5B	1.7B	256%	12%
Africa	0.1B	0.9B	1.4B	876%	52%
Japan	0.1B	1.3B	1.1B	1,132%	-17%
South America	0.1B	0.8B	1.1B	621%	34%
Canada	0.2B	0.6B	0.6B	268%	-3%

Transportation and Power Stations are not the only contributors to Global warming, and not all greenhouse gases are equal. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) was developed to allow comparisons of the global warming impacts of different gases. Precisely, it measures how much energy the emissions of 1 ton of a gas will absorb over a given period of time relative to the emissions of 1 ton of carbon dioxide. The larger the GWP, the more that a given gas warms the Earth compared to carbon dioxide over that time period. Let’s start with carbon dioxide emissions, which represent most greenhouse gases caused by humans; it is not the most potent, but carbon dioxide has a half-life of about 120 years, methane’s half-life is 10.5 years, and nitrous oxide’s is 132 years. However, due to its structure, methane traps more heat in the atmosphere per molecule than carbon dioxide, making it 80 times more harmful during its atmospheric lifespan. While we measure known methane sources, we only have a vague idea how much is being released by the melting glaciers and permafrost.

The United States has recently reduced its reliance on coal, while crude oil and natural gas are still a significant source of greenhouse gases, and our overall climate action rating is deemed insufficient. The Energy Information Administration expects renewable deployment to grow by 17% to 42 GW in 2024 and account for almost a quarter of electricity generation. The estimate falls below the low end of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s assessment that Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provisions could boost annual wind and solar deployment rates to 44 GW to 93 GW between 2023 and 2030, with cumulative deployment of new utility-scale solar, wind, and storage reaching up to 850 GW by 2030.

A report by the United Nations and several climate organizations found that governments still plan to increase coal production until 2030 and oil and gas production until at least 2050.

Approaches that Theoretically Scale

• Placing an upper limit on the amount of carbon dioxide we will allow ourselves to emit into the atmosphere within a given timeframe. It is not a proven tactic globally after 25 years of International negotiations, nor are carbon offsets or credits.
• Holding corporations to climate goals. Not likely; just look at Shell’s plan to quietly end the world’s biggest corporate plan to develop carbon offsets.
• Improving our monitoring of the planet and detection of the most harmful greenhouse gases to capture, fine polluters, or stop them with criminal enforcement.
• In 2023, COP 28 brought nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations to approve a milestone plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil, and gas. A non-binding agreement or a plan for a plan, I guess, is better than nothing.
• Building massive Carbon Dioxide or Direct Air Capture and storage systems. To hit its net zero targets, the world relies on a controversial technology pioneered by the fossil fuel industry that will cost $4.5 trillion this decade, heavily subsidized by the government. So, this is the least effective, most costly, and unlikely to be scaled. It also does not address other forms of greenhouse gases.

• We can drive electric vehicles instead of those that burn fossil fuels. In 2022, about 134.55 billion gallons of finished motor gasoline were consumed in the United States, an average of about 369 million gallons per day. Sure, EVs and Hybrids will help, but they are not 100% green and still have a carbon footprint from the fuel required to charge batteries, along with an environmental impact cost of the chemicals for the batteries. Combined sales of hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and battery electric vehicles (BEV) in the United States rose to 16.3% of total new light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales in 2023. Today, EVs represent 1.5% of passenger cars and light-duty vehicles in the U.S. To put that in perspective, there are now 1.7 million EVs on the road in the U.S. compared to 285 million gasoline-powered vehicles. It also does not address the other 5% of trucks responsible for 25% of transportation emissions better served by hydrogen-powered engines. In my opinion, the EV industry and our government missed a significant opportunity to accelerate consumer adoption by providing standardized removable batteries that could be swapped out with precharged batteries at any updated EV-retrofitted Gas station in just minutes instead of building thousands of charging stations where you can wait 6-12 hours to charge your vehicle.
• We can switch to renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) to power our homes and buildings. Sure, this also helps, but consider the horrible economics, efficiency, and insufficient materials on the planet for the batteries required to store the power until it’s needed because reliance on renewable generation alone is an incomplete solution for grid-supplied energy. We will require multitudes of large Pumped Hydro Storage, or MegaWatt storage systems, with billions of inverters and batteries that require periodic replacement. Even the best Nickel-hydrogen batteries only last for 30,000 charge cycles.

• We could improve mass transit instead of driving our cars. We have been working to expand mass transit outside of our metropolitan cities since the seventies. This is a complicated and complex opportunity we have yet to solve. We may be better off leaning into the four-day workweek and work-from-home initiatives.
• We can switch to renewable energy sources such as geothermal or hydro, where we have lakes, rivers, and can build damns. Sounds reasonable if we can do it without destroying fisheries, marshlands, or environmental ecosystems.
• We can conserve energy by better insulating our homes and buildings, replacing windows and doors, investing in heat pumps, and replacing older appliances with more energy-efficient models, including gas stoves, water heaters, and HVAC systems.
• We can support more businesses that use and promote sustainable, climate-smart practices like those listed above. Sure, in theory, but most consumers will not educate themselves or make the tradeoff unless the product or service is taxed or incentivized; please see our history on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, the ten states with bottle deposit laws, and any initiatives to reduce single-use plastics.
• We can draw down carbon by planting trees and stop cutting down our forests.
• As of August 1, 2023, the United States had 93 operating commercial nuclear reactors at 54 nuclear power plants in 28 states. One of my most hopeful technology-driven approaches is the reinvention of 1960/70 nuclear fission technology with 10 Advanced Nuclear Designs and a new approach from TerraPower, which uses a Natrium reactor that reuses spent uranium materials, of which we have 88,000 metric tons. It has no chance of a meltdown as it uses liquid metal for cooling, and sodium storage cooling is more environmentally friendly regarding water resources and harmful emissions. Approval to build the first Natrium reactor was granted for Wyoming. Eight new fusion companies, like Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion, are trying to scale fusion technology to replace the 54 nuclear power plants in the United States.

Net Zero Roadmap: A Global Pathway to Keep the 1.5 °C Goal in Reach – Analysis and key findings. https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-roadmap-a-global-pathway-to-keep-the-15-0c-goal-in-reach

The Fifth National Climate Assessment: The US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States.
https://nca2023.globalchange.gov