
Ask HN: How can we reverse Global Warming? - aswinmohanme
So this is a general question to get a brief idea about the lay of the land.<p>What are the current technologies that are available to reverse Global Warming? I have read about a lot of carbon removal technologies but are they feasible now, or will they ever be ?
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mchannon
The question was reverse global warming, not slow it down. So here's the
reversal options:

•Plant and bury. Grow plantlife where it hasn't been growing before (oceans
are one example, but tundras and deserts can also be used), and bury or
otherwise control the output.

•Weathering. The planet already has a system for removing CO2 from the air,
it's just slow. Olivine rocks, along with limestone, trona, and pretty much
anything with carbonates capable of becoming bicarbonates, will absorb CO2.

•Injection. Assuming you can get CO2 in pure concentrated form, just need to
pump it down to briny deposits that will absorb it. The bad news is almost
nobody burning fossil fuels makes CO2 in pure concentrated form. The leading
use of injected CO2 a) mines it already in concentrated form and b) uses it
like fracking to push out more oil and gas, making its efficacy questionable.

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Gravityloss
It makes no sense to dig up coal, burn it to CO2, mix it to the atmosphere,
concentrate the CO2 from the atmosphere, try to convert it to some denser form
and try to push it back underground.

Instead, reducing energy usage and replacing fossil energy with cleaner forms
yields much more CO2 reductions per dollar.

The oceans are absorbing CO2 as we speak. The less we emit, the more they can
absorb. They are warming and their ability to absorb will lessen.

Think about the derivatives. We are building new coal plants. Yearly emissions
are increasing.

First stop building new coal plants. Then start shutting old ones down. When
no coal plant is running, then do carbon capture.

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jxub
Carbon sequestration in olivine rocks could be an option

