Quote:
Originally Posted by dkeller_nc
Ultimately, growing algae in the ocean is not a practical solution. Neither is growing terrestrial forests. The basic problem is that neither sequesters carbon for the long-term. In the case of terrestrial forests, the sequestration ended with the evolution of higher-order fungi some 400 MYA.
The only way to really remove carbon from the global cycle is mineralization (typically, as calcium carbonate). That can be done by certain simple organisms in the ocean, or it can be done by abiotic means.
But overall, removing CO2 from the atmosphere in its incredibly diluted form takes FAR more energy than removing it at the source of combustion, or not generating it in the first place. Rather unfortunately, that last one isn't a practical option, at least to supply the base load demanded by human civilization.
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You can remove carbon from the global cycle by burying trees from the artificial forests under ground. Ideally old and dry coal mines. The reason why this stopped happening naturally is the rate of decomposition of wood by fungi and bacteria is much faster than rate of sedimentation.
Like you said before, fungi and bacteria that evolved to decompose wood made it almost impossible for this process to happen naturally at a scale it was in carboniferous period. But still, there are coal mines that are younger than 400MYA. If the wood somehow ends up in a unusual place that these fungi and bacteria cannot live, it can still turn into coal. Most common places that this still naturally happens is under tundra permafrost, bottom of highly anoxic lakes and inner seas.
Overall, I know nobody will grow forests and than bury them since there is no economical value for that. But we can grow forests and use them as a source of energy. If we switch all coal power plants around the world to wood burning power plants (which should be relatively easy conversion), we would not put carbon back to the atmosphere from a source that was taken out of the carbon cycle hundreds of millions of years ago. That would make energy production carbon neutral.