Solution to global pollution? Hide it!?
It seems people now have the idea of hiding pollutants in unused oil fields. Good, so instead of decreasing the pollution through problem solving, putting it back seems more logical.
Here's a little solution, Natural Gas! Methane I can't believe people haven't caught on to this.
One of the smallest carbon chains that can power cars and burn cleanly, and people still haven't seen it's potential.
My dad was saying earlier how they used the chemical TCE for cleaning equipment while he was in the Navy. When they were done with it, they had two places to put the waste: the Pacific or the San Diego bay.
[Edited by - Benjamin Heath on November 29, 2004 1:58:39 AM]
[Edited by - Benjamin Heath on November 29, 2004 1:58:39 AM]
That seems to be the general consensus amongst alot of people. "Throw it somewhere we can't see it." If you follow that mindset it will come back and nip you in the ass.
Here's another article on fuel, this time hydrogen.
Here's another article on fuel, this time hydrogen.
There will never be any widespread adopting of newer, cleaner anything because it's more profitable to do what they do now. All people in power making billions off these industries aren't going to let it happen.
Quote:Original post by PumpkinPieman
That seems to be the general consensus amongst alot of people. "Throw it somewhere we can't see it." If you follow that mindset it will come back and nip you in the ass.
Apparently Australia is the worst in the world for that mindset. The amount of garbage the average person puts out here compared to the rest of the world is just incredible.
Quote:Original post by Vampyre_Dark
There will never be any widespread adopting of newer, cleaner anything because it's more profitable to do what they do now. All people in power making billions off these industries aren't going to let it happen.
sad, but true
Quote:Original post by booleanWhats weird is that some time in the future we're going to be living in our own filth and wonder how it got that way. I'm not anal about throwing things out, but I do use the bluebox alot ...Quote:Original post by PumpkinPieman
That seems to be the general consensus amongst alot of people. "Throw it somewhere we can't see it." If you follow that mindset it will come back and nip you in the ass.
Apparently Australia is the worst in the world for that mindset. The amount of garbage the average person puts out here compared to the rest of the world is just incredible.
Carbon dioxide can be safely stored in oil fields. AFAIK it's not really toxic, but it is a greenhouse gas, so it's at least better than to let it into the atmosphere. The fact that plants need it to grow and create oxygen might be a problem, but I doubt that there'll be a shortage of CO2 anytime soon :). It'll probably leak out, but it should be slow enough that it won't cause any disasters. CO2 is produced naturally all the time by animals and decomposition, but after the industrial revolution the CO2 content of the atmosphere has risen 35%. Of course, after the oil runs out in a couple of decades, this problem will diminish, if the deforestation doesn't makes it impossible to convert it back to oxygen.
It'll be a bigger problem if they start to do the same with other wastes, like toxic and radioactive waste (they do somewhat), or household garbage and farm refuse. This could possibly leak out and cause environmental disasters. Household garbage and farm refuse can also be used to produce biogas, and a lot of the garbage can be recycled.
Combustion of methane (CH4) also produce CO2, so it won't do jack in that regard. Of course, it doesn't produce any other pollutants (except water wapor) so it's certainly cleaner.
Hydrogen on the other hand.. Of course, it requires energy to create hydrogen gas, so the only solution is hydro electric, nuclear (not clean, but no CO2), or solar. Fusion would be ideal, but it's still off somewhere in the future. The electric energy from these sources could be used to create hydrogen gas and this in turn fuel cars etc. Combustion of hydrogen produces only water wapor, and while that TOO is a green house gas it's more easily recycled.
It might also be possible to electro-chemically produce methanol by getting the raw elements from the atmosphere and water. Methanol burns just as cleanly as methane but is liquid in room temperature. It's relatively easy to create methanol now, but not in a way that also cleans the atmosphere. Ethanol also burns cleanly, and is also nice to have on a party :). It's also easy to create, but both production and combustion produces CO2.
It'll be a bigger problem if they start to do the same with other wastes, like toxic and radioactive waste (they do somewhat), or household garbage and farm refuse. This could possibly leak out and cause environmental disasters. Household garbage and farm refuse can also be used to produce biogas, and a lot of the garbage can be recycled.
Combustion of methane (CH4) also produce CO2, so it won't do jack in that regard. Of course, it doesn't produce any other pollutants (except water wapor) so it's certainly cleaner.
Hydrogen on the other hand.. Of course, it requires energy to create hydrogen gas, so the only solution is hydro electric, nuclear (not clean, but no CO2), or solar. Fusion would be ideal, but it's still off somewhere in the future. The electric energy from these sources could be used to create hydrogen gas and this in turn fuel cars etc. Combustion of hydrogen produces only water wapor, and while that TOO is a green house gas it's more easily recycled.
It might also be possible to electro-chemically produce methanol by getting the raw elements from the atmosphere and water. Methanol burns just as cleanly as methane but is liquid in room temperature. It's relatively easy to create methanol now, but not in a way that also cleans the atmosphere. Ethanol also burns cleanly, and is also nice to have on a party :). It's also easy to create, but both production and combustion produces CO2.
Quote:Original post by booleanQuote:Original post by PumpkinPieman
That seems to be the general consensus amongst alot of people. "Throw it somewhere we can't see it." If you follow that mindset it will come back and nip you in the ass.
Apparently Australia is the worst in the world for that mindset. The amount of garbage the average person puts out here compared to the rest of the world is just incredible.
That is truely hard to believed was compared to the US.
The Libertain Party claims the US government is far-and-away the largest pollutor in the states.
WTF. How CO2 can be pumped underground?????
It's ,AFAIK , gas. Looks like you pump in one point, at best get it dissolved in glound water, then it comes out in other point, or when you start to use that oil and gas when prices rise up enough to make it be profitable. It's not even a hiding ,it's just hiding way it gets out.
It's ,AFAIK , gas. Looks like you pump in one point, at best get it dissolved in glound water, then it comes out in other point, or when you start to use that oil and gas when prices rise up enough to make it be profitable. It's not even a hiding ,it's just hiding way it gets out.
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