The article describing the potential use of pumping
CO2 underground prompts me to provide an alternative, and perhaps
less costly, way of sequestering carbon exhausted from industrial
sources (HCN, 9/3/07). I would suggest that the
energy producers pump gaseous CO2 through vast transparent vats
filled with blue-green algae and nutrients. If the vats were placed
on the roofs or the sides of a building facing the sun, algae would
grow using the sunlight and excess CO2. The algae could be
periodically (or continuously) harvested and refined as a biofuel,
thus reusing the carbon expelled from the energy plant.
Although carbon sequestration could be done as described in the
HCN article, perhaps at almost net zero carbon
loss due to the necessity of requiring energy to pump the gas at
very high pressure into essentially solid rock, I would suggest
that the limited funds would be better spent on continued research
into the adaptability of blue-green algae under elevated CO2
conditions.
Matthew Kaser
Castro
Valley, California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The power of pond scum.
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