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Geoengineering 2013

VIEW Proposals
Proposal creation

CoLab members create proposals

Jun 1, 2012 12:00 EDT - Jun 16, 2013 02:59 EDT
Finalist selection
Expert judges select finalists

Jun 16, 2013 03:00 EDT - Jun 30, 2013 11:59 EDT
Proposal revisions
Finalists can improve their proposals

Jul 1, 2013 12:00 EDT - Jul 15, 2013 11:59 EDT
Selection of winners
CoLab members vote and judges also select winners

Jul 16, 2013 12:00 EDT - Aug 31, 2013 11:59 EDT
Completed
Winners are awarded

Sep 1, 2013 12:00 EDT
What climate-engineering initiatives might be feasible, especially to avoid methane feedbacks caused by global warming?

Climate CoLab members are invited to read Comments by Expert Reviewers on the Geoengineering Proposals

The IPCC defines geoengineering as “intentionally modifying the Earth’s climate at large scale.” This contest invites proposals on all approaches to geoengineering, with particular interest in ideas that would be effective in limiting warming contributions from excitation of positive methane feedbacks in the Earth’s environment. See more...

Photo caption: Large amounts of methane are tied up in frozen soils; thawing caused by warming can release methane in high enough concentrations that it can be ignited. Photo source: Real Climate, Much ado about methane, Jan 2012

What:
Where:
Who:
How:
33 Proposals
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Coral reef and fish stock development!
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
CO2 scrubbing will require power, the generation of which will contribute to global emissions. Can this problem be solved ?
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Block sunlight from thawing arctic ice and permafrost.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Pumping oxygen-rich surface waters down into anoxic deep waters will discourage methanogenesis and enhance methanotrophy.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Use electrical sparks to ignite small point sources.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Cloud seeding can induce fresh snowfalls, altering the albedo of underlying snow, rock or vegetation. This can retain permafrost & sea ice.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Clathrate deposits may break down & release methane to the atmosphere as AGW occurs. Mining these deposits will avoid uncontrolled release.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
generate and control hurricanes to produce clouds to reflect the sun's rays back into space and provide water for drinking and agriculture.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Geothermal mapping can and should be dramatically improved with bottom hole temperature data already available from oil and gas companies.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
This proposal is focused to help provide the essentials to families destined to walk that fine line between adaptation and migration.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Pipe Carbon Dioxide to Antarctica where it can be frozen and sequestered.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Use unfuelled Diesel engines to heat air by compression. Any methane in the air will be burned off, if compression is high enough.
Dec 14, 2016
Team only
Government to subsidize painting of existing residential roofs to white and also provide a tax credit as a reward. Also in winterless climates, paint or treat asphalt blacktop roads white with center black dividing lanes, and for winter climate roads with vertical black and white alternating stripes surface treatment.
Sep 1, 2013
Team only
Industrial ocean based system for algae production, powered by wave, tide, current and sun, aim to fix more CO2 than total human emissions
Sep 1, 2013
Team only
Pull up sunken nutrients to create CO2-capturing plankton blooms, then push new organic carbon into ocean depths before it reverts to CO2.
Jan 21, 2014
Team only
Interested in air CO2 removal, carbon-negative fuel, saving the ocean, and redrawing the global energy map? Read further.
Sep 6, 2013
Anyone
Geo-Safe(CDR) is a self-funded and effective Carbon Dioxide and Methane Removal Process where all benefits go directly back to the people!
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Earth's poles are heating up faster than elsewhere with Arctic ice declining. A shaped cloud of dust in LEO polar orbit could reverse this.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Wetlands can be drained to prevent methanogenesis. The downside is oxidation of carbon reservoirs in these wetlands.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Deep water supersaturated with methane can be degassed by lifting it to the surface. This process can be self-sustaining once initiated.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
For worst-case scenarios we might need a "last chance option" in which we mimic the natural effect of aerosols at a longer time scale.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
The World Health Organization estimates that 4.6 million people die each year from causes directly attributable to air pollution.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
What could have been accomplished if our planet could have harnessed the wasted energy of volcanoes?
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Adding detergents to lake & rivers can trap methane bubbles in foams. These foams can then be processed to flare or recover the methane.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
"THE BETTER MOUSETRAP"
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
The walls of log houses is an easily verifiable carbon storage. CO2, which is naturally captured by trees, could be safely stored there.
Sep 6, 2013
Anyone
Sep 6, 2013
Anyone
Ocean Macroalgal Afforestation is a sustainable ecosystem, not geoengineering. Even so, it may be the fastest way to reverse CO2.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
If micro-organisms can be engineered to consume N2O at just slightly higher O2 levels, there would be a drastic reduction in N2O emissions.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Bubbles from underwater seeps can be captured using sheeting/ducts. Relief wells can be drilled, preventing this methane reaching the water.
Sep 6, 2013
Anyone
Highly accurate location of the sources and dispersion of greenhouse gases via archival hyperspectral imaging should be guiding remediation.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Radicals constitute the principle sink for atmospheric CH4. By manipulating NOx, it's possible to reduce CH4 lifetimes - at cost of O3 loss.
Sep 6, 2013
Team only
Agricultural polytunnels can be placed on soils which seep methane. The polytunnels will concentrate methane, allowing recovery & treatment.