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FF use induced global damage has 'baked in' significant biogeochemical changes. The IMBECS Protocol offers one adaptation path.


Description

Summary

To quote the conclusion of:

Integrating mitigation and adaptation into climate and development policy:three research questions

" • What constitutes a socially, economically and environmentally attractive portfolio of mitigation, adaptation and development policy and how can it be achieved?

• How can capacity be developed in order to seize opportunities to and overcome constraints on implementing mitigation and adaptation options as part of sectoral policies?

 • How can existing financial instruments for climate policy best be used in a broader context of sectoral investments, official development assistance and other policies aimed at risk reduction and sustainable development? ".

The IMBECS Protocol  attempts to provide a flexible basket of tools for addressing the above list of critical questions.

As the above paper point out, adaptation must be viewed within a broader context involving both mitigation and long term development needs. The IMBECS Protocol concept uses the oceanic commons for current and long term global scale mitigation, adaptation and development needs. We will soon see a 10B+ global population and the failure of this current leading generation to develop a workable paradyne for such a reality is simply not morally, ethically, socially or even scientifically acceptable.

As used here, the exact contextual meaning of the word 'Protocol' covers all the 3 basic definitions found here. In the below quote, the relevance to the IMBECS concept is indicated in parentheses.

: a system of rules that explain the correct conduct and procedures to be followed in formal situations (Proper operational standards)

: a plan for a scientific experiment or for medical treatment (Proper STEM standards)

: a document that describes the details of a treaty or formal agreement between countries (Proper governance standards)

The IMBECS Protocol is an effort to provide the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest possible time frame and do so in a sustainable and just way. 


Category of the action

Mitigation/Adaptation, Changing public attitudes about climate change


What actions do you propose?

The following explanation can also be found, in Google Doc. form, at this link

1) Technology Brief:

The Marine Bio Energy and Carbon Sequestration (MBECS) technology can be viewed as a bio-mimic of both the marine 'microbial loop' and the 'biological pump'. The primary exception to those direct analogies is that the carbon/biomass is transferred to terrestrial uses (through production of food, feed, fuel, fertilizer etc.) as opposed to sending the carbon/biomass to the sea floor as does the natural loop/pump.

The use of low cost and durable enclosed reactors, within large scale reactor (tank) farms, allows for close control of the cultivation and thus maximizes the available on-site energy and nutrient use and thus maximizes biomass output. The nutrients are pulled into the system from the nutricline through ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) systems. The OTEC system provides multiple production functions beyond energy convertion. Some minerals, such as olivine, will need to be imported for use in the cultivation (and as a component within an organic fertilizer product). However, the cost of that import is reasonable.

Although the MBECS operations will produce a wide range of marine biomass derived products, the production and use of a well formulated marine biomass based organic fertilizer offers the most aggressive use of the the oceanic/atmospheric CO2 store of any proposal currently being considered by the global STEM community.

At the technical level, the fertilizer would incorporate biochar , as a soil/mycorrhizal/crop enhancer, which offers, under many conditions and combinations of soils/mycorrhizal/crops, carbon sequestration beyond simply sequestering the carbonized biochar into the soil (i.e. healthy soil/mycorrhizal/crops accumulate more carbon than the original biochar carbon volume).

Beyond the biochar carbon sequestration factor, the MBECS operation will be able to employ other carbon sequestration methods such as electro-geochemistry, electro-mineral accretion, and/or sub-sea floor storage. In general, however, the MBECS technology attempts to maximize the use of, not storage of, the oceanic/atmospheric CO2 store. Yet, the in-house use of the more simplistic storage methods are possible and would be acceptable as carbon sequestration augmentation means and methods.

It is important to keep in mind, however, that the primary and overriding global warming mitigation goal of the IMBECS Protocol/Technology is to replace the use of fossil fuels on a global scale. The annual volume of CO2 sequestration (and all other environmental benefits of the technology) represents secondary priorities.

2) The Value of the EPA to the IMBECS Protocol:

2.1) At the Intergovernmental Treaty Level:

Within the relevant working groups a nation/state party typically turns to their most relevant national agencies for guidance on technical issues. Thus, the relevant agencies play an important supportive role to their respective policy makers. At the treaty working group level (i.e. UNFCCC/IMO/CBD etc.), the EPA's evaluation of the MBECS technology and subsequent EPA promotion of such within the treaty working groups, could greatly encourage other treaty members to support an IMBECS Protocol like treaty structure.   

2.2) At the National Level:

The EPA has Congressional guidance on the propagation of biofuel mandates through the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (specifically, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)). However, the current real-world production limitations of biofuel restrict the mandated target volumes from being achieved. The MBECS technology offers the nation a pathway to meeting and or exceeding the current biofuel use targets.

Yet, getting to that mandated volume will require rethinking the biomass factor within the biofuel equation. Simply establishing littoral water biomass production 'fields' within US jurisdiction is highly problematic from both the environmental and the regulatory view. The MBECS concept recognizes the importance of protecting the littoral regions and thus calls for the use of the mid-oceanic gyres.

The gyre based MBECS operations will be flagged as 'ships' and thus will come under the relevant nation/state rules and regulations, along with intergovernmental treaty requirements. Thus, the EPA’s jurisdiction would be expanded out to the US flagged MBECS 'fleet'.

2.3) Brief Summation on the EPA Factor:

The close involvement of the EPA, in the STEM evaluation of the technology, can potentially help establish a high level of STEM consensus at both the national and the intergovernmental treaty levels, as well as, pave the way for increasing the national level biofuel use mandated by Congress through providing regulatory support for and guidance to MBECS like operations.

3) The Value of NOAA to the IMBECS Protocol:

As with the EPA, the value of NOAA to the IMBECS Protocol/Technology, can be foundational on multiple levels. The primary relevant program within NOAA is the International Research and Applications Project (IRAP) which attempts to "support activities that link climate research and assessments to practical risk management, development and adaptation challenges in key regions throughout the world.". In the context of the IMBECS proposal, expansion of the IRAP mission/budget would be needed to a modest degree.

Beyond the IRAP program, NOAA can also provide in-depth relevant knowledge of the oceanic/atmospheric sciences which would provide the EPA/State Dept. with guidance in their evaluations of the potential impacts/benefits of the MBECS technology, as well as, assist in the development and operational guidance of the MBECS technology.

In brief, NOAA can be supportive of the State Dept./EPA's evaluation of the relevant MBECS STEM, as well as, play a key role in vetting the MBECS method(s) at the intergovernmental climate change governance decision making level while contributing to the advancement of the MBECS technology and production output.

4) The US Navy:

The USN Green Fleet program could potentially benefit substantially by establishing mid-oceanic biofuel production/ storage depots and thus providing substantial funding support for US flagged MBECS operational development, through pre-purchasing biofuel and providing developmental assistance at the STEM level, is justifiable.

5) The State Department:

Beyond supporting the IMBECS Protocol at the intergovernmental level as a stand alone initiative, the US negotiators can champion acceptance of MBECS like technology within the context of the UNGreen Climate Fund.

6) The White House:

Under the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) (GlobalChange.Gov.) the Administration has an ability to bring a strong focus to carbon negative biofuels (CNB) in general and marine based CNB in particular.      

TheIPCC (WG3) has recently recognized the production of 'bio-energy with carbon capture and sequestration' (BECCS or BECS i.e. CNB) as a priority potential global warming mitigation method. It is universally recognized, however, that the limiting factors for the terrestrial forms of BECCS/BECS are numerous and substantial. Yet, those same limiting factors simply become moot when transposed onto the marine environment. Marine based BECCS (MBECS) is scaleable to global needs within a relative, and environmentally appropriate, short time frame (20yrs).

6) Recommendation:

Establish a fast track/high priority MBECS program, at the USGCRP level and with EPA/NOAA leadership, with the mandated to push through the relevant STEM development/evaluation(s) and the deployment of a 10 km2 IMBECS Marine Resources Conversion Research Platform equipped with a Marine Covective Tower.    

7) Opposition Management:

7.1) Political/Economic Opposition:

The primary disruptive aspect of the IMBECS Protocol/Technology will be the decoupling of energy importing nations from energy exporting nations as all nations will be able to achieve energy independence through operating their own MBECS operations within the oceanic commons. This potential global energy paradigm shift can be accomplished, with the least amount of disruption, through encompassing the vested interests of the FF industry, at all levels, within the IMBECS strategy.

7.2) Bartering Biofuel for FFs:

The potential vast scale of MBECS operations can absorb the entirety of the FF workforce and provide the energy market investors with an equivalent and sustainable alternative to investing in fossil fuel reserves/production.

This leaves the FF reserve owners as the only sector which would not be folded directly into the the IMBECS Protocol/Technology paradigm. However, the combined market value of the non-biofuel commodities, which the MBECS technology can produce, potentially will dwarf the global market value of the biofuel (and FF) production. Thus, the IMBECS Protocol/Technology has the potential to allow for the bartering of the biofuel for fossil fuels and do so in the reserve owners numerical (profit) favor.

The non-fuel commodities profit potentials are so vast that MBECS operations will eventually be developed regardless of the fuel issue. And, a (subsidized) <$30 bbl biofuel market is possible using partial profits from the non-biofuel MBECS commodities as the biofuel subsidy.

The fossil fuel reserve owners can support the IMBECS Protocol/Technology development effort early and gain a profitable position within the IMBECS Protocol paradigm, through accepting an early barter offer and supporting initial production deployment, or resist and adjust to a potential <$30 bbl market.

Clearly, keeping fossil fuels in the ground would be to the overwhelming advantage to the .. vast.. majority of our global population, as well as, to the planetary ecosystem. The fossil fuel reserves, that the IMBECS Protocol can potentially sequester in the ground, would represent a World Heritage Natural Resource Reserve for the generations that come after us.

7.2) STEM Opposition:

The use of the mid oceanic gyres (subtropical convergence zones), as the primary operation areas, isolates the MBECS operations both spatially and, to a large degree, biologically. Using the gyres eliminates the vast majority of the environmental STEM reasons for opposition. In fact, the gyres are heating up at such a rate that providing passive surface cooling, over wide areas, can be viewed as a leading environmental benefit/reason for deploying MBECS like operations in those regions.

Further, there are small number of marine based BECCS/BECS proposals being championed by others and all of those competing proposals can be accommodated, in concert, by the IMBECS Protocol/Technology platform(s). 


Who will take these actions?

The organizational chart below shows the extent of key positions and organizations needed for the IMBECS governance. The management and production staff will be recruited internationally.

 

 

 

Please see the IMBECS Protocol Proposal.


Where will these actions be taken?

Globally

 


What are other key benefits?

  • Oceanic/Atmospheric CO2 Store Reduction Through Large Scale Cultivation of Marine Biomass and Marine Biochar production
  • Wide Area Surface Cooling of Thermally Critical Oceanic Regions
  • Global Scale Production of Organic Food/Feed/Fertilizer/Polymers
  • Vast Scale Production of Freshwater
  • Creation of Mid-Oceanic Wildlife Preserves Supporting Biodiversity and the Protection of Endangered Marine Species 
  • Jobs/Taxes 
  • Global Energy Independence Resulting in a Trans-generational Global Economic Stimulus
  • Accommodations for Environmental/Economic Induced Migration; IMBECS Physical Operations Represent a New Form of 'Real Estate' (with jobs) Usable by Displaced Persons
  • Establishes the First Intergovernmentally Governed Form of Global Carbon Management
  • Reduces Pressure on Wild Catch Fisheries through Significant Expansion of Global Aquaculture
  • Reduces Pressure on Food Crop Conversion to Fuel Crops

 

 

 


What are the proposal’s costs?

The IMBECS operations are self funding through profits once they begin operations. An initial R&D funding level of $750M is proposed, within the IMBECS Protocol Draft (pg. 17, Sec. 12), as a means to carry out:

1) Routine engineering testing required for establishing engineering and production standards

2) Establishing the IMBECS Foundation and thus national and global governance administration

3) Construction and deployment of a 10 km2 Marine Resources Conversion Research Platform equipped with a Marine Covective Tower (the MBECS commercial scale production platform prototype). 

 

 


Time line

Preparations for off shore deployment operations can start immediately as there are no governance issues regarding off shore mariculture operations. 

Global replacement of FFs will require up to 20 years of robust construction of IMBECS operations. This time frame is limited only by the scope of the initial financial investment. A robust starting budget, which is here proposed, would reduce the time to global FF replacement by years compared to a minimal level financial start. 

Further, replacing FFs needs to be done in a time frame which allows the FF industry time to adjust from being an extractive industry to one of cultivation. Also, sudden and substantial reduction in atmospheric black carbon/sulfur would  increase planetary temperatures due to the expected increase in atmospheric moisture resulting from the BC/S reduction (Fools Atmosphere). Thus, a 20 year time frame for replacing FFs should be considered for planetary environmental and industrial sector adaptation reasons.

In 30 years, IMBECS should be globally mainstreamed with the thermal flux resolved. At that time, the IMBECS Protocol can be viewed as a form of adaptation as opposed to mitigation.


Related proposals

External to this competition, Dr. J.Trent, Mr. M. Capron (PODenergy Inc. i.e. Ocean Foresters) and Mr. R. Tulip have related conceptual work in the Marine BECS area. Also, the life work of Dr. S. Salter is highly relevant to the marine engineering aspects of the IMBECS concept. 

Internally, this proposal may relate to multiple Climate CoLabs' categories of action issues.

1) Energy Supply

2) Industry

3) US Government

4) US Carbon Price

5) Shifting behavior for a changing climate

6) Global Plan

7) Land Use: Agriculture, Livestock & Forestry

8) Transportation

9) Geoengineering Governance


References

The IMBECS Protocol is conceptually related to the work found in the following documents/links. This list is not exhaustive:

For further information, please see the IMBECS Protocol Draft and Author's Notes.