Most things are what we consider them to be; and all their consequences on us correspond to what we consider them to be.
A few days ago I had the opportunity to listen to the enlightening conference given by José Borrell in the Parliament of the Canary Islands on the challenges derived from climate change and the problems caused by CO2 emissions. According to his authoritative opinion, there is no division among experts on the consequences of climate change: the 800 scientists from all countries that make up the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warn in their fifth report that there is a 95% probability that certain areas of the planet will become uninhabitable if we exceed the emission of 3,200 G Ton of CO2. This can happen within 22 years at the current rate. It's not much time. Since the beginning of the industrial era we have emitted 2,000 G Ton of CO2.
Faced with this, there are those who propose to reduce economic activity, store CO2 underground, transport and store it in saline beds or in already exploited oil pockets, store it under the sea, etc. All this has a high cost, the cost of purifying, and it is not a way out. It has a cost because we consider CO2 as a problem, as something we have to get rid of.
On the other hand, what would happen if we considered it the solution?
What if instead of waste, CO2 was a resource?
CO2 is inside soft drink bottles, inside beer and inside the best cavas. It is not toxic at these concentrations. This gas improves the performance of vegetable greenhouses through techniques such as carbon fertilization: the supply of CO2 in the hours of greatest insolation to improve plant growth (we all know that plants take CO2 from the atmosphere, solar energy and also water and nutrients from the soil to grow).
Technology allows us to profitably use CO2 from the exhaust gases of power plants to produce fuel again with a zero carbon balance. The closed cycle is as follows: step 1) CO2 + Hydrogen from hydrolysis with renewable energy gives us natural gas (methane); step 2) the combustion of methane produces electricity and CO2; step 3) we return to the first step. This cycle is driven by renewable energy (wind, photovoltaic, marine, biomass, etc.) from the sun. Methanation reactions on an industrial scale and hydrolysis reactions are nothing new.
The mobile fleet can be supplied with a zero balance of CO2 emissions, at least, in three ways: with biofuels at a price of 1 €/liter obtained from by-products and renewable sources (Windiesene project); by means of batteries recharged with clean energy; and by means of compressed air obtained from renewable sources (Highview Power Storage experience). Recent achievements in the production of graphene batteries, with a cost 77% lower, give hope in the short term for sustainable mobility.
Therefore, we do not have to get rid of CO2, but rather recirculate it in our economy in the same way that nature does with the water cycle. No more emissions. No more purification costs. Nothing is waste unless we consider it as such.
We are living a critical moment in the History of humanity, a turning point. We can choose a decentralized energy model that incorporates knowledge, intelligence and innovation and that distributes the benefits among all citizens. This is the model that takes care of the planet and we are the planet itself. We also have the option of not acting and letting others, the usual ones, continue to pollute and enslave people as if there were no other way. If we have children we know what the option is.
By Javier Morales, CC deputy