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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (21936)	6/11/2008 1:09:11 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 36917

Did you see what Craig Venter [of human genome fame] is up to? His plan is to use microbes, CO2, sunlight and water to make fuels. That means he will be depleting the atmosphere of CO2 and bringing on an ice age. We had better get a LOT of CO2 into the air before he gets started so it's a long time before the ice age returns. Unfortunately, if atmospheric CO2 is the fuel, there will be a very rapid decline in CO2 concentrations, rather than a long and gradual one like the increase. The increase was slow because vast amounts of CO2 are stripped from the atmosphere and dropped as marine sediment to a permanent oceanic crust graveyard, trundling along to subduction zones for conversion to oil, gas or volcanic activity [or to just remain as interstitial carbonaceous materials]. The decrease if the same amount of fuel is provided, will be very fast. It's obvious that coal and other fossil carbon will be needed to keep atmospheric levels up to acceptable levels, so Venter's project can't be a complete solution. But as he says, the industry is vast and there are many ways to provide fuels. Many of them will be economic in various places at various times. newsweek.com His process will depend on good levels of CO2. As his process thins the atmosphere, it will become less efficient and fossil hydrocarbons and coal will be more economic. So there will be a balance but the outcome will be that Al Gore can stop worrying. We can all go back to enjoying a BIG CARBON life-style like his. Mqurice