Mitigation against Climate Change

Question 1

What environmental impacts are there from climate change?

Answer 1

-Increased stress organisms, many species will die
-Impacts on forests
-Harmful algal blooms

Question 2

What economic effects of climate change?

Answer 2

-Increased summer droughts
-Marine based economies will collapse
-Increased flooding will cause damage to businesses, infrastructure and homes

Question 3

What health impacts are there from climate change?

Answer 3

-Changes in illnesses carried by ticks and mosquitos
-Increased risks for people with asthma and heart illness due to more summer air pollution
-Greater risk of injury from severe weather events

Question 4

What are some potential mitigation measures?

Answer 4

-Sequestrations of Co2
-Reducing black carbon
-Bio-geoengineering

Question 5

What does EOR stand for?

Answer 5

Enhanced Oil recovery

Question 6

What is a UN strategy for action?

Answer 6

-UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
-Paris Agreement
-Kyoto Protocol

Question 7

What was an unexpected effect of the covid 19 pandemic?

Answer 7

COVID-19 reversed the trend of green house gas emissions to an unprecedented decline (Down by 6.7%)

Question 8

What other impacts were there from the pandemic?

Answer 8

-Almost overnight the Himalayas became visible from a distance for the first time in years
-9% drop of green house gas emissions
-Rivers flowed free of toxic pollutants

Question 9

What are the three steps to carbon sequestration?

Answer 9

-Capture
-Transportation
-Storage

Question 10

What could be an example of carbon sequestration?

Answer 10

Co2 source (power plant) -> Co2 capture and separation plant -> Co2 compression unit -> Co2 transport -> Co2 injection (deep in earth) ->Co2 Storage

Question 11

What could be an Irish example of Co2 storage?

Answer 11

Irish Co2 Capture and Storage Study, Monaghan 2006
Theoretical = 17,300 Mt/ Effective practical = 630 Mt

Question 12

What factors make a site suitable for storage of Co2?

Answer 12

-Reservoir formations must have-
-Porosity
-Permeability
-Preferably in a supercritical state

Question 13

Describe potential Co2 storage in Norway

Answer 13

-Strip Co2 from natural gas
-Store in deep aquifers
-800m

Question 14

What are the impacts of ocean storage of Co2?

Answer 14

-Changes of pH (more acidic)
-Chronic and ecosystem effects are unknown
-Change of bacteria, nanobenthos and meiobenthos after exposure to 20,000 and 5000 ppm for 77-375 hrs at 2000m

Question 15

What options are there to reduce black carbon?

Answer 15

-Black carbon is rapidly removed from the atmosphere by deposition
-Less burning of fossil fuels, move towards electrical transport
-Renewables
-Responsible land management activities to reduce wild fires

Question 16

What bio-geoengineering could be done to mitigate climate change?

Answer 16

12 small-scale experiments over the past decade
-Have consistently shown that intentional nutrient additions result in phytoplankton blooms that draw down atmospheric Co2

Question 17

What is an example of sea enrichment?

Answer 17

Iron (Fe) enrichment experiments
-Before low levels of phytoplankton
-3 weeks later
Higher concentrations of phytoplankton
-Still needs more investigation

Question 18

What is another option for bio-geoengineering?

Answer 18

Artificial Upwelling
-There is a surprising cooling effect, slowing decomposition on land (Could reduce C02 emissions, preserve plant species and cool poles)

Question 19

How could articifical upwelling be achieved?

Answer 19

Using wave driven pumps
-Need water from correct depths for combination of nutrients and dissolved gasses
-300 to 700mr