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Growing and burying algae in the Sahara is the latest solution for the climate crisis
CNN ^ | August 18, 2023 | By Thomas Page, CNN

Posted on 08/18/2023 5:16:07 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Out in the Sahara Desert, in one of the most inhospitable environments imaginable, a natural solution to the climate crisis is growing ­– and at a rapid rate.

London-based startup Brilliant Planet has leased 6,100 hectares of land outside the remote coastal town of Akhfenir in southern Morocco, wedged between the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the Sahara to the south. And it’s using it to cultivate algae.

Algae absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide and emits oxygen via photosynthesis, and has been doing so since before the first land plants ever existed. Brilliant Planet’s CEO Adam Taylor says the company has developed a way to grow algae at exponential rates starting in a beaker in a lab and ending in 12,000-square-meter pools of locally-sourced seawater. Taylor says the process mimics a natural algae bloom, and a test tube of algae can multiply to fill 16 of these giant pools – the equivalent of 77 Olympic-sized swimming pools – in just 30 days.

The algae is extracted from the water then pumped up a 10-story tower and sprayed into the desert air. In the roughly 30 seconds it takes to reach the ground, hot air dries the biomass out, leaving hypersaline algae flakes which can be collected and shallow buried, sequestering their carbon for thousands of years, the company claims.

“Nature-based solutions are a great way of removing carbon,” Taylor told CNN, arguing that deserts are an under-utilized environment.

“It does not cost a lot of money to rent the desert (and) governments are enthusiastic to have any economic activity,” he continued.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: fascism; globalwarming; hoax; propaganda
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To: alloysteel

Distillation is very energy inefficient. Reverse osmosis produces almost 10 times as much pure water for the same energy usage. That is why desalination has become affordable despite rising energy costs.

Other than that your ideas are sound.


21 posted on 08/18/2023 6:04:49 AM PDT by Mr170IQ
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Energy is needed to extract the algae from the water, to pump it, and to spray it. How much CO2 was released in the process?


22 posted on 08/18/2023 6:06:14 AM PDT by I want the USA back (The gender binary is true. There are two sexes of the species Homo Sapiens. You are one OR the other)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
"hypersaline algae flakes"

Salt the earth, that's the solution?

Increased CO2 is already greening the Sahara as it allows plants to retain more H2O.

Either these people are industrial grade stupid (STOOPUD) or evil.

I'll leave the decision up to you.

23 posted on 08/18/2023 6:08:42 AM PDT by Aevery_Freeman (I choose TRUMP over Tyranny )
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To: alloysteel

The sands of the Sahara fertilize the rainforests of South America.
What will your greening of the Sahara have on that?
Nothing exists in isolation.

Humans can’t even properly control life in a single national park.


24 posted on 08/18/2023 6:09:08 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Kinda stupid...permanently also rendering the soil barren with all that salt. Better to filter the algae, rinse with fresh water and THEN bury, which will render the land hyper fertile.

Or even better, convert the algae into feedstock to replace oil...


25 posted on 08/18/2023 6:19:21 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (NRA Life Member)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
It was sounding pretty reasonable until ...
sprayed into the desert air. In the roughly 30 seconds it takes to reach the ground, hot air dries the biomass out, leaving hypersaline algae flakes which can be collected and shallow buried,

What about wind?
What kind of contamination will the buried flakes cause?

26 posted on 08/18/2023 6:28:46 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: struggle
Is this going to offset the 16 million trees that the Scottish government has cut down to clear land for solar and wind farms?

Just asking.

16 Million Trees Cut Down

27 posted on 08/18/2023 6:37:29 AM PDT by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So if they are very successful, all it will take is a spark someplace and the entire world will catch on fire being fed by the excess oxygen? Is that the plan?


28 posted on 08/18/2023 6:37:31 AM PDT by Flint
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To: chaosagent

Yeah, people don’t know this, but we’ve gone from an estimated 800 billion trees in 1920 to an estimated 2.7 trillion trees in 2020, which is why environmental impacts from CO2 increases are so low.

That said, there are two simple solutions to CO2 increases (as the west’s CO2 numbers are already in decline). 1) Limit the CO2 emissions of China/India. 2) Plant more trees.

That’s all that really needs to be done to bring CO2 levels down in a decade or two.

But it’s not about that, it’s about control.


29 posted on 08/18/2023 6:43:41 AM PDT by struggle
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It’s very clear that they believe the answer to man made climate change is man made climate change. Freaking commies, “Oh it works! The guys before us just did it wrong.”


30 posted on 08/18/2023 6:53:37 AM PDT by LucienCA13 (sorry if you are microaggrieved)
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To: alloysteel

Nah, makes too much sense. Plus the ‘Big Guy’ wouldn’t get his 10%. either.


31 posted on 08/18/2023 7:03:25 AM PDT by curious7
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

and it will probably poison ground water or something ,LOL


32 posted on 08/18/2023 7:07:30 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Higher CO2 REDUCES DESERTIFICATION.


33 posted on 08/18/2023 7:13:07 AM PDT by agere_contra
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

To be financed by selling carbon credits. IOW, another scam.


34 posted on 08/18/2023 7:14:09 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Or you know... do something productive with the algae, like incinerate it for fuel. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re putting the carbon back into the environment, but you’re generating fuel at zero net carbon emissions. I can’s possibly imagine the effect of massive algae beds in the Sahara could have.


35 posted on 08/18/2023 7:17:53 AM PDT by dangus
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To: alloysteel

It’s MUCH easier than that.

A MASSIVE hunk of the Sahara, taking up huge portions of Libya and Egypt, is well below sea level. (A similar condition exists in the Australian desert.) Build an aquaduct from the ocean under the low ridge that isolates this valley from the ocean. Fill it with power generators the likes of which humanity has never seen. Create a massive salt pan in the Sahara as the water evaporates but adds humidity to the air. Mine the salt pan for lithium and other metals. I thought of this when I saw the topography of the Sahara, but then found that there actually were serious discussions to do this, even before WWII. What a Boring (tm) job.


36 posted on 08/18/2023 7:23:38 AM PDT by dangus
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

37 posted on 08/18/2023 7:46:28 AM PDT by wafflehouse ("there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon" -Alice's Restaurant Massacree)
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To: dangus

“ Build an aquaduct from the ocean under the low ridge that isolates this valley from the ocean.”

I’ve read about these proposals, and except for the unknown environmental and geohydrological effects, it’s a winner. Cheap, clean hydro power and lowering the sea level a bit should give the enviro-idiots a stiffy.


38 posted on 08/18/2023 8:09:17 AM PDT by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals)
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To: alloysteel

Geologist have found river beds in the Sahara.


39 posted on 08/18/2023 8:17:00 AM PDT by lizma2
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The Satanic WEF climate nazis want to destroy the world.


40 posted on 08/18/2023 8:51:37 AM PDT by dragonblustar (As in the days of Noah….)
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