Background:

According to data from the United States Environment Protection Agency (US EPA), the key greenhouse gases* contribute to global warming are Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Fluorinated gases (F-gases). The percentage of these gases by composition of total greenhouse gases is 76% CO2, 16% Methane, 6% Nitrous Oxide and 2% F-gases. Fossil fuel use and other industrial processes are the major sources of CO2.

Looking at the data on the US EPA website, the global emission of greenhouse gases by economic sector are

Electricity and Heat Production (25%)

Agriculture and Land Use (24%)

Industry (21%)

Transportation (14%)

Other Energy (10%)

Buildings (6%)

This project aims to create a long term and sustainable course of action that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also introduce technologies that will utilize these gases for other industrial applications.

To do this we will rely on a natural process and the use of technology. The natural process relies on planting of trees to create an ecosystem balance in the geographical areas with poor vegetation and adequate land. The technology aspect includes introducing the new innovations to existing technologies or creating new ones.

Resources:

Green Mobile App for Planting Trees:

is a mobile application that allows users to screen their local area and scan for the amount of vegetation (trees, plants, soil etc.) using satellite data . Based on the response from the app, the users can select the type of vegetation they want to grow that is compatible with the weather type and ecosystem in that locality.

Carbon Capture and Sequestration:

• Capture of CO2 from power plants or industrial processes
• Transport of the captured and compressed CO2 (usually in pipelines).
• Underground injection and geologic sequestration (also referred to as storage) of the CO2 into deep underground rock formations. These formations are often a mile or more beneath the surface and consist of porous rock that holds the CO2. Overlying these formations are impermeable, non-porous layers of rock that trap the CO2 and prevent it from migrating upward.

CO2 Capture and Use - CO2 from the air is captured using a technology that binds CO2 to amine. The resulting product is an electrolyte which when used with lithium and carbon electrodes can be used to generate electricity. Through the discharge of the battery, the CO2 can be converted to a carbonate while delivery a voltage output.

Fluorinated gases for use in energy storage and electricity production (using a reaction between the lithium and fluorinated gases to produce an electrode that can be used in batteries)

Methane gas - conversion to CO2 and then capture by the above methods

Challenges:

Lack of adequate land to grow trees

Government policy and legislation

Lack of sufficient data

Lack of adequate infrastructure (especially in developing nations)