Oh and to remove the ethical fly from the whale oil ointment: _whale liposuction_ to harvest the bladders without killing the whales :)) I googled up the expression and found it had already been suggested e.g.:
http://swcamborne.com/archives/business-success/liposuction-for-whales It remains now to be determined if the complete scheme is workable and/or original. Comments/criticisms/calculations welcome. Michel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michel Jullian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 2:53 PM Subject: [Vo]: RC'd CO2 harvesting whale herds (was: The $25 Million Branson Climate Prize) > Steven Krivit wrote: >> Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain Mr. Branson. >> >> http://www.newenergytimes.com/SR/CashIn/CashonClimateChange.html > > So it seems iron fertilization does enhance algae growth after all, by > creating more or less instantaneous blooms, and the (old) idea is not > George's but Martin's like Jones said. I had no idea there was a lack of iron > in the oceans, this probably means this element is the limiting factor for > ocean surface algae photosynthesis. What is not clear at all if if this > scheme is a net atmospheric carbon absorber in the long term, let's assume it > isn't (algae re-emit GHGs when they die, so do the fish that eat them), so we > still need to harvest and sequester. > > Ok let's pursue the whale herd idea of my earlier post for harvesting and > sequestering, and let's throw in the iron fertilization factor since it works: > > 1/ Let's equip the whales with iron dispensers spurting iron solution around > when there is sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. This way the algae will > grow where and when they can be harvested :) And the whale herd will grow too. > > 2/ Instead of going whale hunting like in the good old days, couldn't we take > advantage of the beasties' gluttony to remote control them to their oceanic > pastures and back? All that would be needed would be an embarked GPS, a radio > for two way communication with the "whale boys" in their control rooms on > land, and ways to direct the iron solution spurts to where we want the whales > to follow the blooms :) > > How does this "whale oil" scheme sound now ? > > Michel >
