Artificial trees could become an important part of measures to combat climate change, a report into geo-engineering reveals.
The research paper, 'Geo-engineering- Giving us time to act', says that approaches such as developing artificial trees, coating buildings in algae or making buildings reflective so that they reflect the sun's radiation back should all be explored as an a valuable way of reducing climate impact.
The report published by the respected Institute of Mechanical Engineers (ImechE) advises that in recognition that it is advised that global average temperature should not rise by 2oC above pre-industrial levels, geo-engineering could be an important third approach to combating climate change along with climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation.
These approaches would not solve climate change but could provide the world with extra time to decarbonise the global economy, ImechE says.
More research into geo-engineering potential to reduce global warming needs to be undertaken. Furthermore, a realistic cost analysis and timescale of planetary wide implementation needs to be worked through. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers has recommended to the Government that further investigation into geo-engineering should be commissioned while fuding should be ploughed into piloting promising schemes.
Research is already being undertaken into building machines or artificial trees which, like trees, can remove CO2 from the atmosphere. This occurs when air passes through the device (the tree) and CO2 sticks to a sorbent material (the leaves). The CO2 is then removed and buried underground in the same way as conventional carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Algae coating would reduce CO2 because algae naturally absorbs CO2 through photosynthesis. Strips of algae can be fitted to the outside of buildings and then periodically harvested from the surfaces and used as biofuel for cars.
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