This is a very hard piece to start writing because the information is endless when it should not be.
A friend of mine shared with me that a company, based in Texas, now plans to capture carbon dioxide at an ethanol plant in Texas, compress it and place it on a train to Wyoming for injection. I was in Laramie County, Wyoming recently, near Carpenter, where CO2 from Nebraska ethanol plants (via the Trailblazer pipeline) is being injected 1.5 miles into the earth.
Right off the bat, the energy cost of doing this does not warrant what is being done, in my opinion. For an ethanol plant to capture, cool and compress CO2 requires 50% of the energy equivalent of that being produced. What do you think the energy cost is of transporting compressed CO2 for 1,000 miles via train and then spending another 150% of the energy equivalent to force it down into the earth? Only the federal government would look at this concept and consider it to be sound. It literally requires twice as much energy to compress, transport and bury CO2 than the ethanol manufacturing process actually produces.
Why are the feds paying companies $85 per ton to bury plant food?
It must be so that we can achieve net carbon zero by 2050. Never mind that CO2 is the most essential element for plant growth. Never mind the fact that the human body is 17% carbon and we release an average of 2.7 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere daily. Net carbon zero equals death to all plants and animals, including humans, in my opinion.
Here is a fact that most folks don’t seem to know. Carbon dioxide has 17 commercial uses. The most common use is refrigeration. However, data indicates that 900 CO2 transcritical booster systems are installed in the United States, part of a global total of approximately 46,500 systems.
If you are like me, you are wondering “what the heck is a transcritical booster system?” and here is where it gets interesting:
CO2 transcritical booster systems are 100% natural refrigerant solutions that use carbon dioxide (R-744) to provide both medium-temperature (MT) and low-temperature (LT) refrigeration in a single, centralized rack, eliminating the need for synthetic HFC refrigerants. These systems operate by compressing CO2 in two stages: LT compressors discharge into the suction of MT compressors, which then boost the refrigerant to pressures exceeding its critical point (above 1055 psig or 74 bar) before sending it to a gas cooler for heat rejection.
Yale University reported:
Upper atmosphere cooling: Higher up in the stratosphere, (CO2) actually radiates heat out to space very efficiently, causing that layer of the atmosphere to cool down even as the surface warms.
Some people argue that at 430 parts per million, CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere allows the heat to go to earth from the sun, but when the rays are “reflected” back to the atmosphere, the CO2 traps 50% of the heat, which results in global warming. Let’s remember that commercial greenhouses artificially pipe in CO2 at a minimum of 800 ppm for enhanced plant growth so why are we worried about it?
A scientist from Norway recently zeroed in on the benefits of CO2 as a cooling agent. NTH Professor Emeritus Gustav Lorentzen has reported:
The first refrigeration system using CO2 actually dates back to 1879. The system was popular in military and shipping due to its non-toxicity and inflammable properties. But technical issues and heavy promotion of CFCs by the chemical industry saw CO2 disappear from the market by the 1940s.
Today we do use it at a concentration of 7% to kill pigs, turkeys and chickens in our newest packing plants. However, corporate politics again seemed to play a role in the demonization of CO2 as a cooling agent. As I stated at the top of the conversation, I have only skimmed the surface on this information, but someone is going to have to explain to me why there is such a global push to bury the most important element of plant growth on earth. At this moment, the only answer I can see is depopulation.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the view of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of agriculture. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com or email Trent at [email protected].
PHOTO: CO2 atmospheric pollution concept with dirty brown clouds spelling CO2 above a layer of pristine white clouds in a blue sky. (Adobe Stock-#274848147 │ fotogestoeber)
