DailyDirt: Reducing Carbon Dioxide

We've discussed carbon dioxide before, and there are plenty of other places that talk about the doom and gloom of what happens when CO2 levels increase in the atmosphere. But there are also a bunch of people figuring out ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and monitor what effects anthropogenic carbon dioxide actually has on our planet. Check out a few of these projects that could help keep carbon dioxide emissions in check.

• Building a "Hydrogen Economy" is a bit more complicated than it first appears -- because obtaining hydrogen usually involves energy-inefficient processes that also produce carbon dioxide waste. Fortunately, a new methane cracking method could produce hydrogen (and pure carbon without releasing carbon dioxide) reliably, but the costs to scale it up are always the trick for these kinds of projects. [url]
• Maybe you've been skeptical about how any countries would be able to make any kind of commitment to reducing the production of carbon dioxide -- when the atmosphere already contains it and it's not like the molecules can be stamped "made in the USA" easily. If you thought satellite data collection was the answer, you get partial credit, but atmosphere-sampling research planes and special air-collecting helium balloon equipment will likely also be used to try to accurately measure CO2 production with geographic variation. [url]
• Building materials such as cement (and concrete which contains cement) produce a LOT of carbon dioxide emissions. So it's not too surprising that some folks have been trying to replace traditional concrete and cement with other materials that don't contribute as much to atmospheric pollution. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

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