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FAQI hope most of your questions have been answered within the site. If they are not hear anyway, please mail me via the contacts page. What does it cost?This is a difficult question to answer, given that there are so many uncertainties - including whether it would even work.However; estimates have been produced, suggesting only US$1-5 per tonne of carbon fixed. This compares very well with US$50-200 for other proposed sinks, so both commercial and political interest is thus high.[1,2] What is British Involvement?PoliticalFrom a political viewpoint, we are actively investigating means of reducing atmospheric carbon-dioxide, and following experimental iron-fertilisations. However, it is tought that "it unlikely that it would become an acceptable option in the foreseeable future".[*]
....Ocean fertilisation and deep sea storage. The potential environmental impacts of these technologies are not well understood. Tinkering with the composition of the ocean surface on which so much life depends would be rash given these uncertainties. Possible techniques are still at the speculative stage. The Panel recommends continued research into the efficacy and costs, both financial and environmental, and urges immense caution meanwhile....
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. The Government Response to the Sixth Annual Report of the Government Panel on Sustainable Development. Published 24 August 2000 Furthermore; I believe the mainswell of public opinion, as well as the active environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace, would be passionately against any proposals to dump tonnes of iron into the oceans. If such a proposal were made, and if at that time we have a Government that is concerned about the opinions (and votes) of the electorate, then it would have more even less reason to pursue the proposal. ResearchA number of British teams have partaken in some of the fertilisation expeditions. References
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