To help us limit anthropogenic global warming resulting from our greenhouse gas emissions, we will need to rely on carbon sinks. These systems are capable of absorbing a portion of our emissions. Researchers today present one we didn’t even think about. But you have to handle it carefully.
Field of technology. This is the term scientists have chosen to refer to the collection of all artifacts created by humanity. And this is the technology that researchers from the University of Groningen (Holland) were interested in. In a way that can seem confusing to say the least. Rather than considering them as depleting objects, one way or another, they studied the technosphere as a potential…carbon sink.
“We have collected more than that. CarbonCarbon There is more in the man-made objects than in the natural world, but we are completely unaware of it, and these collections are becoming more and more important.”explains Klaus Hubasek, an environmental economist at the University of Groningen.
In the magazine Cell Reports Durabilitythe researchers explain in detail how they estimated these carbon stocks. Based on data from various economic sectors. They calculated the amount of carbon entering and leaving these sectors using the average carbon content of different products. For example, it is estimated that plastics contain an average of 74% fossil carbon. The analysis takes into account not only finished products, e.g PlasticPlastic Durable and The remainsThe remainsBut this too ContentContent Fossil carbon based raw materials used as intermediate products in various industries.
Billions of tons of carbon in technology
The researchers estimate that in 2011, the only year for which all data were available, sustainable products accounted for 9% of fossil carbon sequestered within the technosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2), this amount of carbon would be practically the same as Europe’s emissions in the same year, or about 3.7 gigatons of CO.2.
By extrapolation, economists calculate that between 1995 and 2019, 8.4 billion tons of fossil carbon were added to the field of technology. Mainly in buildings and infrastructure (about 34%), but also plastics and RubberRubber (for 30%) and in bitumen (for 24%) as well as in machinery (for 16%).
Based on DurationDuration Over the average lifetime of the product, the researchers estimate that 3.7 billion tons of fossil carbon were removed during this period: 1.2 tons were landfilled, 1.2 tons were incinerated, 1.1 tons were recycled and the rest ended up as waste. . Thus the technosphere can be considered as a hitherto neglected carbon sink.
Yes, technology sequesters carbon, but…
But… there is a “but”. “On the one hand, we can consider that if this fossil carbon is sequestered in a landfill, it is a form of carbon sequestration. On the other hand, it represents a threat to the environment and if we burn it gives, so we add to it. BroadcastingBroadcasting of carbon »explains co-author Franco Rosenanti, also an environmental economist.
So researchers are looking at two ways to reduce the amount of fossil carbon entering waste streams: increasing the lifespan of products and RecyclingRecycling. They also highlight the importance of creating policies to minimize the release of waste from landfills.
Already, the team plans to conduct a similar analysis on biogenic carbon, that is, that derived from plant material. “We plan to study the long-term potential of sequestering biogenic carbon into durable goods.explains Kan Hidroglu, first author of the study. This will allow us to assess whether diversification of carbon sequestration strategies, such as the use of biogenic carbon in materials such as durable goods BoisBois for constructionconstructionmay be a viable option. »
