Skip to Content

Massively brings you complete coverage from the Warhammer Online beta!

Pouring urea into the ocean to absorb CO2

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Carbon Offset

Could urea be a savior when it comes to reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide? By now we all know about injecting urea into diesel engine exhaust to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides. An Australian company has now received permission from the government of the Philippines to dump urea into the Sulu Sea of that country's coast.

However, this isn't just a scheme to dump waste offshore. This is actually being done in an attempt to mitigate global warming. The idea is pour the urea into the water to promote plankton growth, because plankton absorb a lot of atmospheric carbon dioxide as they grow. In theory this should be a good thing. In practice, however, little is understood about the possible side-effects of the plankton growth. But of course those sorts of side-effects never happen in the real world. Do they? This seems like a prime candidate for the law of unintended consequences.

More on plankton:
[Source: Wired]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Featured Galleries

Find Your Next Car

Sponsored Links