Carbon sequestration (garden or kelp to biofuel)

Started May 19, 2022

Abstract or project description

Carbon sequestration is vital to reducing the impact of climate change. With less carbon in the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect will weaken, cooling the Earth (USDA). The challengescurrently facing plant-based carbon sequestration are: plants must only grow in their native habitats with the correct nutrients (The Atlantic), animals or other organisms that eat the plants could be releasing a large amount of the sequestered carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere (The Conversation), and there isn’t research on every part of the processes of current solutions, meaning that there are many assumptions being made (The Atlantic). The first project that I am considering is a database that will assist homeowners in determining the best native plants that they can grow to sequester the highest amount of carbon, leading people to be conscious of their household’s carbon footprint and making it easy to take action. The research question that I would answer is: Is it effective to use native plants to bring the carbon footprint of a household to net-zero? The final format of this project would be a database through a website that would be easy to access and navigate for an average homeowner, and would provide them with the most effective carbon sequestering plant native to their area. The second project that I am considering is making biofuel from kelp, and examining its effectiveness and carbon footprint through life cycle analysis. The research question that I would answer is: Can biofuel be made from kelp in a way that does not take any more carbon out of the Earth than it is saving? The final product would be a presentation of my process and an analysis of the outcome. Sources Nature's Benefits: Carbon Sequestration Kelp Is Weirdly Great at Carbon Removal - The Atlantic Kelp won't help: why seaweed may not be a silver bullet for carbon storage after all