Via the Glittering Eye, here is a thought provoking paper from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers on some alternative methods for reducing carbon dioxide.

The authors propose the development of several technologies the most interesting of which is artificial trees to capture and sequester carbon dioxide. The trees can be located anywhere and essentially employ an absorbent material that captures CO2 from the air as it passes over the material. The paper goes into some detail as to the amount of carbon that could be captured given various levels of employment of the trees. Suffice it to say, that it is an impressive number.

Despite all of the political gas (pun intended) surrounding global warming and the various schemes to control the phenomenon, precious little is actually being done. Kyoto has to date been a collosul failure yet alternatives currently being brought forward are merely poor derivations on it. The developing nations, particularly, India and China have put the world on notice that they are not about to sacrifice their development on a green altar and it is unlikely any countries below them will either.

Any approach that utilizes technology to actually solve the problem is going to find much wider public acceptance. It would be measurable and the costs quantifiable. As it now stands, cap-and-trade and other schemes are skeptically viewed as just the nose of the camel under the tent.

Take a look at the paper. It’s highly readable and, at least to me, it’s a delight to see that there are still some people concerned about the idea but not captive to the “green” orthodoxy.