Could we build this biggg thing that could filter air?

Question

(in 7th grade so go easy on me) Ok I was just thinking about this when I was watching the news about global warming, and then I thought about one of those fans that filter the air. Couldn't we just build a very big one that doesn't use a lot of electricity? Just wondering...it's just a question and how can we make a replacement for gasoline? or how can we conserve it? I think that we should have more public transportation, and i think we should have more bike trails... just wondering..

Answer 1

The term  filtre is not what we would be looking for.

But there are gas membranes capable of concentrating CO2, along with a few larger molecules.

OK, now your idea is to separate the CO2. but then we have one awfully large balloon filled with CO2, plus things like methane. You would now have to do something to take that CO2 out of  the big balloon. This is where the problem really starts to use up energy.

We can compress CO2 into a liquid form that  could be sent to the bottom of the deeper ocean trenches, or to the bottom of oil wells. It would  LIKELY  stay there.

The energy needed to get that CO2 out of the air, and compress it so it may stay out of the way, would likely use about 1/3 of the energy provided by burning the fuel that created the energy... This is the approximate ratio that Australian power plants doing CO2 sequestration deep in the sea have been experiencing. This ratio is based on burning coal, which produces the  highest amount of CO2 per unit of energy.

It might make more sense to stop burning the coal and just use nuclear powered plants.

Can we conserve gasoline? While continuing to use some gasoline, I have changed to a car that uses less than half the fuel per km driven of vehicles I was using in 1990, and cut the number of km driven to less than half, so that I now consume less than 24% of the fuel I used in 1990.

We do have the technology available to get 100 miles per gallon while many people drive vehicles that get less than 25, and most of us can cut down on the number of km driven, so that yes we can conserve... we can be using as little as 30% of current American usage.

China is already doing it.

We have very large deposits of methane (natural gas) in the north that couild be powering our more efficient cars for  the next 300 years. It does produce far less CO2, but more importantly as the arctic warms up we risk having it escape into the atmosphere. So we use it, or we lose it.

Answer 2

Ok, I'll go easy on you.  It's nice to see someone so young who cares about the planet.

Filters don't take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, they take out particulate matter (dust and stuff).  Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.  Getting particulate matter out of the air would be a good thing, but a giant filter would be inconcievable.  I mean, the particulate matter would just collect at the filter and then we would have to find something to store all the compacted dust in.  Also, it is more useful (and less expensive) to reduce pollution at the source, rather than clean it up after.  For example, it would cost less to burn cleaner fuels than it would to clean up the air.  As Benjamin Franklin said, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

As for a replacement for gasoline, a lot of people are trying to come up with other forms of energy that come from renewable sources.  Oil will run out in the next hundred years and we need to be prepared.  Energy from fossil fuels will not run on just one alternative energy, it will probably be a combination of stuff like solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, and hydrogen fuel cells.

Public transportation would help in cities if more people used them.  As for me, I live in a suburb outside of San Diego, and there are no bus stops close to me and everything is too far apart to go everywhere by public transportation.  But in cities, it would reduce the amount of cars on the road if more people used public transportation.

Bike trails would help encourage less driving, so that would be good.

You seem to have some interesting ideas and a curiosity about this subject.  You should keep watching the news and researching and keep coming up with ideas.

Answer 3

Poor.. poor... poor brainwashed child.

Oh why must the young go astray?

No, a big air filter woudnt work for two reasons.

1. It wouldnt filter out carbon dioxide, which is what the global warming nuts claim is causing GW.

2. There is no way we could make it use not alot of electricity.

On the other hand it might solve some of the polution in places like Los Angelas, if we made one for each towns like that..

Now, On to other things.

Global Warming isnt happening.

Public Transportation costs government money to run, and if you didnt notice, the government happens to be about a hundred trillion dollars in the hole right now. Dont believe the 9 trillion they tell you. Thats just some lie they came up with to try and keep the people calm.

Bike trails are nice, but they take up space, and since asphalt is black, they make everything around them heat up. Black absorbs heat. thats why the planet is about .7 degrees hotter than it was a hundred years ago. Not because of GW>

Dont believe what "Dana1981, Master of Science" tells you. He(i think its a he..) is a liar, who is NOT 27, but is in his fortys or so. He isnt even a climatologist, hes a freaking engineer. google "Dana 1981 Master of Science"

but yeah.. I feel sorry for little children like you who have been forced to watch the fiction that Al Gore pumps into the school system, hoping little kids like you will have their parents buy his movie for them.

POLAR BEAR POPULATION IS UP 500%!

Anyway, whatever you do, dont believe the news stations (fox, cnn, nbc). They are all lying, and they are all biased.