Ocean Carbon Dioxide Reduction; Oceanography, Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering to Mitigate Global Warming
EVENT DESCRIPTION
Global warming, climate change, and ocean acidification are widely recognized as threats, and possibly existential threats to humanity; steps to reduce the amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are required to prevent the worst effects of global warming. The marine industry has rapidly stepped up to reduce carbon dioxide emissions caused by maritime shipping. There are a range of possibilities for substantial “negative emissions”, Carbon Dioxide Reduction (CDR). Part of the solution may involve the ocean being used as a sink to safely sequester carbon. Most approaches to CDR in the ocean will require infrastructure invented, designed, and built by the marine industry.
This presentation discusses the problem and presents some basic elements of the ocean environment as it relates to the carbon cycle and considers opportunities for ocean CDR. The ocean currently is the largest natural pathway for carbon sequestration, and the deep ocean currently sequesters 50 times more carbon than the entire atmosphere. The ocean currently removes about half of the anthropogenic carbon in the atmosphere generated every year, so enhancing this, even a small amount, may be a big help to achieving “net zero” and may be less expensive and disruptive than other means of reducing the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
SPEAKER/PRESENTER
Chris Barry, Retired, US Coast Guard, SNAME Fellow
Mr. Barry is a 1974 graduate of UC Berkeley in Mechanical Engineering/Naval Architecture / Ocean Engineering. His experience includes tankers and other merchant ships, small and large passenger vessels, ferries, offshore oil platforms, ocean renewable energy systems, amphibious armored vehicles, Navy support vessels, small commercial workboats, and Coast Guard cutters and boats. He has worked for design consultancies, marine equipment manufacturers, prime defense systems manufacturers, small shipyards, and the Coast Guard in San Francisco, London, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle and the Washington DC area. He has Professional Engineering licenses in mechanical engineering in California, in naval architecture and marine engineering and mechanical engineering in Washington State and in engineering in Maryland. He holds two patents in high-speed craft design, and one in wave energy conversion, is a co-author of the 1997 SNAME Hann Award paper in ship production, is Chair of the Small Craft Technical and Research Committee and a Fellow of SNAME. His current interests include small craft, applications of CAD/CAM/CNC to small ship production, renewable ocean energy and ocean carbon sequestration.
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