Seaweed to save the world from climate change & starvation?

[Eclipsenow]

This next quote from Dr Tim Flannery suggests that truly enormous kelp farms could provide us with all the protein we could want, all the fossil-fuel replacement we could want, all the NPK fertilisers we could want, and all the biochar we could want (to sequester CO2 + fertilise farms + restore soil), all from one gigantic industry. Anyone already know an industry that basically runs the world? 8) Basically, if big oil ever get onto this, I say let them at it!

Professor Tim Flannery again:-
“The most exciting, if least well understood, of all the biological options involve the marine environment. Seaweed grows very fast, meaning that seaweed farms could be used to absorb CO2 very efficiently, and on a very large scale. The seaweed could be harvested and processed to generate methane for electricity production or to replace natural gas, and the remaining nutrients recycled. One analysis shows that if seaweed farms covered 9% of the ocean they could produce enough biomethane to replace all of today’s needs in fossil fuel energy, while removing 53 gigatonnes of CO2 (about the same as all current human emissions) per year from the atmosphere. It could also increase sustainable fish production to provide 200kg per year, per person, for 10 billion people. Additional benefits include reduction in ocean acidification and increased ocean primary productivity and biodiversity. Many of the technologies required to achieve this are already in widespread use, if at a comparatively minuscule scale.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/20/climate-crisis-future-brighter-tim-flannery

[Kaleva]

1. 9% of the Pacific, Atalantic and Indian oceans is about 10.5 million square miles

That's an area 4 million square miles bigger then Russia.

[NickB79]

4. Most "easy" solutions to save the world gloss over this

Most people are utterly unaware of the sheer size of the planet, so that saying all we have to do is convert a small percentage of it into human development sounds reasonable and feasible.

[Eclipsenow]

5. Summary of nutrient issues

Most people are utterly unaware of the sheer size of the planet, so that saying all we have to do is convert a small percentage of it into human development sounds reasonable and feasible.

Most people are also unaware that we burn a cubic mile of oil every year, or about 1000 bathtubs a second. Most people are also unaware that half the world's major ships just move coal and oil and gas around. Most people are also unaware of the fact that oil production in the 1960's through 80's pretty much doubled every decade, and that this was achieved by 'only' 7% increases per year.

Yes it's a huge area, but considering they're only thinking about one biodigester every 6km, it sounds doable. We already move that much mass around in all the coal and oil and gas we dig up and mine and train and pipe around the planet.

Anyway, I've found out about the nutrient issues. Let me summarise.
Seaweed farms could revolutionise the world. 2% of the world's oceans are nutrient rich enough for these farms. Nutrients come from coastal erosion or oceanic upwelling. Sometimes there is nutrient pollution which causes algal blooms and dead zones. Seaweed farming can help mop up excess nutrients and restore ocean health. A new vertical column method of farming the oceans grows both kelp and shellfish and oysters and even encourages fisheries to grow in an ocean ecosystem based approach. Watch this 15 minute TED talk about seaweed feeding the world.

Many seaweeds are a rich source of vegetarian super-food in their own right, and help form a whole variety of seaweed ice-creams, salads, sauces, and other food ingredients. We could feed the world from a small fraction of the 2% of the world's oceans that have their own nutrients. Not that we would be limited to only seaweed and seafood! Think of all the seaweed fertiliser this industry could grow.We could grow so much seaweed that we bring some onto land, get the salt out, and use it as fertiliser. Seaweed could bring our soils back to life. There is even a special seaweed that cows love and eliminates their methane burps! Methane burps are bad news, and cattle lose 15% of their growth to these energy losing burps. But a special seaweed cuts their burps by 99%, solving cattle's infamous methane climate emissions, *and* helping the cows grow faster!
https://theconversation.com/seaweed-could-hold-the-key-to-cutting-methane-emissions-from-cow-burps-66498

Now here's where it gets really bizarre, and potentially planet-saving. Some peer-reviewed work has been done imagining extending kelp farming out into the nutrient-poor open ocean. They start farming the nutrient rich waters. Then a previous season's kelp is biodigested to collect methane gas out the top, leaving the digested kelp nutrients behind. They then recycle those nutrients out in nutrient poor waters. They use slow drip feed hoses and 'tea-bags' that slowly fertilise the kelp, extending the kelp farms out into what was nutrient poor water. This means that nutrients are not a limit to where we can grow kelp!

What if we really went crazy and farmed about 9% of the world's oceans this way?
It would give:-
* a world of 10 billion people half a kilogram of seafood per person per day!
* all the biofuels and biogas we could need
* remove ocean acidity
* restore our atmosphere to 350ppm by 2085
In other words, seaweed is a silver bullet to feed the world, save the oceans, and save us from climate change, all in this free PDF. "Negative carbon via Ocean Afforestation". Just register, and download it for free.
http://www.psep.ichemejournals.com/article/S0957-5820(12)00120-6/abstract

[Kaleva]

2. An article about Kelp farming in the US

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/red-tape-slows-bloom-seaweed-farming-s-green-revolution-n613526

[msongs]

3. nice idea, can a profit be made off it? that's the new mantra, profit and $$ nt

[Eclipsenow]

6. Kelp open source jobs?

The guy in the youtube clip has open sourced his business model and kelp growing farm technologies. As more and more Americans lose basic manufacturing jobs and even driving jobs start to be replaced by robotics, it will be time for American's to head out to the oceans and farm the oceans! Much more here. It just won an environmental award.
http://greenwave.org/