Gaia Engineering – An Economic Approach to Solving Planetary Problems

1. A Planet in Crisis Gaia Engineering – An Economic Approach to Solving Planetary Problems Global population, consumption per capita and our footprint on the planet are exploding. ? ? Undeveloped Countries Demographic Explosion => Developed Countries This presentation describes an economic approach to solving the greatest problems facing this planet.John Harrison B.Sc. B.Ec. FCPA. FAICD Managing director of TecEco and Chair of AASMIC

2. Gaia Engineering Presentation Messages Scientific consensus global warming Earth is a homeostatic system Emissions reduction The impact of anthropogenic materials flows on planetary system slows Efficiency Risk management Runaway change? Cost of alternative energy A Holistic approach with nature as our mentor? Cost of reducing emissions Cost of not reducing emissions The main natural sinks are oceans, plants etc. Wrong Think Again! Abatement Sequestration The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein

3. Our Ecological Footprint Exceeds Capacity Source: WWF State of the Planet, 2005 Our footprint is exceeding the capacity of the planet to support it. We are not longer sustainable and the environment is no longer sustainable – we must change our ways to survive. View further to discover how

4. The Carbon Cycle and Emissions Emissions from fossil fuels and cement production are a significant cause of global warming. We need to increase the sedimentary carbon sink 4.5 billion years of geological sequestration have resulted in 7% of the crust being carbonate Units: GtC GtC/yr After: David Schimel and Lisa Dilling, National Centre for Atmospheric Research 2003

5. Global Warming Rises in the levels of greenhouse gases Are thought to be causing a rapid rise in temperature Correlation is not causation but---

6. CO2 and Temperature Source of graphic: Hansen, J et. al. Climate Change and Trace Gases The correlation between temperature and CO2 in the atmosphere over the last 450,000 years is very good. All things being equal the simple answer is usually the right answer (Occam’s razor) Even if emissions reductions were to succeed we must still get the CO2 out of the air. There are thermodynamic limits. Carbon rationing is a frightening adjunct and alternative. Who will be the global police? The best plan is a holistic one that reduces emissions and profitably balances the inevitable releases from our activities with massive sequestration.

7. Global Oxygen Bruce C. Douglas (1997). "Global Sea Rise: A Redetermination". Surveys in Geophysics18: 279-292 Dr. Simon Torok CSIRO http://www.csiro.au/files/mediarelease/mr1999/OxygenMeasurements.htm Oxygen levels have fallen .03% in the last 20 years and sea levels are rising.

8. Water “1/3 of the world’s population are presently living in water stressed countries. Depending on the emission scenarios, climate scenarios and population change, it is estimated that up to 2/3 of the world’s population will be living in water stressed countries by 2050 as a result of climate change” Source of Graphic: Lean, Geoffrey, and Don Hinrichsen, 1994. Atlas of the Environment, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc. Source: Defra (2004). Scientific and Technical Aspects of Climate Change, including Impacts, Adaptation and Associated Costs. UK, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

9. Waste & Pollution • Ill health. • Contamination of global commons with dangerous molecules. • Increased traffic, noise, odours, smoke, dust, litter and pests. There are various estimates. The consensus is that we produce about 5-600 billion tonnes of waste each year. Tec and Eco-Cements use waste.

10. One Planet, Many People, Many Interconnected Problems TecEco are in the BIGGEST Business on the Planet – Economic Solutions to our Energy, Global Warming, Water and Waste Problems.

11. Urgent Fixes are Needed • Water • 1/3 of world population stressed for water • By 2050 2/3 due to global warming • Waste • Around 600 million tonnes. • The underlying moleconomic flow is poisoning our world • CO2 • Causing global temperature rises • Energy • Peak oil has passed and fossil fuel energy costs set to rise. All these problems are interconnected To solve these problems we need to change the way we do things and what we do them with!

12. Correlation Between WIP and Emissions World Industrial Product (deflated world `GDP' in real value - i.e. World physical production). CO2 emissions (in CO2 mass units: Doubling time = 29 years. Data: CDIAC; statistics: GDI. The correlation between the WIP and the CO2 emissions is very high. The correlation coefficient r= 0.995, i.e. practically 1 (total correlation). Di Fazio, Alberto, The fallacy of pure efficiency gain measures to control future climate change, Astronomical Observatory of Rome and the Global Dynamics Institute

13. We are Hooked On Fossil Fuel Energy Assuming Kyoto commitments are met (which is unlikely) it is estimated that global emissions will be 41% higher in 2010 than in 1990 ( Ford, M., Matysek, A, Jakeman, G., Gurney, A & Fisher B. S. 2006, Perspectives on International Climate Change, paper presented at the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics society 50th Annual Conference. www.aares.info/files/2006_matysek.pdf. Emissions targets are unlikely to be met whilst fossil fuels remain A solution is needed of the utmost urgency to preserve history for many, many generations to come. Sir Richard Branson at the launch of the Virgin Earth Prize Gaia Engineering is the way to do so – John Harrison

14. Synopsis • We are too many and our influence too great. We must therefore accept our role of maintaining “spaceship earth” as planetary engineers and find ways of maintaining the level of carbon dioxide, oxygen and other gases in the atmosphere at desirable levels. • We are too hooked on fossil fuels and cannot possibly arrest the alarming increases in carbon dioxide currently occurring through efficiency, emissions reduction or substitution by renewables. • We have a good chance of preserving the future if we mimic nature by finding uses for carbon and other wastes. • Uses for carbon and other wastes must result in a real value that puts profit in the pocket of a large number who will as a consequence wish to engage otherwise they cannot be implemented on the massive scale required. • The markets created must be insatiable, large and indefinitely continuing. • Building with anthropogenically created man made carbonate as promoted in this presentation is doable and most likely presents the only option we have for saving the planet from runaway global warming until such time as safe and reliable forms of energy alternative to fossil fuels can be developed, we more seriously take our relationship with the planet and our role as planetary engineers and custodians.

15. The Earth System The earth system consists of positive and negative feedback loops. Small changes caused by man such as CO2 and otherclimate forcing as well as pollution impact right across all interconnected systems throughout the global commons. Atmosphere Anthropo-sphere Biosphere Geosphere Hydrosphere

16. Earth Systems Science Earth Systems Atmospheric composition, climate, land cover, marine ecosystems, pollution, coastal zones, freshwater salinity etc. Source graphic: NASA Earth system science treats the entire Earth as a system in its own right, which evolves as a result of positive and negative feedback between constituent systems (Wiki). These systems are ideally homeostatic.

17. Biosphere Geosphere Detrimental affects on earth systems Waste Take Move 500-600 billion tonnesUse some 50 billion tonnes Materials Manipulate Materials Make and Use Anthroposphere The Techno-Process Underlying the techno-process that describes and controls the flow of matter and energy through the supply and waste chains are molecular stocks and flows. If out of synch with earth systems these moleconomic flows have detrimental affects. To reduce the impact on earth systems new technical paradigms need to be invented and cultural changes evolve that result in materials flows with underlying molecular flows that mimic or at least do not interfere with natural flows and that support rather than detrimentally impact on earth systems. I am contemplating profitable bottom up change of immense proportion and importance. John Harrison, TecEco

18. Detrimental Impacts of the Techno-Process Detrimental Linkages that affect earth system flows Take manipulate and make impacts End of lifecycle impacts There is no such place as “away” Use impacts.Materials are in the Techno-Sphere Utility zone Materials are everything between the take and waste and affect earth system flows. Less Utility Greater Utility

19. Under Materials Flows in the Techno-Processes are Molecular Flows Take → Manipulate → Make→ Use → Waste [ ←Materials flow→ ] [ ← Underlying molecular flow → ] If the underlying molecular flows are “out of tune” with nature there is damage to the environmente.g. heavy metals, cfc’s, c=halogen compounds and CO2 Moleconomics is the study of the form of atoms in molecules, their flow, interactions, balances, stocks and positions. What we take from the environment around us, how we manipulate and make materials out of what we take and what we waste result in underlying molecular flows that affect earth systems. These flows should mimic, balance or minimally interfere with natural flows. To fix the molecular flows that are impacting our planet we must first fix the materials flows in a bottom up approach

20. Building and Construction Represents an Insatiable, Large and Indefinitely Continuing Market. • The built environment is made of materials and is our footprint on earth. • It comprises buildings and infrastructure. • Construction materials comprise • 70% of materials flows (buildings, infrastructure etc.) • 40-50% of waste that goes to landfill (15 % of new materials going to site are wasted.) • Around 25 billion tonnes of building materials are used annually on a world wide basis. • The single biggest materials flow (after water) is concrete at around 17 billion tonnes or > 2 tonnes per man, woman and child on the planet. Why not use magnesium carbonate aggregates andbuildingcomponents from Greensols and Eco-Cements from TecEco to bind them together?

21. Innovative New Materials - the Key to Sustainability The choice of materials for building and construction controls emissions, lifetime and embodied energies, user comfort, use of recycled wastes, durability, recyclability and the properties of wastes returned to the bio-geo-sphere. By changing how we make “things” and what we make them with we can fix the underlying molecular flows that are destroying the natural homeostasis of our planet

22. Economically Driven Sustainability New, more profitable technical paradigms are required that result in more sustainable and usually more efficient moleconomic flows that mimic natural flows or better, reverse our damaging flows. $ - ECONOMICS - $ Change is only possible economically. It will not happen because it is necessary or right.

23. Consider Sustainability as Where Culture and Technology Meet Increase in demand/price ratio for greater sustainability due to cultural change. $ Supply Greater Value/for impact (Sustainability) and economic growth Equilibrium Shift ECONOMICS We must rapidly move both the supply and demand curves for sustainability Demand Increase in supply/price ratio for more sustainable products due to technical innovation. # A measure of the degree of sustainability is where the demand for more sustainable technologies is met by their supply.

24. Changing the Technology Paradigm It is not so much a matter of “dematerialisation” as a question of changing the underlying moleconomic flows. We need materials that require less energy to make them, do not pollute the environment with CO2 and other releases, last much longerand that contribute properties that reduce lifetime energies. The key is to change the technology paradigms • “By enabling us to make productive use of particular raw materials, technology determines what constitutes a physical resource1” • Pilzer, Paul Zane, Unlimited Wealth, The Theory and Practice of Economic Alchemy, Crown Publishers Inc. New York.1990 Or more simply – the technical paradigm determines what is or is not a resource!

25. Cultural Change is Happening! • Al Gore (SOS) • CSIRO reports • STERN Report • Lots of Talkfest • IPCC Report • Political change • Branson Prize • Live Earth (07/07/07) The media have an important growing role

26. Changing the Techno-Process Take => manipulate => make => use => waste Driven by fossil fuel energy with take and waste impacts. By changing the technology paradigms we can change the materials flows and thus the underlying molecular flows. ReduceRe-useRecycle This is biomimicry! => Materials => The Flow of Atoms and Molecules in the global commons Moleconomics

27. Nature is our Mentor (Biomimicry) • All that is alive is very efficiently in balance with surrounding conditions including all else that is alive. • The waste from one plant or animal is the food or home for another. • Photosynthesis balances respiration. • Growth balances disintegration. • There is a strong need for similar efficiency and homeostatic balance in the techno process. • To balance emissions of carbon dioxide with uses and waste nothing that has no natural role on the planet. By studying Nature we learn who we are, what we are and how we are to be.” (Wright, F.L. 1957:269) Nature provides us with survival knowledge from a four billion year old experiment. It is this knowledge, not our genetics that is the key. John Harrison

28. Biomimicry - Geomimicry • The term biomimicry was popularised by the book of the same name written by Janine Benyus • Biomimicry is a method of solving problems that uses natural processes and systems as a source of knowledge and inspiration. • It involves nature as model, measure and mentor. • Geomimicry is similar to biomimicry but models geological rather than biological processes. The theory behind biomimicry is that natural processes and systems have evolved over several billion years through a process of research and development commonly referred to as evolution. A reoccurring theme in natural systems is the cyclical flow of matter in such a way that there is no waste of matter and very little of energy. Geomicry is a natural extension of biomimicry and applies to geological rather than living processes All natural processes are very economical. We must also be MUCH more economical

29. Biomimicry - Ultimate Recyclers • As peak oil starts to cut in and the price of transport rises sharply • We should not just be recycling based on chemical property requiring transport to large centralised sophisticated and expensive facilities • We should be including CO2 and wastes based on physical properties as well as chemical composition in composites whereby they become local resources. Jackdaws and bower bird recycle all sorts of things they find nearby based on physical property. The birds are not concerned about chemical composition and the nests they make could be described as a composite materials. TecEco cements are benign binders that can incorporate all sort of wastes without reaction problems and bind strongly to them by polar bonding with them. We can do the same as the Jackdaw or bower bird

30. Localized Low Transport Embodied Energy Materials No longer an option? As the price of fuel rises past peak oil, the use of localised low embodied energy materials for construction will have to be considered. We will have to mimic the jackdaw or bower bird.

31. Utilizing Carbon and Wastes • During earth's geological history large tonnages of carbon were put away as limestone and other carbonates and as coal and petroleum by the activity of plants and animals. • Sequestering carbon in calcium and magnesium carbonate materials and other wastes in the built environment mimics nature in that carbon is used in the homes or skeletal structures of most plants and animals. CO2 In eco-cement concretes the binder is carbonate and the aggregates are preferably carbonates and wastes. This is “geomimicry” CO2 CO2 C CO2 Waste Pervious pavement

32. Geomimicry • There are 1.2-3 grams of magnesium and about .4 grams of calcium in every litre of seawater. • There is enoughcalcium and magnesiumin seawater with replenishmentto last billions of years at current needs for sequestration. • To survive we must build our homes like these seashells using CO2 and alkali metal cations. This is geomimicry • Carbonate sediments such as these cliffs represent billionsof years of sequestrationand cover 7% of the crust.

33. Geomimicry for Planetary Engineers? • Large tonnages of carbon (7% of the crust) were put away during earth’s geological history as limestone, dolomite and magnesite, mostly by the activity of plants and animals. • Orders of magnitude more than as coal or petroleum! • Shellfish built shells from carbon and trees turn it into wood. • These same plants and animals wasted nothing • The waste from one is the food or home for another. • Because of the colossal size of the flows involved the answer to the problems of greenhouse gas and waste is to use them both in an insatiable, large and indefinitely continuing market. • Such a market exists for building and construction materials.

34. Geomimicry for Planetary Engineers? • Such a paradigm shift in resource usage will not occur because it is the right thing to do. • It can only happen economically. • To put an economic value on carbon and wastes • We have not choice but to invent new technical paradigms such as offered by TecEco and the Global Sustainability Alliance (Gaia Engineering). • Evolving culturally to effectively use these technical paradigms • By using carbon dioxide and other wastes as building materials we can economically reduce their concentration in the global commons. Materials are very important!

35. Why Magnesium Carbonates? • Because of the low molecular weight of magnesium, it is ideal for scrubbing CO2 out of the air and sequestering the gas into the built environment: • More CO2 is captured than in calcium systems as the calculations below show. • At 2.09% of the crust magnesium is the 8th most abundant element • Sea-water contains 1.29 g/l compared to calcium at .412 g/l • Magnesium compounds have low pH and polar bond in composites making them suitable for the utilisation of other wastes.

36. Making Carbonate Building Materials to Solve the Global Warming Problem • Magnesium materials from Gaia Engineering are potential low cost. New kiln technology from TecEco will enable easy low cost simple non fossil fuel calcination of magnesium carbonate to make binders with the CO2 recycling to produce more carbonate building material to be used with these binders. • How much magnesium carbonate would have to be deposited to solve the problem of global warming? • The annual flux of CO2 is around 12 billion tonnes ~= 22.99 billion tonnes magnesite • The density of magnesite is 3 gm/cm3 or 3 tonne/metre3 • 22.9/3 billion cubic metres ~= 7.63 cubic kilometres of magnesite would have to be deposited each year. • Compared to the over seven cubic kilometres of concrete we make every year, the problem of global warming looks surmountable. • If magnesite was our building material of choice and we could make it without releases as is the case with Gaia Engineering, we have the problem as good as solved! We must build with carbonate and waste

37. Only the Built Environment is Big Enough The built environment is our footprint, the major proportion of the techno-sphere and our lasting legacy on the planet. It comprises buildings and infrastructure Source of graphics: Nic Svenningson UNEP SMB2007

38. Building is Going Balistic! Source of graphic: Rick Fedrizzi SMB 2007 The relative impact of the built environment is rising as the East catches up with the West!

39. Huge Potential for Sequestration and Waste Utilisation in the Built Environment • Reducing the impact of the take and waste phases of the techno-process by. • including carbon in materialsthey are potentially carbon sinks. • including wastes forphysical properties aswell as chemical compositionthey become resources. • re engineering materials toreduce the lifetime energyof buildings • A durable low pH high bondingbinder system is requiredfor effective waste utilisationsuch as TecEco Tec andEco-Cements Many wastes including CO2 can contribute to physical properties reducing lifetime energies CO2 CO2 CO2 C CO2 Waste Pervious pavement

40. Gaia Engineering Flowchart Portland CementManufacture CaO TecEcoTec-Kiln Industrial CO2 MgO Clays Fresh Water TecEcoCementManufacture MgCO3 and CaCO3“Stone” Brine or Seawater Extraction WasteAcid or Bitterns Eco-Cements Tec-Cements Valuable Commodity Salts or hydrochloric acid. Buildingcomponents & aggregates Extraction inputs and outputs depending on method chosen Other waste Built Environment Building waste

41. The Gaia Engineering Tececology The Gaia Engineering tececology could be thought of as an open technical ecology designed to reverse major damaging moleconomic and other system flows outside the tececology Industrial Ecologies are generally thought of as closed loop systems with minimal or low impacts outside the ecology The Gaia Engineering tececology is not closed and is designed to reverse damaging moleconomic flows outside the ecology - LIKE A GIANT ECOLOGICAL PUMP

42. CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 The Gaia Engineering Process Gaia Engineering delivers profitable outcomes whilst reversing underlying undesirable moleconomic flows from other less sustainable techno-processes outside the tececology. Inputs: Atmospheric or industrial CO2,brines, waste acid or bitterns, other wastes Outputs: Carbonate building materials, potable water, valuable commodity salts. Carbonate building components Solar or solar derived energy TecEcoKiln TecEco MgCO2 Cycle MgO Eco-Cement MgCO3 Extraction Process 1.29 gm/l Mg.412 gm/l Ca Coal Fossil fuels Carbon or carbon compoundsMagnesium compounds Oil

43. Gaia Engineering Introduction • Gaia engineering is a combination of new technologies including • A Carbon capture process • TecEco’s Tec-Kiln technology and cements • Carbon dioxide scrubbing technologies • TecEco' Eco-Cements • Gaia engineering profitably geomimics past planetary geological processes and adopted on a large scale will: • Sequester significant amounts of atmospheric CO2 • Produce valuable by-products • Convert large volumes of waste to valuable resource

44. Carbon Capture Front End • Gaia Engineering starts with a process to sequester carbon dioxide using the magnesium contained in bitterns, seawater or brine and to date there are many candidate methods that all require further research and development. • The Greensols process which involves chemical precipitation • A pyrohydrolysis process that can be run in association with salt manufacture • An ultra high speed centrifuge process and a • Biomimetic process. • Outputs will vary according to the ultimate process selected for the concentration of CO2 needed for both Gaia Engineering and “Clean Coal” and are as hereunder: • Greensols - sodium bicarbonate, mineral salts, carbonate building materials and aggregates, Eco-Cements and fresh water • Ultra Centrifuges - provided materials can be found to withstand the forces involved, potentially similar outputs as the Greensols process. • Hydropyrolysis - magnesium oxide and hydrochloric acid. The magnesium oxide can be used for sequestration and hydrochloric acid is used in industry. • Biomimetic Routes – calcium and magnesium carbonates.

45. Gaia Engineering – Greensols Front End 1.354 x 109 km3 Seawater containing 1.728 1017 tonne Mg or suitable brines from other sources Waste Acid Greensols Seawater Carbonation Process. Gypsum + carbon waste (e.g. sewerage) = fertilizers Bicarbonate of Soda (NaHCO3) CO2 from power generation or industry Gypsum (CaSO4) Sewerage compost Other salts Na+,K+, Ca2+,Cl- Simplified TecEco ReactionsTec-Kiln MgCO3 → MgO + CO2- 118 kJ/moleReactor Process MgO + CO2 → MgCO3+ 118 kJ/mole (usually more complex hydrates) MgO Production using solar energy CO2 + H2O =>Energy rich biomass using blue green algae CO2 from power generation, industry or out of the air (MgCO2) Cycle Magnesite (MgCO3) Magnesia (MgO) Tec-Reactor Hydroxide / Carbonate slurry process Solar Process to Produce Magnesium Metal Sequestration Table – Mg from Seawater CO2 Eco-CementTec-Cement Other Wastes

46. Gaia Engineering – Greensols Front End InputsBrinesWaste AcidWastesCO2 OutputsGypsum, Sodium bicarbonate, Salts, Building materials, Potable water

47. Greensols Carbon Capture • The hydrogen bonding in water keeps oppositely charged ions from combining. Water “dissolves” them. • Strongly charged ions such as calcium, magnesium and carbonate attract hydration shells of water around them. For example magnesium and calcium ions polar bond to oxygen and the negative carbonate ion polar bonds to hydrogen. These bonds can propagate through several layers of water and are strong enough to prevent the formation of calcium and magnesium carbonates even from supersaturated solutions. • The Greensols process uses waste acid to de-polarise a statistical proportion of water molecules by attaching a proton to them whereby positively charged sodium, calcium or magnesium ions as well as negatively charged ions including carbonate ions are released, can combine and thus precipitate.

48. Greensols Carbon Capture Hydration shelling of water occurs around calcium or magnesium ions because of the strong charge of especially magnesium to the oxygen end of water Similar hydration shelling occurs around the negative carbonate ion through polar bonding to the hydrogen ends of water

49. Greensols Carbon Capture The addition of a proton to water using strong waste acid results in its de polarisation whereby it no longer electronically holds as many ions (sodium, calcium, magnesium or carbonate etc.) statistically releasing them and allowing them to combine and precipitate as carbonates and other more valuable salts leaving behind essentially fresh water

50. Greensols Carbon Capture = + Mg++ + CO3_ _ => MgCO3 The statistical release of both cations and anions results in precipitation of for example magnesium carbonate as shown above.