In an effort to find ways to store carbon dioxide and remove the planet-warming gas from the atmosphere, scientists have turned to an ancient technology that could help with the process.
According to Interesting Engineering, scientists have been researching forests' properties as a carbon sink, in their ability to draw and store carbon dioxide from the air, as a possible solution to our warming planet. However, when trees die and begin to decompose, the carbon that they've been storing is released into the atmosphere, thus negating any potential benefit to storing carbon in the wood.
That led scientists to a recent discovery of a 3,775-year-old piece of wood in Canada.
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It was remarkably well-preserved, and an analysis of the log showed it had lost just 5% of its carbon content in the time that it had been buried in the earth. The researchers attributed this surprising development to the clay soil where the log had been buried, which preserved it, and kept the carbon trapped within for thousands of years.
Called a "wood vault," the carbon-filled wood would be buried within the special clay space, allowing it to sit and be preserved with minimal loss of carbon back into the atmosphere.
According to the researchers, vaulting wood could trap 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide inside it. On top of that, vaulting the wood would cost just $100 to $200 per ton of lumber, making it an incredibly affordable option as we continue to fight against planet-warming gases.
Finding carbon sinks has been a popular task for scientists recently. A startup has created bricks from rice hulls and wood chips, which can store carbon for about $100 a ton, while a California company has launched a commercial-scale carbon removal and storage plant. And a second California-based company has proposed using the ocean to soak up carbon.
For their part, researchers on the wood vault project say that more study is needed to determine if the project is as effective in different ecosystems while also trying different types of vaults to find the most effective one.
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