Good Idea Alert!

So this is kind of a great idea. I've written about attempts - and a working plant in Iceland - to sequester carbon from the air to reduce greenhouse gases. One of the biggest costs are for the huge fans to pull ambient air through the system.

Well the good folks at University of Toronto have come up with a very good solution, if it can be implemented. The idea is to use natural wind to suck the air through the system.

Now the "natural" wind defined here is wind that is already going. In this case, with trains. Canada (like the United States) still has thousands of miles of train tracks in use. The University of Toronto proposes adding 1 car to this system.

It would have wind pushed through as the train goes. This would not "cost" anything as the train moves  along - perhaps a part of a penny per mile in wind resistance. Here is the estimated carbon sequestering.

According to their calculations, the researchers say that an average freight train fitted with their system could remove up to 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year – an amount comparable to that emitted by 250 medium-sized family cars over their lifespans.

That is 1 train. Both countries run thousands of trains, and this could really help.