To eliminate greenhouse gases & build a sustainable economic framework for society by the introduction of "municipal energy tokens".

1. SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO
CONTROLLING THE CARBON
CYCLE
Paul A. Comet PhD
Consultant
Presented at American
Chemical Society, Dallas
March 17th, 2014

2.  The Ecosphere – Model
of sustainability
 Miniature version of
the planet, placed by
window, is nearly
indefinitely sustainable.
 Photosynthesis,
Respiration and
Decomposition in
precise balance.
 Water remains clear &
clean

3. Controlling the carbon cycle
 (a)ocean fertilization using Iron Salts.”Give me a tanker of iron
salts and I will give you an ice age.” (Martin 1989)
 (b)Utilizing the waste stream.
 Most waste is “carbon neutral” because it rapidly decomposes
back to CO2 ( so it does not count towards atmospheric carbon
mass balance). Fossil fuels represent carbon that has been
sequestered for a considerable time, so is atmospherically
additive when burned to CO2.This kind of carbon is positive, it
also includes municipal waste, which is largely paper derived
from old carbon (trees). However, landfilled municipal waste
produces methane, a significant green house gas much more
potent than CO2.
 (c)Hence by converting waste into fuel (syngas or fermentation
gas) little further CO2 is added. Alternative agricultural waste can
be turned into biochar, this would take CO2 out of the air (carbon
negative)

4. Some biological models of
sustainability
 (a)A single symbiotic cell such as a protist containing algae.The
organelles of the cell can be compared with human factories.
 (b)An ecosystem where photosynthesisers, respirers and
decomposers are all separate and in balance
 (c)The entire planet (Gaia)
 (d)An ants nest under a tree
 The ants eat the leaf litter and bugs on the tree.The ant waste
fertilizes the tree.
 (e)A lunar base where sunshine CO2 and water is used by plants to
grow food, and create oxygen for man to eat and breathe.
 (f)A more developed model might be a beehive, where the bees
pollinate the local vegetation, and in reward are given nectar to
convert into honey (sequestered energy) and infrastructure (the wax
honeycomb)

5. Towards a model of human
sustainability
 Using a combination of social animal models a
“superorganism” model of human civilization can be offered
as a perspective on how to solve the problems of
sustainability
 (1)Stored energy can be used as currency (Honey = Money)
 (2)Roads, railways are “veins” by which goods and services
(nutrients and energy) are circulated.
 Each urban area can be complimented by a rural area to form
a symbiotic self - sustaining “cell” . A similar protist model
for a lunar base; the organelles being the factories.The road
& mail system represent arteries, banking the heart, money
the blood, and the internet , radio,TV represent the nervous
system & satellites the “eyes”. Essentially city and state could
become unified “self sufficient “ sustainable entities.

6. A model for city & state?
As the oil & gas from a given
area is depleted;
collaboration between oil ,
gas companies & the local
municipalities to install
sustainable energy devices
for mutual profit.

7. Role of money
 Trying to identify what money “is” is not easy.
Economists are divided as to what it represents :-
 Perhaps earliest money was the use of blocks of salt in
Central Africa and China.
 Other early money include sea shells (cowries), human
heads! (Indonesia). Gold and silver bracelets (ancient
Egypt). In the west around 650BC, stamped round ingots
of gold and silver (coins) became standard, but after
WWI promissory notes (debt) replaced gold & silver.
During oil boom periods, the dollar becomes
“valorized”.When the oil is gone, the economy may
become less stable.
 So what is money now?

8. Role of money
 Money can consists of two alternative components.
 (1)Specie (gold, silver, oil or other commodity). Less
used now.
 (2)A promissory note linked to debt system.
 Both systems have their merits and demerits. However,
as in any “dualistic system” polar opposites many
conceal a unified whole. In fact both precious metal and
debt may conceal that the only REAL SPECIE, is energy
alone. Gold or debt are powerful motivational “tokens”
for the provision of goods, and services, created by the
use of human (food) energy , and mechanical/electrical
energy largely derived from fossil fuels.

9. “Putting it all together”
 If money is accepted as promissory notes for alternative energy ,
and is issued and recycled through the local power and fuel
supplies,(similar to ATP in a cell), sustainability and control of
climate change may have been achieved one city at a time. Each
living cell or ecosystem “valorizes” energy by storing it as
carbohydrates, proteins etc.The stored energy is mobilized for
growth and the creation of new substances by & for its organelles.
Something similar could be organized for any city.
 Energy could monetized by the issuance of scrip redeemable in
energy (Joules,Watts etc.) As long as the scrip circulates back to the
power station or gas station to pay for more energy, the scrip could
be used to purchase any local commodity made (or found) using
alternative energy (similar to the role ofATP in a living cell).Gold is
no different to cowry shells as disguising the fact that all money are
merely “anthropological” tokens for energy (and hence all labor) in
producing goods and services. Only water and salt , essential for life,
remain outside this system.

10. A plan for the future
 Instead of submitting to a carbon tax, the oil industry could play a
major role in developing sustainable cities. 1) By setting aside a modest
portion of their profits from oil and gas sales to purchase or set up
small alternative energy companies that are profitable in converting
waste and sunlight into fuel or energy. 2) By showing that a few
percent of the profits of an oil and gas company derive from alternative
energy, rather than let the government take the money and do exactly
the same thing, with consequent bureaucratic losses.
 Each city becomes a “lunar base”, functioning similarly to a living cell,
powered by sunlight & waste ( waste contains abundant sequestered
energy) as well as wind and solar power.The currency could reflect this
“natural capital” and could be stored (sequestered energy) and
invested, similar to fats etc. in a living cell.The cities link together by
existing communication links (roads, rail, mail and internet) to form a
biological machine that can “think” (democratically) in order survive
sustainably.This “superorganism” however reflects changed
perspectives on existing resources.The new currency would control a
parallel economy.The old one would be initially unaffected.

11. Card received from White House after
submission of abstract to ACS (Oct. 2013)

12. Card received from White House after
submission of abstract to ACS (Oct. 2013)