Science Forums 2

[gjones]

I found it far from great. It misleads by selective use of history and science, apparently for instrumental reasons.

For example the use of nitrogen compounds for both agricultural and military purposes is quite ancient and has had large effects on geopolitics. And, they were synthesized from non-fossil fuel stocks by the Birkeland-Eyde process before the Haber-Bosch process was discovered. Haber-Bosch became dominant because methane was cheap, and that may not always be true.

The article falsely implies that the harms caused are curable with a few petty regulations. They are not. The cited regulations are what naive advocates do to comfort themselves and feel virtuous, but have no useful effects on the problems cited as justification for the regulations.

The article takes a tedious "environmental scold" stance, modified slightly to tout technological approaches but still clinging to the tired old regulatory framework. This approach is ineffective as well an intellectually unsatisfying.

The use of nitrates will not only continue, it will increase in future. Production methods will owe more to Birkeland-Eyde than Haber-Bosch, and will be part of a broad technological evolution affecting energy generation and storage as well as agricultural methods. With sufficient clean energy, production of nitrates requires no fossil fuels.

For example they can be made with wind or hydro generated electricity. The Birkeland-Eyde process was originally used by Norsk Hydro as a way to benefit from abundant hydro electricity generated in remote locations not connected to a power grid.

A similar dynamic now exists for hydrogen, for instance using geothermal power in remote locations. Hydrogen and nitrogen are intimately related. It is the hydrogen from methane that is used by Haber-Bosch in ammonia synthesis, and any source of hydrogen can serve as feedstock for such a process. With energy, water and air we can make mineral nitrogen compounds just as bacteria do.

Nitrogen compounds are not inherently harmful, they are the stuff of life. Like water, they can be helpful or harmful depending on amount, timing and initial conditions. As with water we need to become more sophisticated about use in order to reduce costs and mitigate harms. This is relevant for this forum since the condition of soil, which generally tends to repel NO3-, is an initial conditiomn that can be amended to reduce leaching and improve CEC.

An article that told a more correct history and spoke of true problems, opportunities and directions for technological evolution would be better.