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Ning Zeng

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ning Zeng is an American climate scientist and academic. He is a professor at the University of Maryland.[1][2][3]

He is primarily known for his work in the field of carbon sequestration. He is considered a pioneer amongst scientists of biomass burial, and has been researching in the area for over a decade.[4] He has written papers proposing the 'Wood Vault', a process by which woody biomass is buried as a means to slow re-entry of CO2 into the atmosphere through the carbon cycle.[5]

He has argued that one of the easiest targets for the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere is to bury wood that would otherwise be mulched, burned, or simply left to rot. In the United States alone, 'unexploited wood residuals' represent around 300 megatons of annual carbon dioxide emissions. He has also advocated for his carbon sequestration techniques as a possible method to mitigate fire risk in the American West and other parts of the world.[4]

Zeng first formally proposed his idea of 'Carbon sequestration via wood burial' in the Carbon Balance and Management journal in 2008.[6] Since then, he has continued research in the area and published a follow-up paper proposing the 'Wood Vault' in a 2022 paper co-authored with Henry Hausmann.[5] this paper highlighted a number of potential approaches; including storing biomass in frozen sites, underwater, or even in above-ground shelters.[1]

In 2021, Zeng was listed on Reuter's list of 'hot climate scientists'.[7] He is member of the editorial board at the scientific journal Earth System Dynamics.

References

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  1. ^ a b "A stealth effort to bury wood for carbon removal has just raised millions". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  2. ^ Lovett, Richard. "Burying biomass to fight climate change". New Scientist. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  3. ^ "Another Kind of Tree 'Planting' Puts UMD Team in Hunt for $100M…". Maryland Today. 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  4. ^ a b "A deceptively simple technology for carbon removal | GreenBiz". www.greenbiz.com. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  5. ^ a b Zeng, Ning; Hausmann, Henry (2022-04-01). "Wood Vault: remove atmospheric CO2 with trees, store wood for carbon sequestration for now and as biomass, bioenergy and carbon reserve for the future". Carbon Balance and Management. 17 (1): 2. doi:10.1186/s13021-022-00202-0. ISSN 1750-0680. PMC 8974091. PMID 35362755.
  6. ^ Zeng, Ning (2008-01-03). "Carbon sequestration via wood burial". Carbon Balance and Management. 3 (1): 1. doi:10.1186/1750-0680-3-1. ISSN 1750-0680. PMC 2266747. PMID 18173850.
  7. ^ "Explore the @Reuters Hot List of 1,000 top climate scientists". Reuters. 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2023-09-19.