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roboticmind | 3 years ago

It doesn't significantly reduce emissions and certainly doesn't eliminate it. The numbers often touted for it are rather misleading as they miss how little it can change overall emissions

> What’s more, feeding cattle algae is really only practical where it’s least needed: on feedlots. This is where most cattle are crowded in the final months of their 1.5- to 2-year lives to rapidly put on weight before slaughter. There, algae feed additives can be churned into the cows’ grain and soy feed. But on feedlots, cattle already belch less methane—only 11 percent of their lifetime output

> Unfortunately, adding the algae to diets on the pasture, where it’s most needed, isn’t a feasible option either. Out on grazing lands, it’s difficult to get cows to eat additives because they don’t like the taste of red algae unless it’s diluted into feed. And even if we did find ways to sneak algae in somehow, there’s a good chance their gut microbes would adapt and adjust, bringing their belches’ methane right back to high levels.

> All told, if we accept the most promising claims of the algae boosters, we’re talking about an 80 percent reduction of methane among only 11 percent of all burps—roughly an 8.8 percent reduction total

https://www.wired.com/story/carbon-neutral-cows-algae/

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mikeg8|3 years ago

Not sure if this has been replicated or is being scaled up, but it looks promising at face value.

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/from-b...

roboticmind|3 years ago

That's still red seaweed ("FutureFeed’s solution uses a specific type of red seaweed"). It like other seaweed additive, can only really be used in feedlots where as mentioned above, only account for ~11% of emissions