Kelp is Being Used to Pull Carbon from the Atmosphere … and to Make Great Food and Biofuels |

Kelp is Being Used to Pull Carbon from the Atmosphere … and to Make Great Food and Biofuels

Photo Credit: National Geographic Image Collection

Here’s an interesting science article for you this morning, related to my writing and relevant to mitigating climate change.

Rationale

Kelp has the potential to grow a metre a day under optimal conditions. I’ve postulated, in my series The Rise of Oceania, that such resources are essential for the future of humanity on Earth. The oceans are twice the size of Mars in area, and contain untold resources in terms of mineral, fish, and the potential for aquaculture. The oceans are our future, especially as climate change ravages our planet. Storms are growing more violent, the ocean levels are rising, and increasing global temperatures are destroying cropland. We need new resources if we are going to continue prospering as a species. I believe we are fully capable of adapting to new environments; I’m not a doomsayer about the situation. Economies can prepare and adapt.

Cropland will migrate, but will need enormous investments in fertilizer. This will cause eutrophication in inland rivers and lakes.

Oceans will rise, but will need seawalls and other mitigations to protect low-lying coastal cities and industrial shipping facilities.

Storms will grow worse as ocean temperatures increase, and we will have to prepare for that.

However, the need for food will require investments in other areas. The oceans, including fish and kelp, are an essential part of the equation.

Kelp grows remarkably fast. If we can harvest it, we have the potential for a massive crop to help economies. But what would we use it for?

Biofuel

Credit: Unwaste the Planet

The Norwegian company Aker BP is piloting this project, which has already had its first harvest. The idea is to grow kelp, which removes Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere, and then use the kelp to produce “biochar,” a soil-additive which increases water retention, holds the carbon in the soil for long periods, and is beneficial for soil organisms. The company estimates that one square kilometre of kelp farm can trap 3,000 tons of CO2 annually. The kelp can also be used for food, plastics, and animal food.

Source: https://carbonherald.com/aker-bp-announces-kelp-carbon-removal-project-in-norway/

Food

In my writing, my characters are farming kelp. That’s the purpose of some of the underwater settlements, at least. The stories are espionage-related, involving new weapon development, spycraft, and massive battles. But my characters work day-to-day farming kelp. But is this real? Could it really happen?

Images from A Blanket of Steel. The two settlements on the right, one American and one Australian, are growing crops underwater.

Here’s a company I learned about recently, located in Juneau, Alaska: Barnacle Foods. They are actively growing and harvesting kelp, and creating these products:

Pickles:

Hot sauce:

Kelp Chili Crisp:

The potential is clearly there. A few months back, I also wrote about a company turning kelp into plastic. It’s a wonder crop with many uses and huge potential. Canada has the second-longest coastline in the world, and climate change is on our doorstep. There’s no stopping it now, but we can adapt and prepare our economies. We need to invest in the future, and kelp farming is one of the most promising new industries whose potential is only just being investigated.

The countries today which produce the most kelp are:

China
Indonesia
South Korea
Philippines
North Korea
Japan

Why aren’t we on that list? We have coastlines. There are flourishing kelp forests in the Arctic Ocean. The conditions are prime for the crop. Let’s consider adapting our economy for the reality that is coming …

Mitigating Climate Change

I’ve written about this before, but I’m not a doomsayer. I don’t think we’re facing apocalyptic times or facing a dystopian future. I believe economies can adapt and we’ll learn to live in a rapidly changing climate. However, we need to have foresight and visionary leaders to prepare for this. Economies can prosper from climate change. We shouldn’t think disaster. We should think JOBS. In my article Stopping Climate Change Should Not Be Our Goal, I suggested a few possible industries that we should be investing in now:

Increasing solar panel efficiency
Creating plastics from ocean kelp
Increasing battery lifespan and capacity
Wind power, including offshore wind
Ethanol production (Biofuels)
Hydrogen fuel cell research
Carbon-absorbing products/species, or the capture of carbon emissions
Investing in alternative resource location and investigation
Energy efficient equipment, insulation, building materials, window improvements
Thermal energy research and development
Bioreactors to convert waste into soil and fertilizers
Home windows coated in transparent “ink” that converts light to electricity
Improving recycling technology
Research and development of clean asphalt replacement materials
eBikes and future transportation

I wrote this:

“Imagine incentivizing companies such as these and encouraging them to relocate to your region. Offer them lower taxes or pollution manufacturing exemptions and other tax breaks. Think about the result: a transformed economy for a new environment dealing with warmer temperatures, drier climates, and more violent and extreme weather.”

This being said, companies like those investing in kelp are actually helping mitigate climate change. Removing carbon from the air — carbon which we put there! — is a noble plan. What’s better, however, are the products that we create from kelp. From food to plastic to biofuels, the potential is monumental. Norway is a pathfinder for a future that relies far more heavily on the oceans than our current economies and industries have. And the oceans are twice the size of Mars, with vast resources to fuel a hungry species!

We need to invest in kelp for a future in a changed environment, and we need to start now.

The future is already here.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 29 September 2025

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 29 September 2025

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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop

“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite

“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories

“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest

“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels

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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007