Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Diamonds For All

Sequestration Bling
  (+7, -1)
(+7, -1)
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instead of a carbon tax, create specially made jewelry from sequestered carbon. Plenty of precedent with various "cause" pins and bracelets
theircompetitor, Nov 03 2011

Correct link referred to by [2 Fries] http://www.stanford...onds/essential.html
[scad mientist, Nov 03 2011, last modified Nov 07 2011]

The Diamond Age http://en.wikipedia...iki/The_Diamond_Age
[theircompetitor, Nov 05 2011]

How diamonds became important (so important!) in Japan http://www.edwardja...iamond/prologue.htm
by only advertising. [pashute, Nov 06 2011]

[link]






       hmmm, what's the carbon footprint for this sequestered carbon?
...and are those who (whom?) sequester known as sequestrians?
  

       ...   

       Wait.
Something tells me that I am totally missing the point of this amn't I?
  

       I'm not sure what this has to do with a carbon tax, but it could be a good marketing approach for man-made diamonds. They market conflict-free diamonds, so carbon sequestration diamonds (also conflict free) might work as well. Just be sure to get all the power from renewable sources. Also do the research to see how much old is burned in the process of mining diamonds. If you get really lucky, it will show that man-made diamonds actually take less energy to produce.
scad mientist, Nov 03 2011
  

       I think after a while they would lose their luster.
DIYMatt, Nov 03 2011
  

       I'll have *my* diamonds made from the carbon sequestered from the power station which generates the energy required to make *your* sequestered-carbon diamonds. So there.
hippo, Nov 03 2011
  

       the idea [scad] is to popularize the creation and purchasing of such jewelry, creating an alternative market.
theircompetitor, Nov 03 2011
  

       Diamond is one of the higher (chemical) energy compounds of carbon. So pretty much by definition it will take more energy to convert sequestered CO2 to diamond than was taken out by burning the hydrocarbons in the first place.   

       Remember, popular shorthand (carbon for carbon dioxide) is not the same as a chemical formula.
MechE, Nov 03 2011
  

       Of course, the very *best* diamonds are made by pumping Grade-A aviation fuel over a swathe of virgin rainforest, filling it with endangered animals, and then torching the lot - the carbon sequestered from such a proceedure gives the resulting diamonds a fantastically wonderful clarity and brilliance not found in diamonds made from inferior quality carbon, as well as an intangable sense of rarity, loss and impermanence that other mere rocks just don't have.
zen_tom, Nov 03 2011
  

       //creating an alternative market.//
Because of that statement, De Beers will have the HB and all traces of it wiped from the Internet, you know.
swimswim, Nov 03 2011
  

       How well do diamonds burn?
pocmloc, Nov 03 2011
  

       //How well do diamonds burn?// They may need a little bit of help to get started, but they burn rather well.
MechE, Nov 03 2011
  

       I wouldn't suggest trying to increase the amount of diamonds used as a form of carbon sequestration, but getting people to buy manufactured diamonds instead of mined diamonds as a symbol of carbon sequestration, could be a good marketing ploy.   

       Also, while more carbon is released in the process of making diamonds than would be contained in the diamond, I don't think anyone has analyzed how the energy to manufacture a diamond compares to the energy it takes to mine a diamond. If manufacturing diamonds took less energy, and manufactured diamonds could captured some of the existing market rather than expanding the market, this could result in a net reduction in CO2 output.
scad mientist, Nov 03 2011
  

       From [link];
"I did a quick calculation for the Ekati diamond mine, which has been nationally recognized in Canada for its emissions reductions. The mine's operations create 143 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per carat mined — five-and-a-half times what it takes to make synthetic diamonds."
So I imagine it's a matter of scale. If you are screening diamonds from the silt of your local low river then synthetic would be worse ecologically, but otherwise making them is better.
  

       Thanks for that link [2 Fries]. The link didn't actually work, but Google found the quote.   

       I didn't expect lab created diamonds to be that much better.
scad mientist, Nov 03 2011
  

       // they burn rather well //   

       Indeed ... heat them up with an OxyHydrogen blowpipe and then drop them into LOX ... spectacular, brilliant, enthralling.   

       We remain baffled as to why your species has this enduring fascination for some crystalline forms of common minerals, often ignoring their useful physical and mechanical characteristics. Although we have noticed that only about 50% of the population seems to express this fascination with glittery, sparkly things. Research continues.
8th of 7, Nov 04 2011
  

       [8th] I think you are confused with the idea where we mine the diamond at Jupiter's core
theircompetitor, Nov 04 2011
  

       //hmmm, what's the carbon footprint for this sequestered carbon?//   

       Excellent idea. The carbon is compacted into diamonds and the diamonds are buried deep underground where they won't cause any problems for thousands of years. If we did this with all 7 billion tons of carbon burned every year, that would make a diamond cube 8 miles on a side, or 32,000,000,000,000,000,000 carats, or 4.5 million carats for each person in the world every year. (Of course, they wouldn't be distributed to the people--that would be communism. And since each carat requires several pounds of carbon to make it, the entire carbon reserves of the planet would be used up in the first year of operation.)
ldischler, Nov 04 2011
  

       //We remain baffled as to why your species has this enduring fascination for some crystalline forms of common minerals, often ignoring their useful physical and mechanical characteristics.//   

       Well you say that, but possibly the majority of us here are interested in the physical properties and hence potential uses.   

       Vernon, for example, would quite like access to the odd enormous diamond for its heat transfer properties. If they did become cheap, I imagine that they'd find many applications. Copper-bottomed pans? Nah, use diamond!
Loris, Nov 04 2011
  

       Woops. I pasted the quote as the url. Thanks eh.   

       I don't see why the big flap over equestrian carbon, anyway. Some folks have their dearly departed pets stuffed (though it never turns out the way they want), so why are we trying to stop horse owners from having a beloved companion compressed into a precious jewel?
Alterother, Nov 05 2011
  

       I once found on a bus a torn English test with half an article about how diamonds were introduced into Japan, within a few years, from a country where marriage was done by eating rice from the same wooden plate, to the second largest importer of diamonds.   

       The wonders of the internet are that I found the article. See link!   

       I've been fascinated with advertising ever since. A few years later I worked with advertisers on an "inventiveness workshop". I was exposed to the way they work, and how they create the campaigns that change our lives - usually working on our bad side.   

       I hope some day to market better behavior and friendship via advertising (I have most of the plan written, and its sustainable money-wise...)   

       This idea could work. Perhaps add some kind of digital RFID that makes it worth more embedded inside.
pashute, Nov 06 2011
  

       A major modicication to a diesel dpf could result in diamonds for all.
rcarty, Nov 07 2011
  
      
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