4 ms·
> we could use plants to put CO2 into easily stored liquid fuel that's largely compatible with existing infrastructure Are you suggesting we spend resources to
by lucb1e 7y ago
> we could use plants to put CO2 into easily stored liquid fuel that's largely compatible with existing infrastructure
Are you suggesting we spend resources to get CO2 out of the air and then burn them, releasing it again? We could capture it again (which is easier when there is a high concentration, such as at the exhaust of any such plant), but that seems like double the effort. You probably have a reason why this is a good idea or you wouldn't be suggesting it, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts on it.
- jjoonathan 7y agoThe argument that capturing a CO2 molecule (by growing corn) and then releasing it (by burning EtOH in a car) is fundamentally different from not capturing it in the first place is alien to me. AFAIK atmospheric CO2 molecules are fungible. Would you mind explaining? "Flex fuel" cars were very much a thing, mass production of ethanol as fuel was very much a thing, and it was supposedly at nearly price-parity with gasoline. No dreaming necessary. Something happened, though. Saudi oil price cuts? The great recession? Subsidy politics? Some combination of those? I'd love to hear from someone who knows more.
- danans 7y agoThere are significant petroleum derived inputs to corn farming, which combined with the low energy yield of corn ethanol, result in it not being a net carbon zero energy source at all: https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/suppl/2006/07/05/0604600103.DC1/04600Table1.NEW.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiRipz2q-jjAhVTu54KHZyhAvsQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1bVi11h4YRYP7s-d9DjTst https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/suppl/2006/07/05/060460010...