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That doesn't matter if you made the methane by extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. Then you are just putting the CO2 back from where you got it. The bad part w
by ejolto 6y ago
That doesn't matter if you made the methane by extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. Then you are just putting the CO2 back from where you got it.
The bad part with burning fossil fuels is that you are putting carbon in the form of CO2 into the air which was previously locked under ground in the form of coal/gas/oil. If you are burning carbon that you extracted from CO2 in the atmosphere, there is no such problem, assuming you didn't use fossil fuels to extract that carbon.
- aphextron 6y ago>That doesn't matter if you made the methane by extracting CO2 from the atmosphere. Then you are just putting the CO2 back from where you got it. It's not that simple. What you're describing is free energy. We're still burning fossil fuels to extract the methane. Maybe that could be powered by renewables one day. But as of now, it is not.
- ejolto 6y agoThe point is you could do it with renewables without burning fossil fuels. There would be losses in the step between renewables and methane sure, but it doesn't require "free energy".
- beambot 6y agoIndeed, it's more like molecular assembly & disassembly powered by renewables. Here's a good explanation for a well-tested ethanol process: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/former-playwright-aims-turn-solar-and-wind-power-gasoline https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/former-playwright-ai...