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It's more plausible to me when you think about centralization vs decentralization. Sure, it would clearly be cheaper to emit less if the emissions were mostly
by mgraczyk 5y ago
It's more plausible to me when you think about centralization vs decentralization.
Sure, it would clearly be cheaper to emit less if the emissions were mostly coming from a small number of controlled facilities.
But when the sources are millions of tailpipes and smokestacks across the globe, it's at least plausible that a centralized, new recapture solution would be cheaper than decreasing emissions in millions of old places.
- hn_throwaway_99 5y agoGiven how fast electrification of transportation is occurring, I think those "millions of tailpipes" may go down sooner than you think.
- redisman 5y agoIn rich western pockets like Norway and SF Bay sure. Globally though your median car owner can in no way afford to replace their car with a new one
- hn_throwaway_99 5y agoSure, for now. But pretty much all of Europe, large parts of the US, much of China have plans to ban gas vehicles in the near future (< 15 years). Once that happens most of the rest of the world will follow quickly because there will be just less supply chain support for gas vehicles, and what remains will quickly become a diminishing fraction of the total. I definitely see this happening much faster than any attempts at atmospheric capture would even make a tiny dent.
- redisman 5y agoI’m definitely in the strategy bucket of let’s do everything and hope it’s enough
- inglor_cz 5y agoIt also depends a lot on price of electricity. Norway has a lot of electric cars because it is a rainy country with terrain very suitable for dams and cheap hydro production. With enough small modular reactors, we might get to the same point elsewhere. The German renewables mix does seem to drive prices up, especially in certain peaks, because nature is unpredictable and you can absolutely have a freak streak of several windless, dark, cold days in the winter.