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But this pull CO2 out of the air and puts it to good use, whereas building solar panels only prevents future CO2 emissions. They are different goals.
by missedthecue 4y ago
But this pull CO2 out of the air and puts it to good use, whereas building solar panels only prevents future CO2 emissions. They are different goals.
- lozenge 4y agoThis doesn't pull CO2 out of the air. CO2 in the air is at 420ppm meaning you would need to process a huge amount of air to get a significant amount of methanol. This pulls CO2 out of "where carbon dioxide occurs in maximum concentration - for example directly in the exhaust gas stream of large industrial plants". One example would be fossil fuel power plants... It's an interesting technology but is bound to be co-opted by those who will pretend it is a reason to allow fossil fuel extraction to continue without limit. Eg [1] Also, many uses for methanol, such as as a fuel additive, release the carbon back into the atmosphere. Once the fossil fuel is extracted and burned, the carbon has moved from the slow cycle to the fast cycle - and it'll stay there.[2] [1] https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/ccs-will-not-solve-this-problem-energy-expert-responds-to-expected-morrison-government-announcement/ https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/ccs-will-not-sol... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle#:~:text=Fast%20and%20slow%20cycles,-The%20slow%20carbon&text=The%20fast%20or%20biological%20cycle,%2C%20soil%2C%20ocean%20and%20atmosphere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle#:~:text=Fast%20an....
- nomel 4y ago> whereas building solar panels only prevents future CO2 emissions That's a little simplistic. The biological systems on the earth are a carbon sink. Not adding CO2 causes a reduction in CO2, many orders of magnitude more than humans could hope to accomplish by pulling it out of the air with non-biological contraptions.