All of which may be true but is irrelevant. Even if a barrel of oil gets burned just because it’s pretty and achieves 0% thermal efficiency, it still costs aro

All of which may be true but is irrelevant. Even if a barrel of oil gets burned just because it’s pretty and achieves 0% thermal efficiency, it still costs around $100, pumping a barrel of oil out of the ground and burning it in a bonfire still releases the same amount of CO2, and finding a way to synthesize that pretty barrel of oil for less money by direct carbon capture will be an economical way to prevent those emissions. Energy conservation by improved efficiency is great, but it’s orthogonal.