Gasoline and other oil-derived products are fantastic storage of energy. They're liquid, shockingly easily transportable for the amount of energy contained, etc

Gasoline and other oil-derived products are fantastic storage of energy. They're liquid, shockingly easily transportable for the amount of energy contained, etc. For things like long-distance flights, jet fuel is way more fantastic energy storage than any kind of electrification can sustain. It may make sense to spend 2x that energy sucking CO2 out of the air. The issue isn't "total energy production" it's "storing energy in a small metal box and releasing it over 13 hours". Of course, producing that jet fuel in a carbon-neutral way (e.g., from plant biomass) is probably a better solution than sucking the CO2 out of the air, but we'll need the latter anyway...