It only is a net positive if you use carbon-neutral energy to power it. You could use that source energy to power things directly, and not do this conversion at

It only is a net positive if you use carbon-neutral energy to power it. You could use that source energy to power things directly, and not do this conversion at all. To the degree that methane is a useful fuel, perhaps a more direct approach is to substitute other processes for those needing methane. Instead of 'wasting' clean energy on this, which is essentially creating methane so you can burn it, which doesn't help at all. Sure, it doesn't add more CO2 but it doesn't get rid of any either - it's carbon-neutral, which means, doesn't improve the CO2 situation.