It's essentially just another form of energy storage. I don't think there's any deep reason why it is worse than the other methods currently available, it's jus

It's essentially just another form of energy storage. I don't think there's any deep reason why it is worse than the other methods currently available, it's just not cost competitive. My understanding is that creating hydrocarbons is quite difficult and that you lose a lot of energy in the process. Otherwise, it would be a very compelling way of storing energy. I guess for one, you have to get the carbon from somewhere, which means either taking sequestered carbon (which is counter productive) or capturing it from the air (expensive).