this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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Can I just say that for me, the way that people respond to these things is the most demotivating of all. When ever anything is done, as long as it is not the perfect solution it is the wrong solution. We all know that the best solution would be a complete turn around from what current standards are. Stop eating so much meat, take a bike, invest in infrastructure that reflects sunlight. Tax the rich (or eat them), invest in nuclear, etc. People know this and a lot of people try. And for me, any company that also at least tries to do something should be lauded in stead of the flood of negative remarks. I would love it if my kids, who constantly hear that they will have to survive in hell, would sometimes get a glimmer of optimistic or supportive remarks to read as well.
The problem is, projects like this turn our heads away from the real problems. Politicians and investors will justify not reducing greenhouse gas emissions because we have this new technology which will save us all. Fact is, climate change has already been solved, we know what we have to do since decades. It is not a problem which will be solved by technology, it is a political problem. In addition to that people will say that they are doing enough by investing in carbon capture but will not address the biodiversity crisis which can only be addressed by proposing real environmental policy change.
It should be called C02 capture (make the CO2 part specific). The carbon which was burned was already safely captured in the ground, where it should have stayed. Then it was burned and partly turned into CO2. Lots of it. Who is being -paid- to concentrate the stuff? and bury the stuff? And keep an eye on it? Who will pay that bill?
In Satartia Mississippi on February 22 2020, a CO2 pipeline broke because of a mud slide. 45 people were hospitalized after the 21,600 barrels of liquid CO2 rolled downhill towards their town. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2022/09/11/here-minute-details-2020-mississippi-co-2-pipeline-leak-rupture-denbury-gulf-coast/8015510001/
Once you've captured this particular form of carbon, you have to store it somewhere. FOREVER. Unlike nuclear waste, it's only visible when it's compressed. Does this mean you have to take someone's word that it was captured? It -does- mean you have to accept that it's safely and securely stored. FOREVER. 'We promise.'
The whole thing is at best sketchy. The same money could be invested in real, tangible generation of renewable energy. Without having to take some sketchy industry's word for it. And without potentially endangering the lives of the people who'll have to live with it next door. Would you rather live near a windmill, or a hole with 36,000 tons of CO2 in it?
Totally agree. Same with electric cars. Yes, they are not great. But we need to find a way to reduce emissions rapidly. Which means re-using already built infrastructure. Which is, as much as it sucks, roads.
It's not the most kid friendly metaphor but I tend to look at it as "the bucket of fucks". Everything you give a fuck about has a certain amount of weight and there is an nigh infinite amount of things to give a fuck about. But you are a person, you can only carry around so many fucks or else the fuck bucket gets too heavy to move. Having an immovable fuck bucket is dispiriting so you give up.
But the people who are generally successful in resolving the fucks for everyone generally select a couple manageable ones for themselves to handle. But you have to invest DEEP into that fuck. But you know what? Making progress on something is relative. This achievement is HUGE to the people who invested in this particular thing to give a fuck about and it is making things a little better. We can afford to be a little inspired while realizing that all the things in our own fuck buckets are important too.
The worst part is, one of the "downsides" of renewables like wind and solar is curtailment. A "problem" that needs to be fixed is that they sometimes produce excess energy that you end up having to simply discard if demand isn't there. This is often invoked disingenuously by the allies of apocalypse as some major problem with the tech -- that building enough renewables to basically cover regular power requirements would entail having hugely excess production that gets curtailed, which is somehow wasteful.
DAC and green hydrogen are ways to eat up excess supply and reap benefit from it and should be categorized in similar veins to other forms of energy storage. They are both undeniably necessary technologies to achieve overall goals. Can either solve the problem on their own? God no. But who's saying they can?