←back to thread

MIT engineers make converting CO2 into useful products more practical

(news.mit.edu)
173 points rbanffy | 2 comments | 13 Nov 24 15:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.4s | source
Show context
rhelz ◴[13 Nov 24 17:11 UTC] No.42127904[source]▶
To remove the co2 we put into the atmosphere will always take way more energy than we got out of putting it into the atmosphere in the first place. That is just thermodynamics.

To remove all the co2 we put into the atmosphere would take more energy than we extracted from fossil fuels since the industrial revolution. And all that energy would, of course, have to be produced in an absolutely carbon-free manner.

So this is and will remain an entirely impractical method of combatting global warming. MIT engineers know this. The people who funded this research know this. Why are they doing this?

replies(4): >>42128020 #>>42128130 #>>42128231 #>>42128456 #
1. UniverseHacker ◴[13 Nov 24 18:10 UTC] No.42128456[source]▶
Portable, energy dense fuel is incredibly more valuable than grid electricity - especially back when most of it was burned, before modern battery technology.

It is not obvious to me that the net thermodynamics are important here. The only thing that matters is the real world cost vs benefits. Carbon free energy is extremely cheap now, and getting rapidly cheaper, yet still not very portable.

replies(1): >>42143500 #
2. rhelz ◴[15 Nov 24 02:40 UTC] No.42143500[source]▶
// It is not obvious to me that the net thermodynamics are important here. //

You are obviously not a golfer.