Why not just take CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester the carbon from power and biofuel plants?
Because it would cost too much. All the promise of true carbon neutrality does nothing if the process is too expensive to deploy. Presently, the technology to remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere is in its infancy. Our analysis indicates using CO2 from the atmosphere would increase the cost of WindFuels by 40%. WindFuels could eventually utilize CO2 from the atmosphere rather than from power plants, but it may be four decades before CO2 from the atmosphere competes with CO2 from smokestacks. In the meantime, WindFuels can cut the use of synfuels and eventually help reduce the rise in the price of oil. This helps the economy while doing more for the environment because it would be implemented much faster.
Related Questions
- Won’t it be extremely costly and difficult to build long CO2 pipelines from the coal power plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio to the wind farms in Texas, the Dakotas, and other high-wind states?
- Why not just take CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester the carbon from power and biofuel plants?
- What is one way to deal with existing carbon emissions from coal and natural gas power plants?
