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by bobthepanda 1066 days ago
Synthesis of carbon fuels from what's already in the air is theoretically net-neutral if you use clean energy to do it; you're just taking what's there, and putting back what you took.

The main issue with fossil fuel is that we are burning embodied carbon from millions of years ago, throwing the present system out of whack.
1 comments
sanderjd 1066 days ago
Ah! I see, you mean carbon capture and utilization as synthetic fuel. Yeah I think that's a good idea to pursue, though I have a lot of skepticism that it will be able to scale faster than other stuff that's going on (like battery storage and enhanced geothermal).
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bobthepanda 1066 days ago
We do have applications where batteries don't seem like they can solve fundamental physics issues.

Batteries are too heavy for cargo ships to float, and too heavy for planes to fly. The only other real credible alternative is hydrogen, which has been trying to get off the ground for about three decades now. And of course we have all the extant hydrocarbon infrastructure that would need to be duplicated.

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sanderjd 1066 days ago
You'll note that I didn't say we should use batteries for everything :) I think synthetic fuels are a great idea and I look forward to watching how the whole competitive landscape plays out between those and hydrogen-based solutions and (maybe??) really small nuclear.
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anon84873628 1066 days ago
Not to mention all the combustion engines that already exist around the world. Just look at the prevalence of motor bikes in India and Southeast Asia. Can we really replace all of them with electric tech? Synthetic fuels or ethanol are a drop in replacement.
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theluketaylor 1066 days ago
Small engines are awful for emissions of lots of nasty things other than carbon. Converting small engines to battery electric is a huge win for health outcomes far beyond climate change.

E-bikes and electric scooters have tons of daily range. For cases where you need more range quick swap stations like gogoro make it fast, cheap, and simple. Unlike cars where the battery is huge personal mobility batteries are pretty small and don’t need special tools or lifting capabilities.

https://www.gogoro.com/

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