[wrsh07]

One of the most exciting things not really mentioned elsewhere in the thread (as far as I see!) is that you can make synthetic hydro carbons wherever you want.

If you wanted to have a refueling airport in the middle of the ocean, you could put up a bunch of renewable energy generation (expensive!), use that energy to produce jet fuel (this handwaves a lot / might not be feasible as stated), sell jet fuel that you haven't had to transport

Similarly, while our global logistics are incredible, some of the cost of oil etc is that we need good systems for transporting it (pipelines, ships). Instead, imagine producing it on location.

Finally, my favorite model for new technologies (not really useful if you believe the Weinersmith "A city on Mars" thesis) is: will this technology be useful on Mars or the moon?

Eg Hyperloop makes much more sense if you already are operating in a vacuum

From that lens, I think technology like this is pretty useful to create.