Theoretically carbon capture can work, but just like you said, it takes additional energy to capture carbon, and that amount is more than what it takes to produce the needed electricity if you’re using a carbon based energy source.
That said, if you go for something like nuclear, than you do get a clean source of energy that can be used to capture existing carbon. But we’re already at the point where our energy infrastructure is inadequate for just electrifying what we currently have, and in a few years the Pickering plant is going to have to shut down due to being so old (though apparently the government is trying to delay it as there’s no plans for building a new plant of any sort to replace the Pickering plant).
So even in the best case scenario, it’ll be more than a decade before any sort of large scale carbon capture scheme can even be started, as that’s how long it’ll take to build enough new plants to cover existing demand, let alone accounting for future demand.
I should have clarified that I know it can work, but not as the perpetual motion kind of system most people seem to envisage or that most projects I’m aware of seem to promote.
Everyone seems to think that carbon capture can be this little add-on when it actually needs to be a bare minimum of 1/3 our total energy production to have a meaningful impact over typical human time scales (a century or 2). Making things more complicated, none of that carbon capture energy can come from carbon fuels. I just don’t see how we can do both at the same time, except as research projects to set the stage for when have gone a lot further in decarbonising our production for consumption.
I hate the term clean energy for nuclear ! It is not clean energy ! Where do you put the waste ? If it’s so clean I guess you dont mind if we use YOUR backyard to put the waste ?
Yes, a few tons of high level nuclear waste from every reactor ever made each year is comparable to covering an entire farm for old windmill blades and burnt out solar panels aren’t comparable. Especially since nuclear waste can easily be recycled into new fuel while supposed “green energy” waste can’t.
Theoretically carbon capture can work, but just like you said, it takes additional energy to capture carbon, and that amount is more than what it takes to produce the needed electricity if you’re using a carbon based energy source.
That said, if you go for something like nuclear, than you do get a clean source of energy that can be used to capture existing carbon. But we’re already at the point where our energy infrastructure is inadequate for just electrifying what we currently have, and in a few years the Pickering plant is going to have to shut down due to being so old (though apparently the government is trying to delay it as there’s no plans for building a new plant of any sort to replace the Pickering plant).
So even in the best case scenario, it’ll be more than a decade before any sort of large scale carbon capture scheme can even be started, as that’s how long it’ll take to build enough new plants to cover existing demand, let alone accounting for future demand.
I should have clarified that I know it can work, but not as the perpetual motion kind of system most people seem to envisage or that most projects I’m aware of seem to promote.
Everyone seems to think that carbon capture can be this little add-on when it actually needs to be a bare minimum of 1/3 our total energy production to have a meaningful impact over typical human time scales (a century or 2). Making things more complicated, none of that carbon capture energy can come from carbon fuels. I just don’t see how we can do both at the same time, except as research projects to set the stage for when have gone a lot further in decarbonising our production for consumption.
I hate the term clean energy for nuclear ! It is not clean energy ! Where do you put the waste ? If it’s so clean I guess you dont mind if we use YOUR backyard to put the waste ?
The don’t ever say clean anything ever again.
Manufacturing ANYTHING generates waste. By this logic nothing is clean.
Dig a big enough hole, build a proper structure for containing it, and implement the proper containment procedures and sure, my backyard is fine.
Yes, a few tons of high level nuclear waste from every reactor ever made each year is comparable to covering an entire farm for old windmill blades and burnt out solar panels aren’t comparable. Especially since nuclear waste can easily be recycled into new fuel while supposed “green energy” waste can’t.