ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image depicting a monumental wall of fans in the middle of an oil field, contrasting with oil derricks
That motivated me to publish nine lengthy pieces assessing different aspects of the technology and its actual markets, and then wrap them up in a 54-page case study with a foreword by Professor Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford, well known for his team’s ongoing work on a scenario of 100% renewables by 2050, now covering 143 countries.
Except, you have to ask the next question. Where is there a lot of cheap natural gas and a place to put CO2? Well, in tapped-out oil fields. They often have natural gas that’s just sitting there leaking out of the fracking and shale oil sites in amounts too small to be worth piping to markets, but sufficient for illuminating a fig leaf.
Millions of tons of CO2 actually sequestered by all large CCS facilities globally since 1970, table by Michael Barnard, Chief Strategist, TFIE Strategy Inc Oh, wait. The company was claiming something other than the only thing the kit was good for? Yeah, and it still is. But here’s the thing. They were sucking CO2 out of the air at great energetic expensive, somewhat like closing the barn door after the horses had fled, if the horses were numbered in the billions, invisible, tiny, and could fly, and then were going to use electricity from somewhere to get hydrogen at much greater energetic expense.