Scrubbers cannot possibly capture all of it. It’s not just an engineering hurdle. It’s physics. Just like burning it can never be 100% efficient, scrubbing it cannot either.
Even if it were possible to somehow scrub 100% of the CO2 and other methane byproducts, it would be unbelievably expensive. Not only is it something that frankly shouldn’t even be focused on any more when we already have cheap, green, renewable energy, but do you expect the capitalist billionaires to care enough to pay for the new scrubbers (which, by the way, in this context, do not even exist?)
impairedimperator@lemmy.zip 23 hours ago
Yeah, sure. Of course, the phrase “sufficient exhaust scrubbers” is about as reasonable as “100% perfect combustion” in this context. Engineering or no.
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
So it’s physically impossible or just beyond our current level of technological ability?
impairedimperator@lemmy.zip 6 hours ago
Well, I think we could easily start by synthesizing high purity methane. As long as you do it very slow and in small amounts, you can at least get rid of hereroatoms. After that, we could have several stages of carb/exhaust loops to ensure complete combustion. Of course, you’re going to need to heat the last few stages.
Then you just spent 10x the energy you’ll get from the natural gas just making it clean. Checkmate, liberals.
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
I feel like there’s a reasonable optimization. Everything has an environmental cost, even the production of green energy infrastructure. I think we can reasonably compare and contrast the probable lifetime impact of an energy source, including decommission and possible recycling.