[wehriam]

Hi Rob! Is it possible to produce gasoline through atmospheric CO2 capture for less than traditional methods? Will CO2 capture be competitive in real costs?

[IgorPartola]

I cannot see how you could take CO2 and make gasoline out of it using less energy than what the gasoline contains. At best, you will need to supply that energy via something like solar panels. Then it becomes a question of efficiency: how many Watts of gasoline can you produce per Watt of electricity you have? My guess is, not many.

[whiskers08xmt]

It can still be competitive with things like tar-sand extraction, which takes more energy than you get out of the oil. It's only economically viable because energy in gasoline/oil form is more valuable than the energy content itself, due to it's ease of transfer. Air sequestration might be a viable fuel source in regions where import costs of fuel are high, but energy is cheap.

[EamonnMR]

The ideal method would be CRISPRing up some algae to synthesize gasoline, but we're pretty far from that.

[trickstra]

you cannot. That would be a perpetuum mobile