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Why is it dumb? If there isn't s substitute for coal et al we'll keep using them. Technology that can clean up the resulting CO2 makes a lot of sense.

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It takes more power to get the carbon out of the atmosphere than we get from burning the coal.

You'd want to stop burning the coal before you start to try and claw solid carbon back out.

Where is that power coming from, that they use to get the carbon out of the atmosphere?

In a perfect world, from renewables and perhaps nuclear. But we should get to a point where we can use renewables to get rid of coal and natural gas generation, rather than using even more renewables to partially undo the harms of coal generation.

It's great to prototype capture... but the benefit is developing a technology that will mostly only be useful after largely decarbonizing the economy.

There is, we've had nuclear power for decades.

It really sounds like a perfect use of nuclear power. If you match the NPP with the carbon capture plant you have a nice consistent load.

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