The Biggest Lie About Carbon Capture

Carbon capture technology, if done wrong could make climate change worse. New carbon capture trains are a brilliant idea, using caught CO2 to frack for more oil, NOT A BRILLIANT IDEA. In this video we explain why the insane engineering of carbon capture could be a really bad thing!

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Written by: Greg Brown
Edited by: Luka Šarlija
Drawings by: Max Simmons and Greg Brown

References:

While people are talking about James Corden, Adele, hockey, the Leafs, we are thinking about Carbon Capture. The science, the engineering and the physics of how it all works.

[TinyGiraffes]

Tbh I love how many of these comments are skeptical. This doesn't pass the smell test and people are thinking critically.

[fabioh]

As a physicist this is one of the most hurtful videos I’ve ever seen. This idea is so utterly stupid that I am thinking this must be a troll video.

[lanzer]

The train idea hurts my mind as it's generally a transportation system that runs on fossil fuel, and the energy is not "free", as the added weight ends up taking more energy for the train to accelerate, and then you have to factor in the percentage of runtime that actually involve braking, which shouldn't be often as this is a train. Not to mention that the size of each unit is so small, it's hard to imagine it making an impact. Every little bit helps I guess.

[elraviv]

I don't know who came up with the (stupid) idea that trains have a surplus of energy.
any energy recuperated from regenerative breaking should be store back in batteries in order to move the train and reduce their energy consumption (same way it is used in electric/hybrid cars).
solar panel are nice, but their *average* (daily) output is about 100 watt per square meter. even if you completely cover the train with solar panels that is about 5 horse power per train carriage, so no energy surplus there either.

[Gabriel-fikn]

Very dissapointed about this topic. I've never heard of this "solution" but I can find a lot of problems with it in 10 seconds. First, you will increase the train air friction (no such things as free energy, remember?). Second, if you do recover the braking energy, use it directly on the purpose of the train - transporting (hybrid locomotive for diesel or put it back into the grid for electric ones). Third, do not attempt to suck CO2 from normal air (remember what ppm actually means) and apply this (heavy) machiery near a power plant that emits CO2 like crazy, and at the same time you dont't have to move the weight of this carbon capture device, but rather move... people and goods... This is what trains are for, not for catching molecules of co2. Etc, etc. At least, at the end of the video you mention REAL solutions for ccs - trees.

[MrTdg]

How did this get past QA? This will produce more CO2 than it captures.

[ABaumstumpf]

And this is why removing the dislike-counter is such a stupid idea:
Liars like these roam around freely.

[Skywolf]

I don't understand why you claim that this would not require energy to push the air through those train carriages, 'because they're already moving'. Wouldn't such a car increase drag, forcing the engine to work harder, thereby requiring more energy?

[kwinzman]

How to destroy the reputation of a 10 million subscriber channel in 1 video.

[Mallory-Malkovich]

The fact that every advancement made to clean up this problem is used by the oil companies as an excuse to just keep drilling is a real kick in the nuts.

[thierrymad]

The train "idea" is likely appealing to a toddler. It speaks volume about the pseudo scientific skills those guys have. They are precisely what is dangerous on internet, spreading stupidity all over.

[shaneyoung]

Imagine believing this is a viable solution.

[oplkfdhgk]

2:45 except that the train now has to use more energy to move because of the extra drag so essentially i don't think it's that much different from using a fan for this.

[joshcanhearyou]

I'm no engineer/physicist/scientist but this just seems like a stupid idea. Electric trains already have regenerative breaking which puts energy back into the system so you may as well use that energy for a carbon capture plant on the ground. Yes it could work for diesel trains but seeing as most countries that operate those don't care about climate change then good luck getting railways to purchase and use these.

[flytrapYTP]

The biggest lie about carbon capture is that it would somehow be more efficient than using the energy generated to replace combustion engines.

[EEVblog]

Who's just here with schadenfreude flavoured popcorn to read the comments section after the Thunderf00t video?

[tiffanymarie]

Immediately suspicious of anything that claims to have no waste energy. Literally impossible to get something from nothing or to halt entropy.

[josephsalomone]

It would probably be better for the environment for the trains to use that energy to charge a battery to help power the train, rather than to use it for carbon capture, which has always been a technology that has been not been worth even the energy cost, let alone all the other costs.

[JimFeig]

Wouldn't the braking energy be better used to propel the train? Trying to do it on the train will only add to weight and energy needed to accelerate it. The fan is not the energy intensive part of the process so putting it on a train is less efficient.

[greycover]

The title is SPOT ON ! This video is why channels like this are entertainment and not a science resource. For that you have Thunderf00t, potholer54, Sabine Hossenfelder, NileRed, PBS Space Time & co, Sean Carroll, etc.