One of the dumbest yet at the same time accurate political statements ever came from former presidential candidate H.Ross Perot, who was commenting during a debate about the trade imbalance that NAFTA would cause for the United States.
That phrase is what immediately went through my head when I saw this “CO2 sucker” show up on my Facebook Feed this morning:
Here is the link if you want to read about it.
Some simple datapoints suggest this would never even appear as a blip in the atmospheric CO2 content. For example, the volume of the atmosphere is roughly 4,200,000,000 cubic kilometers. Considering that they have a prototype plant of 15 machines that promises to remove 4000 tons of CO2 per year, and given that in 2020, there was 34.81 billion metric tons of CO2 emitted, with 2021 being on track to release 36.4 billion metric tons, it will be a very long time before they have any impact on CO2 levels.
Some simple math. 36,400,000,000 tons/4000 tons per 15 unit CO2 plant = 9,100,000 15 unit CO2 plants.
And that’s just for 2021 numbers. Over nine million of these 15 unit CO2 capture facilities would be needed, just to start making a dent in yearly CO2 emissions globally. It will never happen.
It reminds me of the “solar roads” scam, and clearly illustrates the phrase closely associated with P. T. Barnum.
There’s a sucker born every minute, literally. Pun intended.
Hey, we need ‘temperature capture’ machines…..it will capture the heat in the environment.
I’ve done the math; and it will work. All I need is billions for my startup.
“One of the dumbest yet at the same time accurate political statements ever…”
What was so dumb about it?
It’s inaccuracy?
OK, I don’t get it. Somebody explain what was dumb about Perot’s comment. Sounds to me like he nailed it- other than he missed the fact that so many jobs went to China not just Mexico.
Because NAFTA never caused a great sucking of jobs. It never caused any sucking of jobs.
So it wasn’t an elegant way of saying many jobs left due to NAFTA but that’s what happened. If you don’t believe that please explain.
Cold water anywhere absorbs CO2. Clouds and the rain that results probably delivers 95% of all emitted CO2 (both natural and anthropogenic) to the surface. What is pumped into the upper atmosphere in thunder clouds is transported to the poles via jet streams. There it is consumed by the cold open waters and phytoplankton blooms. In the Arctic during the winter, CO2 builds up over sea ice. When the ice melts, all that buildup is consumed by the cold water. There is no accumulation beyond a year. Over land, trees, and grass work on the same schedule as the polar oceans. Natural emissions are around 20 times anthropogenic emissions. The IPPC models assume there is no accumulation of natural emissions, but at the same time they calculate that about half of anthropogenic emissions accumulates. It just isn’t possible. All those natural sinks are not selective. They absorb anthropogenic emissions just as effectively, and they do without making a sucking sound with either CO2 or dollars.
It is believed by some authoriries that human sacrifice on top of the giant pyramids of Chichen Itza was to appease the climate change Gods, who, nevertheless, were not so appeased.
Civilisation and its bureaucracy, its upper, middle and priestly classes collapsed, and only the peasants survived. Grinding poverty being about all an illiterate and innumerate society could manage,
I have 4 giant CO2 Suckers in my yard!
3 Maples, and an Ash
There’s a big Spruce right next door too
Do these clowns know when to turn them off?
ie. when plant growth declines due to inadequate CO2 availablity
“There’s a sucker born every minute, literally. Pun intended.” So very accurate.
I’m no rocket scientist, but even an old geezer such as myself can readily discern when a con is played and when not. Seen a lot of those scams since I started paying attention somewhere around my 18th year on the planet. Many decades ago.
The machine shown in this article, if the one being shown is what they intend to build in huge numbers, reminds me of an oil cooler on some high performance vehicles. WTH?
Obvious that the snake oil salesmen have greatly evolved since the days of hawking miracle cures from the back of circus wagons. Unfortunately, there are a lot of suckers out there willingly to put other people’s (taxpayer) money on the line to throw away on something which will do the usual nothing for anything meaningful. Except fill the pockets of the salesmen and the politicians who get behind whatever it is. Same with the current scamdemic being foisted on the world. Pharma and politicians, of all stripes being enriched with other people’s money.
And the beat goes on.
What? Your political acumen is lacking Anthony. Piss poor take…
A little excursion to where Climeworks is situated, what it does and the geology around it.
Climeworks states that they process around 4 kilotonnes of co2 per year. Not far from it is Katla, a volcano beneath a glacier, which emits 12 to 24 kilotonnes
of co2 per DAY. This alone shows the futility of that project.