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[Daedardus]

Welll...
The current production of co2 is about 100m tons a day. To counter that, we'd need 20 million plants.
On the other hand, for example, a car produces 0.1kg per km, so this thing 'nullifies', per day, 50K KM being driven.

However, this thing costs 3-4 million.

Compared to trees: An acre of trees absorbs 2.5 tons per year, so a plant like this is about equivalent to 700 acres of forest.

Also, i'm not entirely sure if co2 reused in growing plants \ making soda doesn't get back to the atmosphere...

Of course the CO2 will get back into the atmosphere some day, that's the big part of the carbon cycle. The actual problem with global warming is that we dump more CO2 from underground reserves (oil and gas) irreversibly in the atmosphere. A concept like this would allow us to 'recycle' the CO2 and emit less extra one. But I doubt this concept is energy and cost efficient enough to be able to use it on a large scale.

 

[The Lamp]

Only photosynthesis also converts CO2 into something usable (organic molecules). This device still keeps it as CO2, and using it in greenhouses means you need an additional step of photosynthesis.
It's still interesting as a way of putting CO2 "in a can", so you can collect it in one place and consume it in another, but it's more about logistics.

Yeah, so it's costing energy to heat water up and capture CO2 and...basically bottle it? Doesnt sound like a great ends for the mean to me.

I'm more interested in carbon capture technology like what Shell was investing in for years. The idea of grabbing CO2 from the environment and replacing the carbon back into the ground.

 

[Anarion07]

Yeah, so it's costing energy to heat water up and capture CO2 and...basically bottle it? Doesnt sound like a great ends for the mean to me.

I'm more interested in carbon capture technology like what Shell was investing in for years. The idea of grabbing CO2 from the environment and replacing the carbon back into the ground.

CO2 from these plants can also be put in the ground. It just can't be sold that way. But if it's funded sufficiently, sure.

 

[Makai]

CO2 from these plants can also be put in the ground. It just can't be sold that way. But if it's funded sufficiently, sure.

Using the numbers provided by other posters it would cost over 100 trillion just to build the plants.

 

[Anarion07]

Using the numbers provided by other posters it would cost over 100 trillion just to build the plants.

....so what?
Nobody said we need exactly this type of CO2 plant to solve climate change completely.
Spending 100 trillion on exactly these might do the trick, sure.

It's about multiple pillars, not just leaning on one.

 

[ahoyhoy]

....so what?
Nobody said we need exactly this type of CO2 plant to solve climate change completely.
Spending 100 trillion on exactly these might do the trick, sure.

It's about multiple pillars, not just leaning on one.

Silver bullets are sexier though.

Too complicated to try to do math and add up all the savings across multiple approaches.

 

[Anarion07]

Silver bullets are sexier though.

Too complicated to try to do math and add up all the savings across multiple approaches.

Yeah I don't get that mindset at all.
I think we can be thankful for any approach that reduces CO2, in whatever amount.
With the other mindset you could just be like... Why shouldn't I drive the 500 m to the next corner with my car? To make an impact everyone on earth would have to stop driving anyway #notmyproblem

 

[Aureon]

It's per year, not per day.

no, it's 38b tons per year, rounding out to 104m per day or so.

Yeah I don't get that mindset at all.
I think we can be thankful for any approach that reduces CO2, in whatever amount.
With the other mindset you could just be like... Why shouldn't I drive the 500 m to the next corner with my car? To make an impact everyone on earth would have to stop driving anyway #notmyproblem

Low hanging fruits should be plucked first.
I'm glad this is happening, but it's preliminary research - not production, and there are PLENTY of things we could be doing to reduce co2 emissions right now - starting, again, at phasing out coal plants immediately.