Grifters open first U.S. plant to "capture" and remove CO2 from the air. Wokie companies line up to buy "credits"

Well the federal gruberment has now gone full retard.  

Okay, it actually went full retard back in Obozo's reign, but this is like, mega-retard: The first U.S. plant to "capture CO2" is now in operation, thanks to $1.2 BILLION from Porridgebrain's regime.

Now, not all that money went to just one plant.  Ohh no, it will be doled out to several Democrat supporters with faaabulous schemes for "capturing" the dread CO2.

Now I know some of you are thinking, "I could have sworn that in elementary school they taught us trees and plants turn CO2 into oxygen and wood or fruit or vegetables at no cost at all.  Was that wrong?"

We're not sure, citizen.  We'll form a gummint committee to research that.  Maybe let NASA or the FDA or NOAA or the Department of Homeland Security do it.  Yeah, that last one!  We'll give 'em $50 million to find the answer.

It's absolutely absurd:  The published "plan" is to capture the CO2 using calcium oxide.  Then they'll bury the result in big concrete containers.   Got it?

Now here's the fun part:  Who knows how concrete is made?  Anyone?  No?

Concrete is made from cement, sand and gravel.  Cement, in turn, is made by putting chunks of limestone in a huge rotating furnace--a kiln--and using either propane, natural gas or (gasp!) *coal* to heat it to 2,700 degrees F or so.  

"Wait, doesn't burning all that propane or gas to heat tons of limestone to 2,700 F emit LOTS of CO2?"

Settle down, citizen!  We're not sure.  We'll form another gummint commission to study that.  But one thing we know: the company running the "CO2-capture" scam doesn't want you to know dat.

But wait, it gets better!  When limestone (CaCO3) is heated to such a high temp, it breaks down, by emitting...wait for it...CO2!

This inconvenient fact is carefully left out of all the press releases.  Even the cement trade group carefully conceals this, saying only "As the material moves through the kiln, certain elements are driven off in the form of gases."

Ah, "certain elements," y' say.  Any idea which elements those are?

"We're not completely sure.  So we'll form yet another gummint commission to find out."

I can save you the expense: it's been known for a century or so that it gives off CO2.

Citizen: "Wait, wasn't the whole point of this absurdly costly venture to take CO2 out of the atmosphere?"

"Yes, and we are.  But it's just not fair to make our business account for the CO2 that making cement  puts into the atmosphere!  You like fairness, right?  And if you ignore the CO2 it puts IN, the idea is faaaabulous!"

Admittedly all concrete absorbs CO2 when it's mixed with water.  Here's the sequence:
 
CaCO3 + heat --> CaO (quicklime) + CO2
   CaO + H2O --> Ca(OH)2 (slaked lime)
   Ca(OH)2 + CO2 --> CaCO3 + H2O + heat

But the CO2 absorbed by concrete as it "cures" exactly matches the amount produced when you heat calcium carbonate to make CaO in the first place.  So no net benefit.  Plus you've added all the CO2 from burning the fuel to make the heat to get things going in the first place.

So let's review: you burn carbon-based fuel at 2,700 F to make cement--producing scads of CO2--to make both CaO (to absorb CO2) and the big concrete coffins to bury it all.  Then they put the CaO/CO2 in the coffin, seal and bury it.  

Seems like a lot of money and work for a net INcrease in CO2!

What moron would pay to support this level of stupid?  Other than the biden regime.

Turns out the folks behind this scam have found the funders: big companies willing to pay tens of millions of dollars per year to "buy carbon credits."  It's virtue-signaling on steroids.

Seriously.  Microsoft has already demonstrated its virtue by signing up to buy 315,000 TONS of "carbon removal credits."  Companies like Airbus and JPMorgan Chase are joining the rush to spend millions on "carbon removal credits" to fulfill corporate climate pledges.

If you think this sounds like a scam (like Obozo's Solyndra "solar panel" business), you're right.  And because duh regime has declared that removing CO2 is the only thing that can "save our planet, then if some of the "removal" companies decide they need a few hundred million dollars of gummint money per year to keep grifting, congress will eagerly fork it over--cuz who could possibly object to, um, saving the planet, eh?

Moronic congresswhores who haven't the faintest idea about real science will happily give billions of your tax dollars to connected grifters in order to virtue-signal and buy votes.

Classic.

Oh, and for the techies out there: the planet's atmosphere has been calculated to contain about 3.3 x 10^15 kg of CO2, or about 3.6 x 10^15 tons.  The just-opened "carbon capture" plant--admittedly just a small-scale demo--is advertised to capture 1,000 tons per year.  So if the U.S. builds 1,000 such plants in, say, ten years, then if the company is telling the truth that could capture a million tons of CO2 every year.

WOW, now we're talkin', eh Sparky?

So if the thousand plants all operate as planned, then in a hundred years they will have removed, um...one-hundred-MILLION tons of CO2!  WOW!

Democrat: "And you silly conservatives said we couldn't save the planet from your horrible SUVs, eh?

"Wait...whut?  Whut do yew *mean* that won't make any difference?  How can dat be?     
Well Sparky, a thousand plants taking out a thousand tons a year for a century would remove 10^8 tons.  Cool!  Unfortunately the atmosphere contains 3.6 x 10^15 tons of CO2.  So tell us: what percentage would that be?

Take your time--I'll wait.

So, maybe one percent?  Less?  You grifters can't do that simple math?  Wow, I'm...not at all surprised.  So allow me to help:

A CENTURY of that vast annual expense would reduce the amount of CO2 in the air by a microscopic *0.000003 percent*.

Starting to see why the whole "Global Worming" thing is a scam, a giant grift?  The people pushing this have no concept of math beyond "How many millions can I get for this scam?"  And the equally clueless "wokie" companies merrily go along with the grift to look "woke" to the public.

The link is to Yahoo, but the story was written by the morons at the NY Times.  Read the story at the link, then look for a single skeptical word about the utter absurdity of this plan.  You won't find one word.  Cuz the average journalist and NYT editor doesn't know jack about math or science.

Which allows them to eagerly support every moronic biden/democrat scheme, no matter how stupid.  The regime tells the Times "Dis beez real Science, and the Times dutifully parrots that.

https://news.yahoo.com/u-first-commercial-plant-starts-182814975.html