Is capturing carbon directly from power plants possible? And is there any useful applications for the captured carbon?

Question

Title.

I feel like the only way electric cars can be truly “environment friendly” is if the carbon produced is captured at the plants.

Not sure if it’s at all possible, though.

In: Engineering

Answer 1

It is possible. It’s wildly expensive thereby making the power plant unprofitable. The power plant is already on the verge of being unprofitable because renewables are so cheap.

There are useful applications – industrial CO2 is a thing, but it’s too expensive to compete with existing industrial CO2 sources.

The cheapest solution remains the same cheapest solution as 100 years ago – don’t emit the CO2 to begin with. Conservation always wins.