The promises and risks of carbon capture

Today we’re talking about another potential tool in the climate solutions toolbox: carbon capture.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law put $12 billion toward the tech, which promises to take carbon emissions straight from the air and store them underground. But there are concerns that supporting the fledgling industry could backfire.

On the show today, Inside Climate News’ Nicholas Kusnetz explains the ins and outs of carbon capture and the challenges of making it work on a scale big enough to be meaningful. Plus, how investing in the tech could prolong dependence on fossil fuels.

Then, studios want to own actors’ digital likenesses forever, and that’s a sticking point for SAG-AFTRA in the actors strike. We’ll get into what this has to do with trends in the generative AI industry. And, some news about former President Donald Trump’s net worth that made us say, “Huh?”

Later, we’ll hear from listeners about hydrogen fuel cell cars and shower design flaws. Plus, what a listener got wrong about the climate crisis.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

“Pipe Dreams” from Inside Climate News

“How Does Carbon Capture Work?” from The New York Times

“Controversial carbon removal technology just got $1.2 billion from the Biden administration” from The Verge

“Carbon Capture” from MIT Climate Portal

“Companies capture a lot of CO2. Most of it is going into new oil.” from The Washington Post

“SAG-AFTRA won’t budge as studios push to own actors’ likenesses in perpetuity” from The Verge

“OpenAI unveils personalized AI apps as it seeks to expand its ChatGPT consumer business” from Reuters

“As shutdown looms, US House Republicans search for stopgap solution” from Reuters

“Donald Trump Net Worth Reaches $3.1 Billion Amid Trial” from Bloomberg

“How We Survive” from Marketplace

We want to hear your answer to the Make Me Smart question. You can reach us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.