Comment by hannob
9 hours ago
They don't, and they can't cheat physical realities either.
Plants only filter out very small amounts of CO2 from the air over relatively long timeframes. That's why crop-based biofuels require such enormous amounts of space.
They're pretty amazing for the amount of capital cost. $50 in seed and an acre of land can sequester several to over a dozen tons of carbon per year. It might not be space efficient but it requires basically zero infrastructure.
Which is something that when I try to explain to some 'environmentalists' do not get the point.
The other benefits of a biodiverse green belt are great, but if tomorrow I have a concrete system that captures CO2 at 10x the level of trees over lifetime in a similar density, guess what I would like my futuristic city to look like.