It's a shame that currently there is no economic incentive to use such tech, even if it was 100% efficient.
It's always cheaper to use oil from the ground than it is to use another power source to manufacture oil.
It's always cheaper to use oil from the ground than it is to use another power source to manufacture oil.
They could be internalized by CO2 pricing, such as CO2 tax or certificates
The "create the useful hydrocarbon out of atmospheric carbon" step needs to necessarily be cheaper than getting dead dinosaurs to a refinery and refining them.
Screeching about externalities adds nothing to the discussion. Burning synthetic hydrocarbon fuel would also release carbon. A CO2 tax would hit it just as hard as it hits traditional hydrocarbon fuels unless you do stupid "craft the tax to pick and choose winners" crap that a carbon tax is explicitly supposed to avoid.