Why is carbon capture technology still so expensive?

Carbon capture technology is still expensive because it’s like trying to catch bubbles in a big, wobbly glass of soda, you need some pretty smart tools and a lot of energy to do it well.

Imagine you have a giant soda bottle full of bubbles. You want to catch those bubbles before they pop and escape into the air. That's what carbon capture does: it catches the bubbles (which are actually carbon dioxide gas) from power plants or factories so we can keep them from going into the atmosphere.

To do this, scientists use something like a bubble net, they send the bubbles through special nets made of chemicals that grab hold of them. But these nets need to be cleaned out often, and it takes a lot of energy to run them. It’s like having a big net in your bathtub, and every time you catch a bunch of bubbles, you have to lift the net up, shake it out, and start again.

Also, right now, this bubble-catching technology is still being perfected, like learning how to use a new toy for the first time. As we get better at using it, it will probably become cheaper over time, just like your favorite game gets easier once you know all the rules!