I think it's alright for some patents to be just straight up awesome, it helps balance out all the weaker ones because hey, you got a patent lab so you might as well go for these things too whilst your at it. Thing is, a price increase isn't likely to change too much since oftentimes you get the cabron scrubbing as you also move into chems yourself, yeah it'll have an impact but likely not as big of one as you might expect. At the same time, I find people sometimes over-value carbon scrubbing since a single high carbon tile can support 4 electronics labs. Yeah you save a claim, but I wouldn't pay that much for a single claim. I'd much rather go for superconductors which gives you like 3 extras claims for a short period, or teleportation if i'm a scientist and exploit carbon patches instead. A carbon scrubber also can potentially leave a gaping hole for a hacker array to exploit, so when it comes down to the 1 vs 1 scenario there is at least some counterplay. I think the biggest reason peopel get it is simply because it's so 'safe'. It is just one of those small things that can turn big quickly if scavengers start messing with the carbon price, or if you are able to secure a quick buyout and suddenly have 10 tiles worth of electronics.