Comments on: Could synthetic fuels eliminate entire US need for crude oil, create ‘new economy’?

By: Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:34:28 +0000

We will “eliminate the need for crude oil”, when we run out of it. But if we still exist, we’ll still be finding new ways to burn carbon, probably still faster than the CO2 can be absorbed by plants, unless we greatly reduce our population.

By: Amit

Amit — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 05:25:55 +0000

Fischer tropsch is used by many companies for profitable fuel production, including Sasol in South Africa and Shell in Malaysia. Rentech in the U.s. is planning to open plants, and Syntroleum already supplies low-sulphur deisel produced using FT to the US Air Force. The B-52 is approved to use an FT blend.

By: Aaron Wright

Aaron Wright — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:55:16 +0000

Biofuels are not new. In fact, I am told that the diesel engine was originally designed specifically to run on biofuel. It was the oil companies that then went and created a petroleum product that would work in the diesel engine.

By: pt

pt — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 01:55:49 +0000

drug war*

By: pt

pt — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 01:55:29 +0000

You think a full scale legalization of those crops is less an imagined of a future than relatively simple nanotech? Your idea is viable, and we are making some headway on evolving an absurd drug way that prevents this, but it may be a while before it’s an implementable possibility.

By: Bri

Bri — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 23:33:01 +0000

The big problem is that they didn’t do the research at The Singularity University.. Then we wouldn’t waste a trillion dollars on snake oil.

By: alliwant

alliwant — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 22:57:05 +0000

This does not sound dramatically different from the current economy, just with a lot less imports. An energy supply based on wind power and photosynthetically generated hydrogen would constitute a real change.

By: Tom Armstrong

Tom Armstrong — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:44:13 +0000

This sort ‘research’ realy does cause me to wonder what sort of world these ‘researchers’ live in and who is paying the bill for thier ‘research’. Within a generation nanotechnology will allow photovoltaics to be the technology of choice for electrical production, until nuclear fusion come on line. Improvements in electrical storage will undoubtedly transform personal transport and a mix of hydrogen and liquid fuel will play a small but admittedly significant part.

By: DeBee Corley

DeBee Corley — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:58:55 +0000

Let me write a check for $1.1 trillion. Problem solved.
Oh, darn, I forgot about the not in my backyard zealots. The EPA, the lawsuits.
Might as well build nuclear, same effort, bigger reward.

Another issue. I’m perfectly capable of building a hydrogen production plant in my back yard using photovoltaic. My first “political” contact threatened me with jail for trying to blow up the neighborhood.

Good luck!

By: Jim Terral

Jim Terral — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:26:49 +0000

Still requires land better used for food.

By: Peter Simmons

Peter Simmons — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:16:04 +0000

‘[...] we will have the self-assembling photovoltaic carbon nanocells that will trap CO2 and split off the carbon to weave it into graphene and carbon nanotubes’ you appear to be living in some imagined future.
Did I miss something? Or is this another ‘could’ or ‘may’ possibility? Rather than count on high-tech solutions not yet actually existing but a product of the imagination, why not go with what we know and already have? Hemp.
People have been suggesting hemp oil for fuel for decades, along with the side benefits of the fibre for making paper, cloth, rope, board etc. and bio-fuels are nothing new, just new to America apparently. And yes plants do remove carbon from the atmosphere, but better to lock it into long-lasting goods than burn it in our endless desire for personal transport. We’ve been adding used cooking oil to diesel in the UK for years, but I guess that was unscientific and it took experts to tell us it’s possible.
Oh well, better late than never! But unlike this idea, extraction of oil from seed crops takes no processing, or even heat, so rather than processing coal and mixing it with plant matter, best to just grow the fuel and be 100% efficient with no carbon dioxide created.

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:13:26 +0000

“…Floudas estimated it would take 30 to 40 years for the U.S. to fully adopt synthetic fuel.”

Well, that’s going to be just a little too late. We will already be into the Sing in that much time. Then we will have the self-assembling photovoltaic carbon nanocells that will trap CO2 and split off the carbon to weave it into graphene and carbon nanotubes. An entire new infrastructure can be grown like plants, and in less time than dandelions can take over your lawn.

Carbon nanotubes are many times lighter and stronger than steel, so even automobiles and trucks can be grown. Old clunkers can be adapted to run on hydrogen by your own home-grown robots while sitting in your driveway. You will also be able to grow the apparatus to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in your garage.