Synthetic Fossil Fuels

name · July 21, 2003, 02:51

These techs just keep appearing, don't they.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/940151.asp

Lazerus · July 21, 2003, 10:35

I want my hologram theatre

Interesting, curious to know why he thinks its going to slow down global warming though. Oils oil, if this new stuff is exactly the same to that produced by mother earth its gonna burn the same way, so instead of us running out of fossil feuls and giving the planet a chance to get the balance back we're just going full steam ahead. Somebody get to work on bio-engineering for clean reactors !

... Then again they did manage those H2O and H2 cars didn't they ? Morgan (oil companies) have screwed them though.

Hydro · July 21, 2003, 13:22

As the article notes, synthetic petroleum is not new and has been tried before (Nazi Germany, for example). So far - no success. The key is getting more energy out than you put in, and in scaling it up for the mass market. I wish them luck, though. Then there’ll be a shortage of turkey bones! Just imagine how many turkeys have to die if their rate is 200 tons of turkey bones for 500 barrels of oil. To make this work that is a boatload of turkeys (or some other biomatter).

H2 cars have been around for a long time, too. One interesting note - care to guess where the most of the H2 comes from? Answer: they strip the hydrogen off of petroleum. So much for ecologically friendly H2 cars. This is likely to remain the case for some time until we can develop solar power not devastate the environment and is practical for large-scale stripping of hydrogen off of water. Some environmentalists even object to wind farms. It seems the giant turbines mulch birds. Sheesh. You can’t please anyone.

Lazerus · July 21, 2003, 13:43

Quote:

Some environmentalists even object to wind farms. It seems the giant turbines mulch birds

suppose thats any form of air travel and buildings above 10feet having glass windows being objected to soon then ?

Hydro · July 21, 2003, 17:46

You're right! We need to ban jet engines to save those poor birds that are instantly de-feathered and cooked! Those tall glass buildings, or anything with glass for that matter, needs to go, too.

Care to live in a cave, anyone? Life can be nice, even if it is nasty, brutish, and short.

Vev · July 21, 2003, 22:01

Come to the Hive

Lazerus · July 22, 2003, 20:25

quick question about synth fossil fuels, is HEC also needed before one can start researching air power ? i cant remember if getting synth by trade skips out the need for HEC (which im mainly sure it does). Has some importance in a game currently involved in

CEO Aaron · July 23, 2003, 00:23

Only Doctrine:Flex and Synthetic Fossil Fuels is required.

lord of the mark · July 30, 2003, 09:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Lazerus
I want my hologram theatre

Interesting, curious to know why he thinks its going to slow down global warming though. Oils oil, if this new stuff is exactly the same to that produced by mother earth its gonna burn the same way, so instead of us running out of fossil feuls and giving the planet a chance to get the balance back we're just going full steam ahead. Somebody get to work on bio-engineering for clean reactors !

... Then again they did manage those H2O and H2 cars didn't they ? Morgan (oil companies) have screwed them though.

well i think the issue is that the garbage would either burn anyway (thus generating CO2) or would decay in landfills (thus generating methane and other Greenhouse gases) so by converting it to fuel oil you still create a net reduction in CO2. In any case it helps with waste disposal, which is also an environmental problem - and to the extent that you dont need to transport fossil fuels around the world, you at least avoid pollution (including CO2) associated with transporting them.

Hydro · July 30, 2003, 13:06

Lotm – I have to disagree. Synthetic fossil fuels will at best keep global warming and related problems neutral, and will probably hugely exacerbate them.

Converting organic debris to oil and then burning (oxidizing) that organic matter sends it directly into the atmosphere as CO2 and other gasses. Leaving the material in the ground to decay anaerobically (producing methane, and others) keeps most of the biomatter, and the carbon, in the ground. It is all a matter of where the material ends up – in the air, or in the ground. Keep in mind that oil and related natural gas were originally trapped in the ground, and that it only became a problem (if you believe in global warming) after they were mechanically removed and then combusted. Complicating matters are essentially permanent (ocean trenches) and temporary (trees and living biomatter) carbon sinks.

Managing waste disposal is another issue. Much of this bio-matter (like the turkey debris from the article) is reprocessed, however. Remember mad cow disease that plagued Britain? The primary cause of this was processing waste carcasses of animals and then feeding this ‘stuff’ to other (normally herbivore) animals to increase growth rates. Unfortunately, the recycled animal protein also had the mad cow pathogen. But I digress…

:) Smiley · August 5, 2003, 23:52

Hydrogen powered cars are a means of moving America's pollution offshore.

Right now, since the cars are the source of the pollution, where ever the cars are, the smog is (ex: La La Land- Los Angeles). In a hydrogen economy, the smog-belching refineries can be somewhere else away from the cars.

Does nothing about global warming though.