Originally posted by XrightyX
Currently, the energy equation for making fuel out of plants requires 2x as much energy (pesticides, tractor fuel, etc) as you get out of it...How is this possible? Subsidies...
Hydrocarbons out of coal? Germany did this in WW2, but also a huge energy input to get some out.
Solar and wind will be our future, methinks
If you make it out of corn maybe. But you can make it out of many other plant stock and with genetic engineering you can get vastly greater yeilds of oil out of a feedstock like soya bean for example if you wanted to.
South Africa had a huge oil from coal program going when I lived there in the late 80's. Look up Sasol. Also there is a technology called Fischer Trope systhesis that can make the production of oil from coal more feasible.
All it takes is the will to do it. Making oil from coal does consume energy but as someone said before it is about storeing energy for use in vehicles. So you can have a nuclear power plant producing electricy that is used to make hydrogen and heat the coal that then allows the coal to be rehydrogenated and form oil.
It is all about the cost of production versus what other forms of the product are currently available. With oil at 60 a barrel it will not be long until you see synthetic oil projects start to look attractive again.
And don't forget the reserves that are in the Alberta oil sands. They are middle eastern in size. They are also not counted in the worlds oil reserves.
