Fact Or Fantasy? Scientists Turn Greenhouse Gases Into Gasoline

sadly the oil destributors are going to plot something to eather kill their concept or plan an unfortunate accedent to those 2 fellas. gas prices are rising, anyone one ever thoght that it could be due to new car inventions that do not need as much as to run and gas companies just want to cash out on the last bits of gas they can sell to the consumers?

Kiriller, I agree that the oil companies are motivated to squeeze every last penny out of oil before we run out so as to maximize the return on their investment, but oil companies are also motivated to stay in the energy business beyond the oil era.

Oil companies have many alternative energy research projects ongoing and I predict that whatever oil remains 50 years from now will be saved for the manufacture of plastics while a hydrogen economy takes over.

We will not run out of energy until the sun becomes a white dwarf star. Long before that, humans will no longer be able to tolerate the heat of an expanded sun and we will have to send human seed stock to colonize planets and stellar systems beyond our own. If we are still overpopulated at that time, billions of humans will be literally roasted by the sun.

If said technology were to "leak" out to the public as an open source technology...you would end run everything..hello Gene Roddenberries world of the future..or Blade Runner..LOL

Then we'd have to worry about what happens when Carbon dioxide is running low? lol

If atmospheric CO2 gets too low, plant growth will stunt and our overpopulated planet will see food shortages that are unimaginable today. Perhaps new plant species will evolve based on silicon rather than carbon. Extra-low carbon dioxide in the atmosphere helps to create an ice age.

lol, potassium carbonate is a salt consisting of ionic bonds between two potassium cations to one carbonate anion- probably only a bit less common than table salt... you can buy a big container of it from sigma aldrich for like 40 bucks- increased cost due to purity...

Nanking or Nanjing, in China, I think.

Why is it that water electrolysis is not used to generate hydrogen? The answer is simple- it is a fundamentally thermodynamically flawed process. It takes more energy to refine the fuel back out of its products than the fuel is worth. Water incidentally is essentially hydrogen that has undergone the combustion reaction. The power to do thus is generally not environmentally benign.

The process proposed here is no different in concept, and the same thermodynamic rules apply. Thus, it takes massive amounts of energy to do what they are proposing- which is why they propose the use of a nuclear power plant.

cdoke, you are forgetting about cheap solar cells that re just around the corner -- with solar energy converted cheaply to electricity, we can make all the hydrogen we want without polluting the planet.

I haven't forgotten anything. You tell me where I refer to the future of hydrogen production as opposed to the present, and I'll be inclined to view your message as rationally inspired.

I was hoping to answer you question as to why we are not using electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen. We will as soon as really cheap solar cells become available. I'm not looking for a pissing contest over this.

I don't know what to think of this.

Craig Venter (of Human Genome Project fame) is currently trying to genetically engineer bacteria to produce long chain hydrocarbons from simpler sources of carbon... In one way or another, these bacteria would take advantage of life's great thermodynamically favorable reaction to do this: ATP -> ADP + P + Energy, a rxn that most living things exploit to drive a variety of processes... Obviously it's not that simple, but in many ways, it is...

Seems like there is no way to get something for nothing. Hopefully one day....not in too distant future.