£64 to fill my car up

[zeitghost]

But then again, it's not like America to make up some evidence to invade a country so they can get cheap oil... is it....

And we can all see how successful it was the last time they did that...

[Ardesco]

But it will be different this time......

[dang65]

I believe they are quite close to being able to make oil using algae or something along those lines. Should be much cheaper than buying from OPEC.

You may be thinking of biological hydrogen production by using algae, which is in prototype development prior to testing for economic feasability. The Wiki article says it would take an algae farm the size of Texas to provide enough hydrogen to supply the energy needs of the whole world.

Of course, oil is used for far more than just energy - plastics, medicine and fertilizer production etc - but even if hydrogen was suddenly available at a similar price to oil, the whole world would have to convert to hydrogen based power systems. And hydrogen fuel cells currently require various rare metals for their production. And they produce electricity, so everything would have to be converted to electric.

These sort of things are all possible in prototype cars for demonstrating on Top Gear, or built by very determined inventors in their sheds, but we're nowhere near finding a simple replacement for oil.

It reminds me a bit of the Millennium Bug. If everyone accepted the potential problem and set to work right now to prevent it then it could all go very smoothly and people would go, "Well, what was all the fuss about?"

The differences are firstly that people don't think there's actually a problem in the first place, and secondly that there isn't a solution we can all work towards. There are a few possibilities, but all of them are massively expensive even if they're technically viable.

[Ardesco]

You may be thinking of biological hydrogen production by using algae, which is in prototype development prior to testing for economic feasability. The Wiki article says it would take an algae farm the size of Texas to provide enough hydrogen to supply the energy needs of the whole world.

Of course, oil is used for far more than just energy - plastics, medicine and fertilizer production etc - but even if hydrogen was suddenly available at a similar price to oil, the whole world would have to convert to hydrogen based power systems. And hydrogen fuel cells currently require various rare metals for their production. And they produce electricity, so everything would have to be converted to electric.

These sort of things are all possible in prototype cars for demonstrating on Top Gear, or built by very determined inventors in their sheds, but we're nowhere near finding a simple replacement for oil.

It reminds me a bit of the Millennium Bug. If everyone accepted the potential problem and set to work right now to prevent it then it could all go very smoothly and people would go, "Well, what was all the fuss about?"

The differences are firstly that people don't think there's actually a problem in the first place, and secondly that there isn't a solution we can all work towards. There are a few possibilities, but all of them are massively expensive even if they're technically viable.

Nope I'm talking about the Liquefaction of microalgae which has been proved to produce Oil, not hydrogen. I believe they are managing around the 40% conversion rate at the moment.

It will probably take another 5 - 10 years for them to get the research into a state where they would be able to start mass producing oil using this method, but this means that potentially we will be able to grow oil and oil will never run out (Who needs alternative energy sources now?).

The plus side is that as it is oil that is being produced we don't need to mes about with hydrogen cells and all that gubbins, we just use a standard combustion engine and we can still use it to make plastics!!!

Before you rubbish something next time you may want to do a bit of research and ensure that you are ranting about the right thing.

[DimPrawn]

Nope I'm talking about the Liquefaction of microalgae which has been proved to produce Oil, not hydrogen. I believe they are managing around the 40% conversion rate at the moment.

It will probably take another 5 - 10 years for them to get the research into a state where they would be able to start mass producing oil using this method, but this means that potentially we will be able to grow oil and oil will never run out (Who needs alternative energy sources now?).

The plus side is that as it is oil that is being produced we don't need to mes about with hydrogen cells and all that gubbins, we just use a standard combustion engine and we can still use it to make plastics!!!

Before you rubbish something next time you may want to do a bit of research and ensure that you are ranting about the right thing.

Which companies are commercialising this technoloy?

I would give their shares a big punt for the future.

Please let me know who is into this and which stock markets they trade on.

TIA

[TimberWolf]

Nope I'm talking about the Liquefaction of microalgae which has been proved to produce Oil, not hydrogen. I believe they are managing around the 40% conversion rate at the moment.

It will probably take another 5 - 10 years for them to get the research into a state where they would be able to start mass producing oil using this method, but this means that potentially we will be able to grow oil and oil will never run out (Who needs alternative energy sources now?).

The plus side is that as it is oil that is being produced we don't need to mes about with hydrogen cells and all that gubbins, we just use a standard combustion engine and we can still use it to make plastics!!!

Before you rubbish something next time you may want to do a bit of research and ensure that you are ranting about the right thing.

Just about every life form on the planet, bacteria upwards eat algae though.

[zeitghost]

Just about every life form on the planet, bacteria upwards eat algae though.

Especially the Welsh & Japanese.

Lavabread.

Ugh.

[Ardesco]

Which companies are commercialising this technoloy?

I would give their shares a big punt for the future.

Please let me know who is into this and which stock markets they trade on.

TIA

No idea, if I did know I would already be punting .

It is currently in the research stages, but the results so far look good. It is most likely being backed by the large petrochemical companies. I would suspect that when it is cheaper to grow it they will stop buying from OPEC and make their own.

[Ardesco]

Just about every life form on the planet, bacteria upwards eat algae though.

The original primordial soup

[NotAllThere]

I want a farm or a house with a shedload of land...

Wouldn't a shedload of land only be big enough for a shed?