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I totally agree, imagine a country like Australia which has solar-rich land to spare. The efficiencies might not matter so much in exchange for a constant suppl

by hunta2097 9y ago

I totally agree, imagine a country like Australia which has solar-rich land to spare. The efficiencies might not matter so much in exchange for a constant supply of easily-handled fuel. Or maybe a nuclear-powered site which can convert CO2 into CxHy on an industrial scale. With the added advantage of removing CO2 in the process. You also have the added advantage of not having to ship fuel in from chaotic regions of the world. Shipping produces a significant amount of the world's CO2.

extrapickles 9y ago
The Navy is looking at doing this on their aircraft carriers to fuel aircraft as they have tons of extra electricity production.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  Huh, that’s also a pretty major logistical simplification.
- castle-bravo 9y ago
  I wonder if they could also extract elements from seawater to assemble munitions. I used to think military spending was wasteful, but the technology is just too fascinating; I get a thrill just from thinking about it.
coredog64 9y ago
In 2008, LANL or ORNL published a paper on exactly that. I can't find my PDF copy, but they were suggesting making use of cheap electricity and waste heat from a nuclear plant to create carbon neutral fuels. ISTR they were calculating that it would be cost competitive with gas at $4 or $5/gallon. Probably not something we'll see in the US in the near future, but certainly possible in countries that levy more taxes on fossil fuels.
- philipkglass 9y ago
  I believe that you're thinking of LANL's "Green Freedom" concept: http://bioage.typepad.com/greencarcongress/docs/greenfreedom.pdf http://bioage.typepad.com/greencarcongress/docs/greenfreedom... They estimated that it required a pump price of $4.60/gallon for gasoline to be economically viable, given their other assumptions. The authors assumed relatively low cost nuclear power from Generation III reactors. But the Green Freedom concept seems like it would also work with sufficiently cheap large scale renewable electricity production.
sien 9y ago
2.5% of global emissions are from shipping. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/shipping_en https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/shipping_en

extrapickles 9y ago

The Navy is looking at doing this on their aircraft carriers to fuel aircraft as they have tons of extra electricity production.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
Huh, that’s also a pretty major logistical simplification.
castle-bravo 9y ago
I wonder if they could also extract elements from seawater to assemble munitions. I used to think military spending was wasteful, but the technology is just too fascinating; I get a thrill just from thinking about it.

coredog64 9y ago

In 2008, LANL or ORNL published a paper on exactly that. I can't find my PDF copy, but they were suggesting making use of cheap electricity and waste heat from a nuclear plant to create carbon neutral fuels. ISTR they were calculating that it would be cost competitive with gas at $4 or $5/gallon. Probably not something we'll see in the US in the near future, but certainly possible in countries that levy more taxes on fossil fuels.

philipkglass 9y ago
I believe that you're thinking of LANL's "Green Freedom" concept: http://bioage.typepad.com/greencarcongress/docs/greenfreedom.pdf http://bioage.typepad.com/greencarcongress/docs/greenfreedom... They estimated that it required a pump price of $4.60/gallon for gasoline to be economically viable, given their other assumptions. The authors assumed relatively low cost nuclear power from Generation III reactors. But the Green Freedom concept seems like it would also work with sufficiently cheap large scale renewable electricity production.

sien 9y ago

2.5% of global emissions are from shipping. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/shipping_en https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/shipping_en