4 ms·

That wouldn't be a huge problem, and probably much better for the world if we "gased up" with aluminum

Klinky 7y ago
Aluminum requires huge amounts of electricity to produce. Hopefully that electricity isn't coming from fossil fuels. However it does appear to be highly recyclable, at a fraction of the energy cost.
- mrfusion 7y ago
  The beauty of electricity is that it can come from anywhere. And you don’t have to change anything in your process to change source of electricity.
  - chongli 7y ago
    Electricity is also much easier to transport over long distances, using high voltage DC lines, than it is to transport oil or gas via pipeline or truck.
    - barney54 7y ago
      And oil is much easier to transport over really long distances on tanker ships.
      - chongli 7y ago
        Only if you neglect the huge externalities of tanker ships, with the extremely dirty fuels they burn and the occasional catastrophic spills.
      - wilg 7y ago
        If you can have batteries with higher energy density than oil, why not fill up a ship with batteries?
        rjplatte 7y ago
        Because A/C lines are more efficient than either oil or batteries.
        wilg 7y ago
        Not over ocean distances though?
      - 8note 7y ago
        and can then be burned to make electricity
        ricardobeat 7y ago
        Batteries will also burn under the right conditions!
- amluto 7y ago
  > Aluminum requires huge amounts of electricity to produce. That’s kind of the point. If you can produce aluminum efficiently (i.e. reduce Al2O3 to aluminum metal without using much more energy than the theoretical minimum) and then oxidize it back to Al2O3 efficiently in a car, you have a battery that stores a huge amount of energy. There is a rather spectacular non-battery use for this energy: thermite.
- detritus 7y ago
  I can't remember where I read this (busy at work so, sorry, no source), but: There's a production/re-use cycle in Europe wherein Aluminium is processed and smelted in Iceland, turned into ingots which are sent to mainland Europe to be manufactured-with, and then resultant used product sent back to Iceland for melting down and processing back into ingots. The point being: Iceland uses geothermal energy to work Aluminium, so the entire process is one grand re/charge cycle of a significantly-used and energy-dense process. Next step - small, modular fission power sources for the likely-hydrocarbon based and heavily-polluting ships transporting it all back and forth.

Aluminum requires huge amounts of electricity to produce. Hopefully that electricity isn't coming from fossil fuels. However it does appear to be highly recyclable, at a fraction of the energy cost.

mrfusion 7y ago
The beauty of electricity is that it can come from anywhere. And you don’t have to change anything in your process to change source of electricity.
- chongli 7y ago
  Electricity is also much easier to transport over long distances, using high voltage DC lines, than it is to transport oil or gas via pipeline or truck.
  - barney54 7y ago
    And oil is much easier to transport over really long distances on tanker ships.
    - chongli 7y ago
      Only if you neglect the huge externalities of tanker ships, with the extremely dirty fuels they burn and the occasional catastrophic spills.
    - wilg 7y ago
      If you can have batteries with higher energy density than oil, why not fill up a ship with batteries?
      - rjplatte 7y ago
        Because A/C lines are more efficient than either oil or batteries.
        wilg 7y ago
        Not over ocean distances though?
    - 8note 7y ago
      and can then be burned to make electricity
      - ricardobeat 7y ago
        Batteries will also burn under the right conditions!
amluto 7y ago
> Aluminum requires huge amounts of electricity to produce. That’s kind of the point. If you can produce aluminum efficiently (i.e. reduce Al2O3 to aluminum metal without using much more energy than the theoretical minimum) and then oxidize it back to Al2O3 efficiently in a car, you have a battery that stores a huge amount of energy. There is a rather spectacular non-battery use for this energy: thermite.
detritus 7y ago
I can't remember where I read this (busy at work so, sorry, no source), but: There's a production/re-use cycle in Europe wherein Aluminium is processed and smelted in Iceland, turned into ingots which are sent to mainland Europe to be manufactured-with, and then resultant used product sent back to Iceland for melting down and processing back into ingots. The point being: Iceland uses geothermal energy to work Aluminium, so the entire process is one grand re/charge cycle of a significantly-used and energy-dense process. Next step - small, modular fission power sources for the likely-hydrocarbon based and heavily-polluting ships transporting it all back and forth.