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Do you believe we'll ever stop using fossil fuels in the "near" term? Just about every single product nowadays has some piece of plastic in it, including new EV

Do you believe we'll ever stop using fossil fuels in the "near" term? Just about every single product nowadays has some piece of plastic in it, including new EVs, which require fossil fuels to manufacture. There are plenty of lubricants to run the machinery in the factories that manufacture those products, including the renewable energy sources, which (again) require fossil fuels to manufacture. Getting people to switch cars may be a part of reducing the dependency, but still contributes to the use. It'll be a long road that includes getting down to the minutia, like stopping girls from wearing makeup, before you can entirely remove fossil fuels. Fossil fuels will not go away for at least a few more generations, because they are far too beneficial and there are no replacements for the myriad of uses they have today.

philipkglass 3y ago
Plastics, lubricants, and any other hydrocarbon derived products can be synthesized starting from carbon dioxide, water, and electricity. For example, the most common plastic monomers (ethylene and propylene) are readily synthesized from methanol via the so-called "methanol to olefins" process. Methanol itself has been synthesized commercially since the 1920s [1]. The methanol-to-olefins process is already commercialized in China [2], albeit with methanol derived from coal rather than from clean feedstocks. The vast majority of fossil fuels are used as fuel, not for producing materials/chemicals. Only 16% of oil goes to petrochemical production: https://www.statista.com/statistics/307194/top-oil-consuming-sectors-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/307194/top-oil-consuming... The other 84% is just burned for energy. "Entirely" removing fossil fuels won't happen for a very long time if ever, but that's not a barrier to slashing CO2 emissions from fossil combustion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol#History [2] https://www.chemengonline.com/methanol-to-olefins-plant-starts-up-in-china/ https://www.chemengonline.com/methanol-to-olefins-plant-star...

philipkglass 3y ago

Plastics, lubricants, and any other hydrocarbon derived products can be synthesized starting from carbon dioxide, water, and electricity. For example, the most common plastic monomers (ethylene and propylene) are readily synthesized from methanol via the so-called "methanol to olefins" process. Methanol itself has been synthesized commercially since the 1920s [1]. The methanol-to-olefins process is already commercialized in China [2], albeit with methanol derived from coal rather than from clean feedstocks. The vast majority of fossil fuels are used as fuel, not for producing materials/chemicals. Only 16% of oil goes to petrochemical production: https://www.statista.com/statistics/307194/top-oil-consuming-sectors-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/307194/top-oil-consuming... The other 84% is just burned for energy. "Entirely" removing fossil fuels won't happen for a very long time if ever, but that's not a barrier to slashing CO2 emissions from fossil combustion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol#History [2] https://www.chemengonline.com/methanol-to-olefins-plant-starts-up-in-china/ https://www.chemengonline.com/methanol-to-olefins-plant-star...