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I have no idea if technology like this will prove to be scalable, economically competitive, or even practical… but it does seem pretty dang cool as a concept
by ttt333 2y ago
I have no idea if technology like this will prove to be scalable, economically competitive, or even practical… but it does seem pretty dang cool as a concept
- jfengel 2y agoIt's a great way to say "Absolutely no more fossil fuels. For things that need hydrocarbons we'll make them. They cost more but it's better than cooking the planet." With a side bonus of not sending money to oil rich theocracies like Saudi Arabia and Texas.
- mgerdts 2y agoWith methane as an input, I worry that this will be hard to scale up to the point of no more fossil fuels. Can we get that much methane from biomass?
- jaggederest 2y agoConsidering agriculture and forestry combined produce about 5 billion tons of methane emissions a year, I don't think there's a shortage of availability. It'll be a lot more work to capture and direct all that, but the biosphere spins off plenty of decomposition byproducts.
- defrost 2y agoIs it more or less energy dense than oil? The consumption of oil has steadily increased over the last three decades, totaling 4.53 billion metric tons in 2023, That's oil shipped and used, not methane drifting free from biowaste across the plant. How much can we actually capture, how much energy is that, and how great is the conversion challenge to shift most cars to methane, etc? It appears a little larger than a handwave problem IRL.
- waldothedog 2y ago> Can we get that much methane from biomass? I know that food waste generates a heck of a lot of methane in landfills, but I’d love if someone could add some rough napkin math on this!
- pfdietz 2y agoBiomass availability in the US: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/2023-billion-ton-report-assessment-us-renewable-carbon-resources https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/2023-billion-ton-repor... One would like to focus on existing streams before having to increase area used to grow biomass.
- tejtm 2y agobe afraid. methane hydrates; strip mining ocean floors could keep fossil fuel consumption going at current rates for millennia. but before that we could get we stuff in the permafrost all terrible ideas ... so probable. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=methane+hydrates&t=lm&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=methane+hydrates&t=lm&ia=web
- osigurdson 2y agoTexas?
- wussboy 2y agoYup
- jfengel 2y agoAt the moment, Oklahoma next door is even more prominent: they just mandated teaching the bible in public schools. But it's much the same.
- selimthegrim 2y agoWere you thinking of Louisiana?
- tomcam 2y agoHow is Texas a theocracy?