Thursday, April 17, 2008

Potential breakthrough in creation of renewable oil receiving too little attention?

WorldNetDaily has published a story about a new process that, if it's economically viable, would use bacteria to break down organic matter like grass clippings and wood chips and convert it into cheap hydrocarbons: the basis of gasoline and diesel fuel. Which would mean a renewable supply of oil for the first time in human history. The guy who came up with the process has calculated that from 2 billion tons of biomass, 5 billion barrels of oil could be made each year.

Based on what I've read about it, it makes plenty of sense. Consider that this organic material received its energy from the Sun to begin with. Why just let it rot and waste when it could be recycled... and without any deleterious impact on the environment that comes from drilling, as alleged by some. Ecologically and economically, it's a bank shot if it works.

But the proponents of the plan are now claiming that there is a veritable conspiracy at work to prevent news of their discovery from getting out. The national "mainstream" news media is refusing to touch the story... which in the minds of too many Americans means that the story isn't happening at all, even if it were to wind up being amazingly true.

So we might have a way to produce our own oil, and kiss OPEC goodbye... but there may be some who don't want word of this to get out? Not even to the people who may soon be paying $4 a gallon for gas by the end of summer?

Here's that link again. Feel free to read it and judge for yourself.

at April 17, 2008

4 comments:

  1. Eric Wilson6:08 PM, April 17, 2008

    Yes! There are some really promising alternatives that might free ourselves from foreign oil in the near future... Also check out the use of algae to create biodiesel..This one of my favorites...

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  2. Anonymous10:31 PM, April 17, 2008

    I'm sure that the powers-that-be are treating this as they have most other alternative fuels: publicly, ignore any major advances, and privately, make them disappear. I've read about all sorts of alternative fuels since gasoline prices started rising (quickly) a few years back, and they have quietly faded into the background. I'm not a huge proponent of "we're ONLY in Iraq for the oil", but I'm not naive enough to beleive that it's not a major factor and there's too much at stake (for them, anyway) to not have to rely on oil. Call me a quitter, but I've resigned myself to the fact that OPEC will always have their sticky fingers in the pockets of American citizens.

    $4 by the end of summer? Heck, here in the heartland where petrol seems to be on the "cheaper" side of the national scale, we're going to be at $4 by Memoral Day, if not May 1st.

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  3. Anonymous10:47 AM, April 18, 2008

    What are "gas clippings"?

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  4. Chris Knight12:06 PM, April 18, 2008

    They are evidence that the blogger was thinking faster than he could type, which happens more often than you might think :-P It's fixed now though. Thanks!

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