(Eli5) If oil isn’t just from dinosaurs, but from algae and phytoplankton, can oil be renewable?

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I recently learned that oil is mostly composed of algae and phytoplankton capturing carbon out the atmosphere thousands of years ago. Later the organisms fall to the bottom of the ocean and through time turn into crude hydrocarbons. So why do we not attempt to create the same crude oil by using alge with waste water from water processing plants?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Technically it could be counted as renewable, but not in the sense most people would think. Yes it comes back. But it tskes millions of years. Too long for us to have the endless supply we have with other renewable energy.

And even thst is a bit tricky, because it only generates under certain conditions. How efficient will it generate in todays clima and for the next million years? Unclear

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