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?
In: 21
It uses land needed for food production and carbon storage, it requires large areas to generate just a small amount of fuel, and it won’t typically cut greenhouse gas emissions.
>So why do we not attempt to create the same crude oil by using alge with waste water from water processing plants?
The natural process, i.e. something that would be free takes millions upon millions of years. We don’t really have that kind of time.
Otherwise, you are just talking about creating biodiesel from algae. Which we are already doing but it’s very expensive. (and I think might not even be a net energy gain at all?)
When we say something is “non-renewable” we don’t always mean there no way to ever get more of it. But more that the current methods of getting that thing have a end date that is close enough that we need to worry about it.
>So why do we not attempt to create the same crude oil by using alge with waste water from water processing plants?
The natural process, i.e. something that would be free takes millions upon millions of years. We don’t really have that kind of time.
Otherwise, you are just talking about creating biodiesel from algae. Which we are already doing but it’s very expensive. (and I think might not even be a net energy gain at all?)
When we say something is “non-renewable” we don’t always mean there no way to ever get more of it. But more that the current methods of getting that thing have a end date that is close enough that we need to worry about it.
Oil requires millions of years of pressure of sediment to convert from organic material to oil. The time scales involved are difficult for humans to comprehend.
We are presently on track to burn through hundreds of millions of years worth of natural oil production in a couple centuries.
It is possible to make synthetic oil, but the amount of energy you need to put in makes it impractical. You require more energy input to make oil than you get out of it.
Combined with the environmental damage that oil causes, and you start to understand why we are better off looking at alternative fuels.
Yes, if we use it very slowly, it will naturally be recreated.
Doing it ourselves is possible, too, and would be considered a form of biofuel. We have some fairly cheap biofuel options on the table already though – ones simpler to make.
Yes, if we use it very slowly, it will naturally be recreated.
Doing it ourselves is possible, too, and would be considered a form of biofuel. We have some fairly cheap biofuel options on the table already though – ones simpler to make.
It uses land needed for food production and carbon storage, it requires large areas to generate just a small amount of fuel, and it won’t typically cut greenhouse gas emissions.
It uses land needed for food production and carbon storage, it requires large areas to generate just a small amount of fuel, and it won’t typically cut greenhouse gas emissions.
“Renewable” is defined as “replenished on a timescale similar to that in which it is consumed”. Since oil has taken hundreds of millions of years to form and has been extracted and used in around a century, this is why it’s considered non-renewable.
If we waited long enough then potentially yes, some of today’s organisms would become fossil fuels but it will take a LONG time.
“Renewable” is defined as “replenished on a timescale similar to that in which it is consumed”. Since oil has taken hundreds of millions of years to form and has been extracted and used in around a century, this is why it’s considered non-renewable.
If we waited long enough then potentially yes, some of today’s organisms would become fossil fuels but it will take a LONG time.
Latest Answers