Synthetic Jet Fuel - News Story

[Piper877]

So thats about 16,000 days (or 43.8 years) worth of oil in the U.S. considering we consume 25 million barrels per year in this country.

I think you mean per day there. But yeah, those calculations are correct. Also, reading the wikipedia article on the Bakken Formation, it states that the latest US Geological Survey estimate puts it at around 4 billion barrels of oil that are technically recoverable which is just less than 5 months at current consumption rates. Finding more oil is no longer a viable alternative...like it or not.

I also thought I read about a natural gas powered jet that was fooled around with back in the 60's. I thought it was the Trident, but can't find any info on it. Perhaps I was dreaming.

And yes, the U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal. I think we're way up there in natural gas also. If we could come together and reduce our consumption of oil using other fuels, we'd be in good shape resource wise. Unfortunately too many people still feel it's their duty and right to burn as much gas as possible.

 

[M-crit]

I think you mean per day there. But yeah, those calculations are correct. Also, reading the wikipedia article on the Bakken Formation, it states that the latest US Geological Survey estimate puts it at around 4 billion barrels of oil that are technically recoverable which is just less than 5 months at current consumption rates. Finding more oil is no longer a viable alternative...like it or not.

I also thought I read about a natural gas powered jet that was fooled around with back in the 60's. I thought it was the Trident, but can't find any info on it. Perhaps I was dreaming.

And yes, the U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal. I think we're way up there in natural gas also. If we could come together and reduce our consumption of oil using other fuels, we'd be in good shape resource wise. Unfortunately too many people still feel it's their duty and right to burn as much gas as possible.

Good catch, I did mean per day.

 

[zasca]

Only 20% of US consumed oil comes from the gulf. I think we get more from Canada than any middle east nation. The US has has over a trillion barrels worth of oil in oil shale underneath the rockies. A fraction of that is usable and, oh, we need to blow up the Rocky mountains to get it. (or shoot steam down there).

Coal based syn-fuel is complete hogwash and a waste of tax subsidies (national defense excluded). The same with most forms of plant based fuel, that are often a waste of tax subsidies. You put more energy into both than what you get out of it among other problems(environment).

Don't even get me started on the electric car...

PLEASE god, let that fusion generator in France work......... And CO2 capturing till then.

Imagine if Southwest bought all their fuel hedges with Euro's, they'd look really smart!!!

 

[OPECJet]

Only 20% of US consumed oil comes from the gulf. I think we get more from Canada than any middle east nation. The US has has over a trillion barrels worth of oil in oil shale underneath the rockies. A fraction of that is usable and, oh, we need to blow up the Rocky mountains to get it. (or shoot steam down there).

Well, the Rockies are full of tree huggers anyway...

 

[zasca]

yeah, and I like to ski

 

[johnpeace]

Maybe, but at what price? The last estimate I found stated that the oil in Iraq can be pumped out at $1 per barrel.

Does that factor in the cost of 'liberating' Iraq?

 

[Princedietrich]

If I were a smart person with a lot of resources at my disposal, I would be throwing everything I had at developing commercially viable fusion power. We all know that it uses hydrogen for fuel, and hydrogen is the most abundant element in all of creation by a long shot. The byproduct is helium, which can either be used to make us all sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks or be used as more fusion fuel (albeit a little harder to cause a reaction).

Whoever comes up with that commercially viable fusion power application first, be it large scale electrical generation or a vehicle powerplant, is going to make Bill Gates look like a bum in the gutter.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

If I were a smart person with a lot of resources at my disposal, I would be throwing everything I had at developing commercially viable fusion power. We all know that it uses hydrogen for fuel, and hydrogen is the most abundant element in all of creation by a long shot. The byproduct is helium, which can either be used to make us all sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks or be used as more fusion fuel (albeit a little harder to cause a reaction).

Whoever comes up with that commercially viable fusion power application first, be it large scale electrical generation or a vehicle powerplant, is going to make Bill Gates look like a bum in the gutter.

The problem is that hydrogen does not exist in the world solely as hydrogen. It would have to be extracted from other combinations, the easiest probably water. The only country in the world that is successfully using hydrogen power is iceland. And the reason they are so successful is that they have a ton of geothermal (free) power to break down the hydrogen. Right now we would use more energy (oil) to break down the hydrogen then we would get back in hydrogen. We need better technology in Solar, tidal, or nuclear energy before hydrogen is a reality.

Necessity is the mother of invention. We are close to necessity. Humans are very complacent. But when an emergency rises we are also very innovative. I would say the next 10 years will be a boom in new technologies to solve our problem.

 

[Wiggums]

I think the guys making the bio-diesel from algae are on the right track. I'd be working on that and wind power if I was smart.

 

[zasca]

The quantities of hydrogen needed for a fusion generator are very small. A hydrogen bomb is not very big and look at the all the energy that creates. The real problem is containing the reaction with super strong magnetic fields. Not done yet on a large prolonged reaction. And the hydrogen ion is not widely found on earth, but all over the freaking moon.

If they can get it to work, we'll have almost unlimited cheap, clean electricity. Which can make all the hydrogen from electrolysis we want, and I'll buy myself that BMW 7 series that burns it in a juicy V12!!! Fuel cells are for wimps