tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post5154691247390086257..comments2024-03-13T18:55:49.391+00:00Comments on Energy Balance: Die-Off or Abundance?Professor Chris Rhodeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-64589365829501059862012-04-27T09:26:49.118+01:002012-04-27T09:26:49.118+01:00My own opinion, for what its worth, is that there ...My own opinion, for what its worth, is that there are probably many different sources of hydrocarbons. Certainly they can be produced by the action of water on metal carbides or by cooking methane, and so such processes could occur within the Earth.<br /><br />Western geologists think that petroleum originates from cooking algae and zooplankton that has crawled into porous rock millions of years ago, and why shouldn't there be both sources?<br /><br />The observation from Titan is fascinating because it shows that hydrocarbons can originate on a body with no organic life.<br /><br />So, there may well be vast and untapped reserves of oil within the Earth, but whether than can avert the peak-oil problem depends on how quickly it can be extracted. It's a rate of recovery/conversion problem that will need an enormous new global infrastructure to tap into it significantly.<br /><br />I am a fan of algal fuels - in principle anyway - and at a talk I gave yesterday I was asked what it would cost to implement a serious production of algal fuel on a scale comparable with petroleum. My answer was, how much do you think it would cost to get the world petroleum industry up from scratch now? Hundreds of billions!<br /><br />But the rider to that is that if we relocalise so we are using far less fuel, then the problem is somewhat scaled down. That noted, to do this means in global terms "ruining the economy", but I think it's days are numbered anyway, as there are insufficient resources - or they cannot be recovered fast enough - to underpin continued growth.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />ChrisProfessor Chris Rhodeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-71808963907460572242012-04-26T09:33:27.572+01:002012-04-26T09:33:27.572+01:00Chris,
Having been in the alt fuel industry all m...Chris,<br /><br />Having been in the alt fuel industry all my life, I find the idea of abiotic oil extremely interesting. Unfortunately, it seems that scientists are divided on the concept rather than realizing that both biotic and abiotic oil are highly likely to exist...together. Simply ask NASA what they have found on Titan.<br /><br />What are your thoughts?<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />S/V TrimTrimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03877869192567715170noreply@blogger.com