[CutePuppy]

Now, the only question is, how do we generate enough of those very useful gases to keep us "energy independent"? Of course, CO2 is not really a "greenhouse" gas, but...

From today's IBD:
Greenhouse gas fuel of the future?

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratory say they can take global-climate-change causing CO2 and sunlight out of the atmosphere and turn it into fuel. The CO2 recycling technique, Sunlight to Petrol project, essentially reverses the combustion process to recover the building blocks of hydrocarbons. The researchers say the technology already works, but a large-scale deployment could be a decade or more away. They hope to have a prototype available by April.

[carumba]

And so we will never see it.

[Thrownatbirth]

Fender-benders should be more interesting with what is essentially a low-level car bomb.

[Gorzaloon]

The researchers say the technology already works, but a large-scale deployment could be a decade or more away. They hope to have a prototype available by April.

At last, a story from a credible source. But Sandia underestimates the noble quality of greed. If oil prices continue to rise, natural Capitalism will simply do a "Manhattan Project". This engineering is not more difficult than Iran's thousands of turbomolecular centrifuges, after all.

There is a LOT of work going on in this field, using the old Fischer-Tropf catalysis and variants. Here is the first hit:

Patent Agent: Air Liquide - Houston, TX, US

Patent Inventors: Paul Wentink, Denis Cieutat, Guillaume De Souza

Applicaton #: 20060116430 Class: 518726000 (USPTO)

Related Patents:

Chemistry: Fischer-tropsch Processes; Or Purification Or Recovery Of Products Thereof, Hydrogenation With Gaseous Hydrogen To Purify Or Recover

[Telepathic Intruder]

If they can take “climate-change causing” CO2 out of the atmosphere to make fuel, doesn’t it just become CO2 again when it’s burned? So the net effect is zero, which is better I guess than taking it out of the ground. CO2 is a greenhouse gas , but a very mild one, and plants just consume excess CO2 anyway, resulting in more plants. Of course, Al Gore would beg to differ. His numerous degrees in climatology would tell him that CO2 is likely to drown more trees as ocean levels rise than anything else.

[steelyourfaith]

"Hot Air Cult"

~~Anthropogenic Global Warming ™ ping~~

[Thermalseeker]

But as the Hindenburg disaster demonstrated, hydrogen is also the most difficult element to compress into a safe, usable form.

What part of the Hindenburg disaster demonstrated that hydrogen is the most difficult element to compress into a safe, usable form?

This writer is absolutely clueless.....

[Brilliant]

bttt

[wita]

So, we are running out of “fossil” fuels, or someone is hoping we will so that an expensive solution for what we have plenty of, will stand a chance in 7734 upside down and backwards of being produced. First of all, using fossil before the word fuel, strikes me just like the word change, in the present political campaign. I have a great deal of trouble dealing with the word and it’s implications.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Sounds good....better than centrifuges for Iran.

[SunkenCiv]

New Catalyst Paves Way For Cheap, Renewable Hydrogen
Science Daily | National Science Foundation | 30 June 2003
Posted on 06/30/2003 1:21:26 PM EDT by sourcery
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/938133/posts

Fuel cells get a boost
ISA | 9-17-04
Posted on 09/17/2004 6:43:53 PM EDT by Indy Pendance
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1219346/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1492650/posts?page=3#3

[SunkenCiv]

And, never underestimate the psychosis of the luddite left:

Ballyhooed hydrogen fuel cells may have environmental drawback
Jun. 12, 2003

Widespread use of the hydrogen fuel cells that President Bush has made a centerpiece of his energy plan might not be as environmentally friendly as many believe... Ozone depletion has been contained with international treaties banning and phasing out ozone-killing chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. But the Cal Tech researchers said huge increases in the concentration of hydrogen in the stratosphere "could substantially delay the recovery of the ozone layer," even if a hydrogen economy is still decades away... Jeremy Rifkin, a leading advocate for developing a hydrogen economy, said, "When you move into a new energy source you have to assume there's going to be some environmental impact." Still, he said, hydrogen, as a replacement for fossil fuels, "is our hope for the future. We know we can't continue to burn fossil fuels because the planet is warming up. And we know hydrogen is where we have to head."

[SunkenCiv]

Turkey Waste Will Power Electric Plant
1010wins | May 23, 9:31 PM | STEVE KARNOWSKI
Posted on 05/23/2007 10:31:23 PM EDT by Calpernia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1838813/posts

[Moonman62]

The traditional method of making hydrogen from water uses electrolysis,

The traditional method is to manufacture it from natural gas. Only about 4% comes from electrolysis.