Pioneering British firm produces 'petrol from air' in breakthrough that could solve energy crisis

The London Daily Mail ^ | October 20, 2012 | Damien Gayle

[count-your-change]

The swine we had didn't know they were capitalists and they made good ham and bacon even if they were.

And evil...they sure were. We could see it their eyes telling us that if we fell down in the lot it was all over. Don't let’em fool you with “oink, oink” business, they know what's coming. Animal Farm and such, you know.

[JimRed]

But how much energy does it take to make a gallon; does it come close to breaking even?

[count-your-change]

“If however, a factory can produce ALL the power they need to produce oil (presumably in some place very windy, or sunny), they are in effect taking an unused source, and turning it into power storage.”

It still doesn't make economic sense. Capital is invested in the factory and equipment and in the windmills.
The wind may be unused but it ain't free to capture and release it's energy.

One must weigh the cost of lost opportunity to use that capital in a more efficient and cost effective way to produce the same product.

If it's a matter of just using excess power that means the oil produced still will cost more than other methods.

Wind power might be useful in a remote place that can use intermittent supply but the economics are against it as source otherwise. Using an inefficient source in an inefficient process to “store” energy makes no sense.
Use the same capital to install an efficient system and have power at a lower cost without the storage.