Bugs Could Be Key to Kicking Oil Addiction

AP Biotechnology ^ | Sunday February 12, 1:42 pm ET | Paul Elias,

[FReepaholic]

...Bugs Could Be Key to Kicking Oil Addiction ...

[Chanticleer]

Bug ping

[Palpatine]

I'm huntin' wabbit! /elmerfudd

[liberallarry]

The keys to kicking oil addiction are lowering the mass of vehicles per person transported, lowering the number of people transported and the number of miles they travel.

The Internet, which allows a lot of work and shopping to be done at home, is a good start. But proceeding from there will not be easy.

[FormerACLUmember]

More MPG with Bugs!

[Aetius]

Interesting

[llevrok]

There is so much waste material available. One would think there is oil in them thar hills (of waste)

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Microbes have been used for year to turn industial and municipal waste into inert sludge.

[Dark Skies]

"The technologies are out there to do this, but we need to convince the public this is real and not just a science project."

That's a big red flag right there as to the credibility of this "technology."

That there aren't venture capitalists stepping all over each other for a chance to watch a demonstration tells me that this is a con.

Most projects such as this are conducted in concert with a university lab and there are more venture capitalists hanging around those labs than four-eyed bio-nerds.

I smell a lab rat.

[Fiddlstix]

......easily brewed into ethanol -- essentially 199-proof moonshine that can be used to power automobiles.

Guess I'm gonna haveta go out to the barn an dig around and find Grandpaws old still. LOL

[Balding_Eagle]

The change has been $20 oil then vs $50 oil now. That makes an enormous difference to a venture capitalist.

[meanie monster]

Are you serious? There is a bug ping list? LMAO

[PJammers]

"The keys to kicking oil addiction are lowering the mass of vehicles per person transported, lowering the number of people transported and the number of miles they travel."

How do you propose do do that? Most of the power that the internet uses is from a power plant that is fired by fossil fuels.

Nuclear energy is a tried an true method of reducing dependency on foreign sources of fossil fuels. I would also like to see more coal conversion strategies.

These "exotic" methods of making alcohol are decades away from becoming a reality.

My question is; why can't you just ferment sugar? Why does it have to come from bugs? Last I checked sugar is a rather cheap commodity.

[Chanticleer]

There's a website dedicated to dogs in bee costumes, too! http://beedogs.com/

[Dark Skies]

How do you propose do do that? Most of the power that the internet uses is from a power plant that is fired by fossil fuels.

lol...tell me about it. My computer has a four-barrell c-drive and a hyper-net connection to the internet...that baby can suck down the fuel!

[meanie monster]

LOL,,,how in the heck did you find that site? ROF

[Chanticleer]

Petronius, another FReeper, pointed that out at a zotting!

It's an eco-ping list actually, not a bug ping list, but there might really be one of those, too!

[meanie monster]

Gotcha ;>)

[Chanticleer]

My understanding is that ethanol made from sources like corn and sugar actually costs more to produce than its worth as fuel. If you could cheaply produce ethanol from things like corncobs (especially without adding pollutants to the environment in the process), it might go a long way to making ethanol a more viable fuel. There are several threads on ethanol as fuel (pro and con) on FR by people who have much greater knowledge on the subject than I. I don't think it's junk science, though; I think it has a lot of promise. It might be a piece of the puzzle -- like the bacteria that eat oil used as part of environmental cleanup after a spill.