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To: grey_whiskers
I'm just the idea person. I know this is possible. You might take one bacteria and have it complete the photosynthesis process, taking light and CO2 and making a simple sugar. Plants do this every day.

Then take a genetically engineered algae, such as brown algae and have it make the more complex molecule that would be made into gasoline.

Look at the refineries now. HUGE plants with complex processes. They take crude....and make it into diesel and gasoline. One of the reasons that it take this HUGE plant is that crude is highly contaminated with everything under the sun, literally. So they ‘refine’ out the gasoline and diesel.

If bacteria or algae are programmed to do this and some huge plant is set up in the deserts of Ariz or N. Mex. or anywhere where there is abundant light, you could produce oceans of it.

We have this knowledge.

I am familiar with genetically engineered corn. What they did was to take the toxin that B.t. has (B.t. is the stomach flu of larvae (fatal flu) and move it into the corn genome. Now every cell of the corn, including the pollen grains, has a copy of this gene that makes this alpha-delta toxin. When the larvae eat it, the stomach of the larvae is ruptured. It takes them 3 days to die....Oh the humanity, oh the suffering....don't’ tell any liberal weenies about this....But they do die. They stop eating the corn. Main target is the corn borer, as an adult moth it flies from Texas to the corn belt on storm winds.

You can see this on radar!

So it is not a stretch to think that some large city and facility could be built around a production facility somewhere in the southwest.

BA

18 posted on 02/25/2012 7:00:27 AM PST by Battle Axe (Repent, for the coming of the Lord is nigh.)
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To: Battle Axe
You're missing my questions -- I don't know whether we're talking past each other, or if you're avoiding them.

What is the energy content of the bioengineered oil (kcal/mol, BTU/gallon, whatever) and how does it compare to gasoline?

What are the upfront (sunk) costs of creating the facilities?

What is the capacity in barrels / day of each plant?

What is the infrastructure for extracting the oil?

Does it have to be further refined?

etc. etc.

"It is feasible" is the question of professors and dorm-room bull sessions, which requires an Ivy League degree in order for the person speaking to believe that that is necessary and sufficient.

How much does it cost to start? How much does it cost to keep going? How much does it cost to deliver? are all the *relevant* questions.

Cheers!

20 posted on 02/25/2012 7:10:08 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Battle Axe
Your bland ignorance is amazing.

For one thing, the formation of Oil, hundreds of millions of years ago, was due to a planetary environment that would have been impossible for humans to exist. The atmosphere was made up of more than double the Carbon Dioxide found today and the most life on Earth, was in the Oceans. (When water covered more of the Planet than it does today.)

The kind of Algae you claim will manufacture all of our energy needs, (And is therefore possible.....[Eyes Rolling]) grew at levels that would not be possible on this modern Earth. You also don't realize the chemistry, or the physics behind the original formation of Oil and Hydrocarbons.

If you are going to advocate something, then make a useful effort to educate yourself fully in the first place. You sound patently and incurably ignorant at the moment.

http://geocraft.com/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html

34 posted on 02/25/2012 8:23:56 AM PST by PSYCHO-FREEP (If you come to a fork in the road, take it........)
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