Petrol-producing bugs!

[alig]

Seems like in the near future, we're gonna be buying petrol from farmers:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/e ... 133668.ece


And once again, all those doomsayers were wrong. Necessity is the mother of invention and mankind has always found ways to adapt. Energy crisis my ass...

[Fugitive1979]

It's about time the oil companies allowed more to be done to help prepare the world for a life without oil. Instead of stifling efforts because it might hurt their profits. One day there won't be any recoverable oil and we need start adapting.

[gregf]

And once again, all those doomsayers were wrong. Necessity is the mother of invention
and mankind has always found ways to adapt. Energy crisis my ass...

Hmmm. which doom sayers is that ?

The ones who predicted that oil was running out ?
The ones who said we need new sources of energy ?
The ones who said the CIA's support for dictatorships like the Shah of Iran
and the Saudi Royal family will cause blow back for the West ?
Or the ones who said oil is causing Global Warming ?

Oh well any progress is good I suppose.

the bugs excrete a substance that is almost pump-ready.

Before investing in efforts like this, you need to be careful about the "almost". Not
only can the last step cost money that makes it non viable, but in the end the fuel
may still be unsuitable for cars unless the car engines or tanks are modified.
And that negates the whole advantage.

While this may be a good interim measure, you still need to consider GW.
Any oil based fuel is still going to be causing GW. So it would at least be
subject to carbon tax and unlikely to be supported in the long run.

[Undertaker]

Is the Times the Sunday Sport in disguise?

[alig]

It's just asinine not to use up all the avaiable oil because there is no alternative energy available to rival oil. Thus, even if one bought into GW, it would be irresponsible not to use up all the oil.But the article stated clearly that refining the oil is very cheap.
Nor can anybody really say how much oil is left. And some even believe that oil is renewable as the earth keeps producing more of it all the time.
And who would be feeling the carbon tax? Surely the low incomers and not jet set blowhards such as Al Gore who's been promoting GW in order to make millions with his own "green" companies.

And I won't even go into the whole USA vs. the world debate. It's pointless.

[gregf]

Stock tip.

The other one to keep an eye on is LNG : Liquid Natural Gas.
Not LPG. LNG is also less carbon, so acceptable as interim fuel.

It has the right ignition point etc to be a good replacement for oil.
Known reserves off our West coast will last 300 years. And it is now
thought we have as much again on our East coast.

BG (British Gas?) is trying to buy out the co. that has the East coast reserves.
Share price rising.
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[Later edit]

Ohh now I know what your on about. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7460767.stm
Well placed US oil lobbyist George W Bush calls for drilling off shore and in Alaskan wilderness areas.

There was a good report here recently about the damage to King William Sound
from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The oil is still ruining the environment today. There are no fish and the fishing fleet
is desperately maintaining their boats with little prospect of fish returning. The
surrounding economy also devastated. Little or no compensation, or even public
awareness as the US government is controlled by the oil companies.

Interesting at the bottom of the Wiki article :

WikiScanner discovered changes made from within Exxon Mobil altering this article's descriptions of the oil spill and down playing its severity. [1]