In September, a privately held and highly secretive U.S. bio-tech company named Joule Unlimited received a patent for “a proprietary organism” – a genetically adapted E. coli bacterium – that feeds solely on carbon dioxide and excretes liquid hydrocarbons: diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline. This breakthrough technology, the company says, will deliver renewable supplies of liquid fossil fuel almost anywhere on Earth, in essentially unlimited quantity and at an energy-cost equivalent of $30 (U.S.) a barrel of crude oil. It will deliver, the company says, “fossil fuels on demand.”
We’re not talking “bio-fuels” – not, at any rate, in the usual sense of the word. The Joule technology requires no “feedstock,” no corn, no wood, no garbage, no algae. Aside from hungry, gene-altered micro-organisms, it requires only carbon dioxide and sunshine to manufacture crude. And water: whether fresh, brackish or salt. With these “inputs,” it mimics photosynthesis, the process by which green leaves use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds. Indeed, the company describes its manufacture of fossil fuels as “artificial photosynthesis.”
If this is on the level, it would be fantastic.
Found by Cinàedh.
An update from the Boston Business Journal found by jeffreysdailey.
Environmentalists would not be happy with such a development. Being green is a religion. Stopping global warming, reducing pollution, etc are just ways to get others to adopt their religion.
There was an episode of the XFiles spinoff The Lone Gunmen where this was expressed pretty well. They find someone’s design for a car that gets fantastic fuel efficiency, and they don’t publicize it, because they don’t like the idea of the urban sprawl that would be created.
@1 @2 ROTFLMAO
I love the crazy wingnuts. Who cares, the right believes an invisible magic being is coming back soon to solve all our problems of our 6,000 year old world. Don’t worry your pretty little heads over all this satanic “science” stuff (which Republicans ALWAYS defund anyway). Just leave the fancy book learn’n stuff to the Democrats. Thanks!
Seriously dude. We haven’t shutdown oil exploration (or else Exxon is lying when they tell their shareholders they’re spending hundreds of millions a year doing exactly that).
Just like the crazy Republicans who throughout my life have been CONVINCED the UN black helicopters are coming to take my guns any day now…you’re always wrong. Crazy and wrong. Just stay out of the science debates, you’re not qualified and always end up interjecting magic into the debate.
#2 “Stopping global warming…”
If this proposed organism can actually accomplish a reduction in CO2, I don’t see what Environmentalists wouldn’t like about it. I haven’t done a survey or anything, but this seems to be exactly the type of R&D they’ve been hoping for.
Why we will soon pay $10 gal gas said in #1 a lot of clap trap.
What’s wrong with getting off of using oil for transportation and using electricity instead?
The fuel described in there a lot of area. (Its not as efficient as photosynthesis.)
That said it could be locally available to large power plants which would feed our electric power grid. (Imagine these e,coli bacteria growing under solar collectors and solar reflectors melting sodium, all going to feed a power plant out in Death Valley.
Then we’d need a smart grid which would be built to carry the the gigawatts of power to California and Nevada.
We could then replicate the design in the plains for Chicago and the Mid-West, and out east for the I-95 corridor.
We could use the various power sources according to the need (too dark, use molten sodium and bio gas until its light enough.)
#2, yeah, the peak oil people have their hearts set on a world with small villages where everyone rides bikes, so a discovery like this would likely not be well received.
They’d never admit it of course but they would do their best to find moral reasons to fight it. Like -we don’t know enough about it yet- or something.
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There is to my understanding of chemistry nothing about this that is wrong in principle. The sun provides the energy, co2 one building block and water the other. Out comes fuel. It’s just a form of solar energy that bypasses the electricity step.
Prepare for stock market turbulence if someone manages to confirm that it works.
Fox News reported on something like this a couple of years or so ago. The focus of the article was about how we may have to rethink just how petroleum actually is created due to bacteria or such.
“The Joule technology requires no “feedstock,” no corn, no wood, no garbage, no algae. Aside from hungry, gene-altered micro-organisms, it requires only carbon dioxide and sunshine to manufacture crude. And water: whether fresh, brackish or salt. With these “inputs,” it mimics photosynthesis, the process by which green leaves use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds. Indeed, the company describes its manufacture of fossil fuels as “artificial photosynthesis.””
Anyone care to guess what would happen if this stuff got into Oh lets say the drinking supply “Honey there’s flames coming out the faucet again”
I think its prime time for an energy revolution.
Don’t hold your breath.
Highly unlikely it’s even close to a sliver bullet. I’d love to be wrong – but unfortunately a wall of basic physics is in the way.
Another opportunity to do nothing! Yay. Like we needed another one.
I dunno, sounds a little bit like the old cold fusion flap or magnetic gasoline extenders and that kind of stuff. But ah, who cares, it’s sort of fun to watch these things come and go as they do, trying to hit the gong. And who knows, one of them might actually win a cigar after a while.
Wikipedia has an interesting article on synthetic liquid fuel production. “Synthetic fuel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia” http://bit.ly/dFbK2M
Sounds cool, But… How is this genetically altered creature going to be kept out of our oceans and streams and causing them to turn into vast pools of hydrocarbon waiting to explode and ending life as we know it in greast big ball of fire.
Fuel-Making Fungus Challenges Oil Creation Theory: http://tinyurl.com/6poqwz
Oh great. Next we will have a bacteria gap!
The Republican Party just dropped dead.
Somebody will find a way to make this very expensive. You know; for all the right (wing) reasons.
Article in Physorg.com, more than a year old but it describes the technical problems and methods that are probably used by this process…
“Researchers engineer bacteria to turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel” http://tw.physorg.com/179683624
Hewhomustnotbeflamed & IMBECILE
Because clearly the environmental concerns are stopping us from using oil right now.
what if this organism gets released into the wild and turns all the oceans into oil?
This is pie-in-the-sky unlikely BUT possibly incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands if true. Also, I think a few Cheneys would want this locked away for the foreseeable future too.
Look for nothing to happen.
Nerfolator,
Right idea, wrong side. The left would look at this as a goldmine for tax revenues to pass onto the masses.
Don’t WORRY! Everyone at Joule Unlimited will get two to the head, all their research will be ‘cleaned’ and the facility burned to the ground… All debate and problem solved; you can now continue your regularly scheduled descent in to the dark ages…
Game Set Match
http://bizjournals.com/boston/news/2011/01/18/obama-transition-vet-joins-joule-board.html
Obviously the EPA could care less. They have been systematically trying to eliminate fossil fuels of any kind. I think many of the alternatives have their own energy consumpition issues which many fail to address. It would be wonderful if this is truly on the level.
@#1
“I am convinced America is systematically being decimated from within, via regulatory shadow government.”
Try this one on for size:
I am convinced America is systematically being decimated from within, via corporate shadow government.
This is the dawning of the “Age of Aquariums”.
@#28
Motif, please.
Corporate conglomerate is vicious but REQUIRES prosperous country to reap its rewards. It works on positive feedback of exploding prosperity->more consumption->more profits… Decimate the country economic power and they lose.
Anal Control Freaks/Progressives driving regulatory insanity think Utopian thoughts. They think the more uniform wealth is distributed among countries and people – the better. They do not care for economic consequences but for ideology. For them weak countries must prosper more and “rich”, prosperous countries must be brought to decline. Prosperous rich country like US is against every molecule of their being. They have interest in systematic decimation of prosperous economy.
Dusanmal –
Then how do you explain the rising wealth gap? This feedback system of yours isn’t doing anything for the middle class, yet it doesn’t seem to be hurting the rich any.
I don’t think there are enough available acres of suitable land on earth to use for this process, that would service just the USA’s fuel needs. Anyone care to take a stab at the math?
The land has to be barren (not arable), relatively flat, have any water source, and warm.
From their web site: “We currently target commercial delivery of up to 15,000 gallons of diesel and 25,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year at full-scale production”
Corporations wield most of the power in our current government. It is silly to talk about right wing vs. liberals or progressives, it is exactly the kind of infighting that will keep the people from taking the power back. The so-called liberal media is run by giant corporations who report exactly the same shit as fox-news word for word while the important stuff gets glossed over or totally ignored. de-regulation and crooked people in the financial sector caused our current economic crisis. The people and businesses who are holding on to their money and not letting money move around keeps thing from getting better. When money doesn’t move around it isn’t doing its job and slows the economy down. The masses with lower incomes cannot hold on to their money so they cannot be the problem. Thank god the government has been spending money or we’d be getting worse rather than getting better (we have been improving since just after Obama took office, we went from losing 800,000+ jobs a month to now gaining a small amount every month). I don’t think the current administration had much to do with this recovery since TARP was approved pre-obama although extending unemployment benefits they had to fight for and that money gets immediately spent in the economy.
But, again, whichever side of the political spectrum gets some small success the corporations continue to get much bigger considerations. For example tax cuts that benefit 1% of the population at the expense of everyone else gets approved. Not very democratic for 1% of the population to rule.