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| Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol |
| 2008-06-15 |
| To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil. Wood chips are already scarce in our area because of demand from pellet makers. Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”. Mr Pal is a senior director of LS9, one of several companies in or near Silicon Valley that have spurned traditional high-tech activities such as software and networking and embarked instead on an extraordinary race to make $140-a-barrel oil (£70) from Saudi Arabia obsolete. “All of us here – everyone in this company and in this industry, are aware of the urgency,” Mr Pal says. What is most remarkable about what they are doing is that instead of trying to reengineer the global economy – as is required, for example, for the use of hydrogen fuel – they are trying to make a product that is interchangeable with oil. The company claims that this “Oil 2.0” will not only be renewable but also carbon negative – meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made. Personally I prefer electric because that allows central power generation which is cleaner and more efficient. But if this is what it takes to put the jockeys back on their camels, I'll go for it. |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #24 HMMMMM, so BLADDER UNNER is also RAID RUNNER [bug can] - Humanity intentionally dev Tokyo-destroying BUG-ZILLA(S) as fuel for cars??? JOHN BELUSHI > "WAS IT OVER WHEN THE BUGS SMASHED PEARL HARBOR, AND IT TAINT OVER NOW...LETS DOOOOOOOOOOO IIIIIITTTT"! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-06-15 20:18 |
| #23 If none have failed, they may have a few in inventory. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-15 18:45 |
| #22 Oh and ed - I think $3k w/100% markup is a bit optimistic. Toyota dealers have stated $4.5k and I've heard folks say that Toyota mechanics claim the part alone costs the dealership $3k. I will grant though that those may be dated numbers. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-06-15 18:30 |
| #21 None of the Prius battery packs sold in America (Gen 2 and 3) have had to be replaced. That is indeed very impressive. I'm aware that manufacturers are claiming 150-200k mile lifetimes for hybrid battery packs but with relatively little long-term data I'll remain a skeptic for a bit yet. Besides, I think I can get another 500-600k out of my M/B land yacht and by that time I'll be dead so I'll probably never face a hybrid buying decision that's anything other than a curiosity. ;) The high price of gasoline may be a case of turning lemons into lemonade. Yes but it has a fairly limited shelf-life. Just as alternatives begin to come into their own the oil bubble will burst and once again rearrange the economics of energy. I continue to believe that current oil prices are a bit of a perfect storm rather than a true supply and demand issue. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-06-15 18:28 |
| #20 Bugs eat Bugger All and Produce Gas That makes a nice headline, heh. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul back home 2008-06-15 18:25 |
| #19 Come on you guys you are so slow. NO BUGS FOR OIL!! |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-06-15 18:13 |
| #18 The high price of gasoline may be a case of turning lemons into lemonade. It may just be the impetus needed to get us away from OPEC and middle east oil. Faster please. If the money is cut off to the mid east for oil we might see much of the large-scale organized terrorism such as created 911 dry up without oil money. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-06-15 17:00 |
| #17 Wonder what the little buggers would excrete if they ate Congresswaste? |
| Posted by: OyVey 1 2008-06-15 16:06 |
| #16 The Toyota engineers have found little degradation after 150,000 miles. Batteries are killed by either draining to 0% or over charging or extreme temp variation. The Prius tries to keep it's battery charge somewhere in the middle. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-06-15 15:58 |
| #15 None of the Prius battery packs sold in America (Gen 2 and 3) have had to be replaced. That's pretty impressive given that they were introduced in 2001. My car battery usually doesn't get more than 5 years. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-15 15:41 |
| #14 it freezes up and has to be heated to work I believe that's one of the problems the secondary burner is supposed to solve. You also get free air conditioning from the expanding air. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-06-15 15:37 |
| #13 None of the Prius battery packs sold in America (Gen 2 and 3) have had to be replaced. They also come with a 100,000 mile warranty. If you damage the battery pack in an accident, a new replacement battery pack will run $3,000 including the 100% markup, used less than $1000. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-06-15 15:31 |
| #12 GK, That "Air powered Car" has some serious drawbacks, mainly temperature, it freezes up and has to be heated to work, fine in a hot climate, lousy in all northern states and Canada.(And wherever it's near freezing outside, kinda eliminates mountain areas) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-06-15 15:27 |
| #11 GK - I'd not seen that but it's both a wonderful idea and a wonderful illustration of why we should let the market develop solutions rather than allowing government to mandate them. But ye gads, a 75 HP automobile? That's barely half of what my motorcycle made prior to the turbocharger having been installed. ;) Purely my opinion but I've always thought that electric vehicles would be of limited utility until they were able to clear a couple of benchmarks: a) 300 miles per charge; b) 10 minute full recharge; and c) cost of ownership equal to or less than an equivalent gasoline or diesel powered vehicle. In other words, you really have to build it so that it can be used just like a vehicle that features an internal combustion engine. Otherwise people will have to buy a couple of electrics for their commutes but still maintain a separate vehicle for trips. Not very cost effective that. Cost of ownership is a bit sticky. From the details I've seen of late hybrids are running $3.5 - $5k or more higher than comparable gasoline powered vehicles and require replacement of their battery packs at regular intervals. Said battery packs are $3.5k (wholesale cost to purchase Prius batteries) and up. From a total cost of ownership perspective even hybrids don't yet make economic sense. They're a fine idea but they're going to have to be truly competitive if they're to succeed. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-06-15 15:13 |
| #10 #1: This also has the interesting implication of what if such a microbe existed before? "Moose" I'm with you here, Oil as bacterial waste has a very nice ring to it, we're burning Millennia old Bugshit, not just the fern bogs themselves but the bacterial waste . (Makes me woner if there was an advanced Civilization before ours, Glaciers have erased any evidence, either way). |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-06-15 15:13 |
| #9 Mr. Pal's efforts will all be for naught when Holly-weird produces a sci-fi movie "The Muir Woods Syndrome" starring Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas. In this fright film Pal's bugs get loose in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and turn the forest to crude oil which pollutes San Francisco Bay. In reaction to this tragedy Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer demand that all research to convert waste to fuel be stopped. OPEC applauds their bold initiative. |
| Posted by: GK 2008-06-15 15:01 |
| #8 How big does a battery have to be to contain the energy contained in a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline? 35KWHs depending on the gasoline. But an electric motor is several times more efficient than a gasoline engine. Thats enough to power a passenger car 140 miles. You can figure a passenger size car will get about 4 miles from 1KWH of battery drained. The caveat is you do not want to fully drain most batteries or the life will drastically shorten. For instance the Chevy Volt runs 40 miles on it's 16HWH battery (88 miles for 35HWH) though GM is being overly conservative. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-06-15 14:48 |
| #7 Azcat: Until and unless someone does abandoning hydrocarbons as fuels for vehicles just isn't going to happen. Did you happen to see this article on Fox Business News on May 29? (I know, the article also carries a date of Feb. 29.) Coming By 2010: An Air-Powered Car That Costs Less Than $18,000 |
| Posted by: GK 2008-06-15 14:47 |
| #6 Bobby, it depends. Rechargable? Environmental cost? Financial cost? Size? The key is to come up with something in the price range of lead-acid but lighter, smaller, & at least not worse for the environment. Bugs can be very useful - he says, as he sips a cold bottle of yeast excrement. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-06-15 14:36 |
| #5 How big does a battery have to be to contain the energy contained in a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline? BTUs to Kilowatt-hours, anyone? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-06-15 14:29 |
| #4 Personally I prefer electric .... One of my electrical engineering professors was fond of saying, "Invent a better battery and you'll be the richest person in the world." He would also go on to note that such had been the case for several decades and yet no one had accomplished the task. Until and unless someone does abandoning hydrocarbons as fuels for vehicles just isn't going to happen. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-06-15 11:42 |
| #3 Let's elect them to congress. They'll do a better job then the current bunch of jackasses. |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2008-06-15 10:16 |
| #2 U.S. Congress votes to ban this "tool of biowarfare" in 3, 2, 1,... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2008-06-15 10:13 |
| #1 This also has the interesting implication of what if such a microbe existed before? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-06-15 09:29 |