Or stinking giant mirrors, or stinking earthquake generators, or stinking puny hybrids....
Researchers in Texas say they have found a way of cutting the cost of producing gasoline by two thirds, taking advantage of the lowest grade of coal available - one that is abundant beneath the Canadian prairies.
A new refining process being perfected at the University of Texas at Arlington can turn the low-cost lignite coal, also known as brown coal, into oil at a fraction of the cost of importing crude oil from abroad.
h/t Karl
Update: In the comments, Eric Anderson reminds* me of this.
That sound you hear is the Saudi 'royal' family having a meltdown!
That wimpering you hear is the pussy metrosexuals / hybrid owners who just discovered what vehicle depreciation means!
Maybe we'll one day see Toyota Priuses mounted on pylons like the fighter jets outside the Legions branches!
uuuh check out www.verycoal.com
This is the kind of news that, if true, will start driving down crude costs (and at the pump) in the short to medium term. Even before the first drop of this new Brown Gold makes it to market.
Drill Baby Drill!!
Er..... Mine Baby Mine!!!
Either way, it sounds like a winner.
Set up a series of lignite to gas plants and name them after the eco-grifters and AGW ponzi schemers.
Lizzie May 1
Dr. Fruit Fly 2
Goreacle 3
Just to rub their noses into their own hypocrite's enviro crapola.
EARTH FIRST . . . We'll burn the coal on Venus later :)
I have no doubt the environuts will find some reason to object to this.
Cheap fuel is no reason not to use energy efficient tools though. But I guess hybrids don't actually fall into that category.
Is this any different to the ersatz gasoline the Germans produced in WW2? I suspect it may be a more efficent process but I bet most of the fuel produced is more suited to diesel engines. Not a problem unless you are in the US where small diesels are an anathema to the EPA.
ja ja ja
the last time the plants were run by Brown shirts.
All I can say is that our American cousins had
better be bloody polite. And hang a few of their
moonbats.
Saskatchewan does have wind "power" though, does it
not? Now and then?
God gives, and the politicians take away.
Cheap fuel is no reason not to use energy efficient tools though.
~K Stricker
I agree.
Let each individual define efficiency for themselves and their own purposes, according to their needs and personal economic means, with no need for interference through government legislative coercion, punitive taxation, or the burden of bureaucracy.
All I can say is that our American cousins had
better be bloody polite.
Why? They have plenty of coal.
HA HA HA HA HA HA AWSOME !!!!
Paul in calgary
John
[.....I have no doubt the environuts will find some reason to object to this.]
Done and done!
What did you think that whole CO2 AGW BS was about!
Expect more!
What did you think that whole CO2 AGW BS was about!
Expect more!
~sasquatch
Absolutely.
If environmentalists had their way, bad boys and girls would find a falafel in their stockings on Winterfest Eve.
I love it. This simply MUST happen!
There's a lot of "stuff" sitting on top of all that coal. I know how hard it is to poke a little hole, and suck liquid oil out of the ground. Landowners make it seem like they want to drill between the wife's legs. Imagine trying to deal with thousands of landowners, over the right to get coal out of an open pit mine. Good luck.
These announcements are designed to attract investors. They might as well be on the sidebar.
The Fischer-Tropsch process has been around since the 1920s. It is used for refining coal into primarily diesel fuel. There are several full scale plants being built today using many differing version of the process.
China is the largest investor in this technology.
Just imagine a world without socialists and their lies.
The most famous production use came in WWII when Germany ran their entire war machine on their plentiful coal.
The US has tons of coal but their government is determined to regulate it into extinction.
http://bigjournalism.com/rtrzupek/2010/02/24/the-attack-on-coal-continues-trashing-coal-ash-recycling/
If you live in a coal state, make no mistake about it: Barack Obama and the Administrator of his USEPA, Lisa Jackson, are looking to take you down, by any means – direct or indirect – at their disposal. Among the schemes in the pipeline is this: a proposal that would make burning coal to produce power a much more expensive proposition, by attaching billions of dollars more costs before the residue of the coal-burning process could be reused or disposed of. Ironically, Obama and Jackson are on the threshold of making an ill-considered decision that would undermine one of the most successful recycling programs in the history of the nation.
This is why Albertans like Texans.
They always come through.
We wouldn't have extracted the wealth of the tar sands without them.
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/texas_of_canada_alberta_province_nickname/
dp, the problem some of us landowners have it the attitude of entitlement that often comes with the well site. I've had good & bad experiences with drilling & pipeline co's, and have learned to cover my a$$. I imagine you would have the same opinion if the well was in your back yard.
Open-pit in Germany is a marvellous thing.
The mine slowly eats it's way cross-country.
Buildings, cemetaries, even trees are relocated behind the workings on rehabilitated ground.
The topsoil is stripped and kept separate to be spread upon the relocated overburden. The overburden is moved to the rear on long long conveyor belts.
The end result.....fields, hills, streams, villages, towns, trees....
No North Portal scarred moon-scape.....
Regardless...this won't fly because it doesn't fit with the "destruction of industrial/capitalist" of Mo Strongs wet dreams.
weasel farmer-The "attitude of entitlement" comes from actual entitlement. The companies with mineral rights are entitled to exploiting that resource, so why shouldn't they have an attitude of entitlement? They're entitled to their entitlements. Besides, if attitude had anything to do with business, the economy would grind to a halt. Business leaders aren't known for their humility.
What gets me, is landowners who get paid 300% of what your land is worth, and still think you should be entitled to use it for your farming operations. Oh well, sometimes you don't know what you have til it's gone.
sasquatch- Suppose we build a system like that in Canada. Do you still believe we'll produce gasoline for a third of the current price? We'd see prices triple in no time. That technology is something to put aside until we've exhausted our existing supply.
Kate, here a few slides on the technology that readers might find of interest, especially those with related engineering background. The slides are a bit short on details, but do provide an overview of the technology and a time line for development:
http://www.geology.ar.gov/pdf/Billo%20Dennis%20UT%20Arlington%20Lignite%20To%20Synfuels%20Jt.%20Energy.pdf
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a.MSdPvb0Ep8
There's a lot of "stuff" sitting on top of all that coal. I know how hard it is to poke a little hole, and suck liquid oil out of the ground.
Don't sell engineers short.
Gas, Gas - oil, oil - cheap, cheap, forever. Lets not forget the virtues of peer review or the recent problems caused by the lack of it.
Who says what, when and what are their interests and is there ANY government funding involved ANYWHERE?
No, No, No...this is even worse than the TAR Sands....We are all going to die. And if not us, then our kids...or their kids...or someone.
Don't you people read St. Algore?
CO2 is going up...temperature not so much but it will, no really, any time now winter will be over forever.
We'll all die, Die dead. Dead. And it will be your fault!
PiperPaul- I would never sell engineers short. I'm referring to the environmentalists, and landowners, who've made it extremely difficult to exploit resources. Drilling for oil is a very small footprint, compared to mining coal.
Norman at June 30, 2008 8:56 PM ...said,
[Quote],
Hybrid's and electric cars are overated. There is a shelf life for the battery and when an owner takes it in to trade it in on a new car, the owner will find that his expensive hybrid has no value.
The value of the car is dependent on the battery and since there is no way of ensuring the health of the battery, any savvy purchaser is not going to buy a potential dud, unless his name is Dion.
A new battery is about $7,000. would you want to buy a used car and immediately have to pay another $7,000 on top to ensure it is useable?
Posted by: Norman
[/Quote]
Respectfully Norman, allow me,
With a 10 year warranty on the battery pack. No one cares!
Please Norman, do not mix hybrids, [tiny battery] with EVs..[ huge battery pack]
Save thousand$$, Don't ever buy an Hybrid vehicle. Too complex way to get good miles per gallon and your hybrid will not move at all during a gasoline embargo. Buy a TDI diesel instead for good MPGs.
To be able to travel after refineries get hit, you will need an EV. Watch for the Nissan Leaf, coming out soon.