Home grown oil

Just in,

gas prices are high!

Whats that? You already knew that and I can go do what with myself?

Well, if you'd keep the colorful language to yourself I could tell you that thermal depolymerization could ease the strain at the pump and ...gasp...you wouldn't even have to stop driving the Suburban!

Now while maybe ,you don't need a half ton of steel to be your daily commute chariot, the idea here is simple. Mimic what mother earth has done for eons in her depths, by super heating waste products like unused meat byproducts and landfill refuse and convert it into oil under high pressure.

Its like Doc's "Mr. Fusion" although not quite efficient enough or small enough to strap to the back of a DeLorian, the idea is similar.

It gets better, there are already operational facilities online at this very moment! Its not a "we should be able to bring the technology to market by the end of the 2050" its a hear and now, done deal!

Changing World Technologies, Inc. claims to have an operational plant in Carthage, Missouri that is currently producing diesel fuel from livestock byproducts.

Now this kind of thing isn't completely new, but the use of water as tool for super heating is some thing that apperantly has not been done before. This seemingly simple factor seems to be what makes this process more attractive now than it has ever been. Up till this point it seems that the designs have called for the removal of the water from the byproducts and this was energy intensive and thus more expensive.

Click here for the companies diagram of how the process operates generally.

So hoping and praying that the technology is as good as it claims, we could see a viable (though possibly short term) solution to our energy needs. Theoretically these type of plants could spring up at local dumps, meat rendering plants etc... Thus, each city/county/state could have their own oil supplies.

Talk about a serious threat to the status quo! The cynic would state that the technology is doomed to wither for just that very reason. The way I see it, that is a legitimate perspective at least in the near term. However, being the staunch believer in capitalism that I am, I suspect even the "big bad corporations" won't be able to fight progress. With Americans reeling from the sticker shock at the pump, you can bet that investors and entrepreneurs are scrambling to cash in on the quickest fix. Secret society conspiracies aside, the biggest known challenge to TDP is the old N.I.M.B.Y. issue. No one wants these stinky facilities to be with in a nose hair of their property or even their municipality. (I wonder how much we would complain if we got gas for a buck a gallon?)

Part of the benefit of this type of solution is the low impact it would have on our current set up. Our entire energy system could remain virtually unchanged. We wouldn't have to change any infrastructure at the consumer level. (You could keep your Humvee). The means of transport would have to be modified only slightly (I.e. more pipelines) and the costs could be minimized and insulated from geographically isolated events like natural disasters.

Heres hoping that this isn't too good to be true.