James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote: In solving the baseload elex coal problem, I had to generate enough ammonia > to photosynthetically fix all fossil fuel elex CO2 into algal biomass.
An interesting hybrid approach. Things that sound complicated like this sometimes work surprisingly well. A hybrid automobile is a good example. At first glance you think it add steps from combustion to propulsion so it should be less efficient. It works because the step taken just before propulsion varies with speed, so it is more effective. Technology systems tend to get complicated, followed by a grand simplification, followed by another phase of increasing complexity. A classic example is piston aircraft engine giving way to the jet engine (a simplification -- at least in overall design), which then become more complicated as it grew larger and more efficient. Jet engines are now being simplified again for small aircraft, with a so-called "one-piece turbine." - Jed
