Hi, Robin, Agreed that carbons can be used to make carbon compounds. But, as you point out, there is non-trivial the matter of energy consumed in the process and, I would add, the non-trivial matter of economics.
There is a reason we aren't making carbon-based materials out of CO2. And this same reason is the reason why we should be conserving oil for feedstock purposes, rather than fuel. No? Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: mix...@bigpond.com [mailto:mix...@bigpond.com] Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 7:03 PM To: vortex-l@eskimo.com Subject: Re: [Vo]:When two wrongs make a right -- oil and nuclear In reply to Lawrence de Bivort's message of Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:16:47 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Someday, I imagine, humankind will rue having burned oil for fuel, realizing >that it was far more valuable as material feedstock for plastics than it is >as fuel. It may be our children who come to realize this, and they may >wonder why their parents and grandparents didn't realize it and why they >didn't insist that oil be used only as a feedstock. [snip] I doubt it. A good organic chemist can make just about any carbon compound from just about any other carbon compound, given enough energy. Even CO2 can serve as the source if really necessary. So the only real limitation is adequate cheap clean energy. Fusion in one form or another would provide this. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
