Comments on: One Giant Step Closer to Fuel-from-Sunlight by Joule Biotechnologies http://cleantechnica.com/2010/02/15/one-giant-step-closer-to-fuel-from-sunlight-by-joule-biotechnologies/ Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More. Tue, 30 Dec 2014 14:46:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1 By: Calvin http://cleantechnica.com/2010/02/15/one-giant-step-closer-to-fuel-from-sunlight-by-joule-biotechnologies/#comment-8608 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:23:52 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=5161#comment-8608 Sounds like a great technology, if they can manage to scale it up from the lab tests. Thanks for featuring it!

A comment on your last sentence: That Texas is a leader in wind energy (it has been for a long time) and has great solar potential – those two factors don’t really have any bearing on the health of its oil industry. Oil’s best quality is that it is easily stored and transported. It’s primary value is for use for transportation. Solar and wind power make electricity which is very valuable, but not easily stored, and not really used for transportation. Sure, there are some EVs and some plug-in hybrids, but it will probably be a long time before electricity pushes petroleum by the wayside in the transportation industry. Electricity generated from renewable energy really won’t displace our nation’s petroleum consumption for a long, long time to come.

But, biofuels… as you say, do have the potential to make petroleum obsolete! Fingers crossed.

]]> By: Calvin http://cleantechnica.com/2010/02/15/one-giant-step-closer-to-fuel-from-sunlight-by-joule-biotechnologies/#comment-26069 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:23:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=5161#comment-26069 Sounds like a great technology, if they can manage to scale it up from the lab tests. Thanks for featuring it!

A comment on your last sentence: That Texas is a leader in wind energy (it has been for a long time) and has great solar potential – those two factors don’t really have any bearing on the health of its oil industry. Oil’s best quality is that it is easily stored and transported. It’s primary value is for use for transportation. Solar and wind power make electricity which is very valuable, but not easily stored, and not really used for transportation. Sure, there are some EVs and some plug-in hybrids, but it will probably be a long time before electricity pushes petroleum by the wayside in the transportation industry. Electricity generated from renewable energy really won’t displace our nation’s petroleum consumption for a long, long time to come.

But, biofuels… as you say, do have the potential to make petroleum obsolete! Fingers crossed.

]]> By: Mason Hamilton http://cleantechnica.com/2010/02/15/one-giant-step-closer-to-fuel-from-sunlight-by-joule-biotechnologies/#comment-8607 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:04:19 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=5161#comment-8607 No mention is made of the nutrient sources that will grow the algae for the system. All large scale biofuel systems require petro-chemical fertilizers and it is very questionable if they are either sustainable in the long term or if they are even carbon neutral or environmentally friendly in the short term.

No mention is made of economic basis for their cost projections. Everyone (and most do) can make product cost projections and that is all they are projections. Without the audited basis of those projections – no credibility.

]]> By: Mason Hamilton http://cleantechnica.com/2010/02/15/one-giant-step-closer-to-fuel-from-sunlight-by-joule-biotechnologies/#comment-26068 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:04:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=5161#comment-26068 No mention is made of the nutrient sources that will grow the algae for the system. All large scale biofuel systems require petro-chemical fertilizers and it is very questionable if they are either sustainable in the long term or if they are even carbon neutral or environmentally friendly in the short term.

No mention is made of economic basis for their cost projections. Everyone (and most do) can make product cost projections and that is all they are projections. Without the audited basis of those projections – no credibility.

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