[ExI] Sandia and energy

[Keith Henson]

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 12:17 PM,  BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 12/19/09, Keith Henson wrote:
>>  Bill, the problem is not the high school chemistry, but the energy
>>  source to make the hydrogen.
>>  The US uses about 20 million bbls of oil a day.  To make that much
>>  synthetic fuel would take a dedicated 2 TW.
>>
>>  Nothing wrong with "pop sci" but you need to apply better tests than
>>  the reporter or for that matter, the people who funded this work.
>
> Hmmm. Do you think the Sandia scientists would be pleased to know that
> they are just doing 'high school chemistry'?

It would surprise me if they thought otherwise.

> Sandia press release here:
> <http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/sunshine.html>
>
> They don't intend to replace *all* the oil production with this
> device. Their idea is that in say, 15 years, every coal power station
> could have one of these devices attached, taking all the CO2 thrown
> out by the power station and using sunlight to produce fuel.

Bill, for basic science reasons that's nonsense.

It would take more energy than a power station is making to convert
the CO2 it puts out into liquid fuel.  So a coal plant would have to
be surrounded by square miles of solar collectors.

It's only when you have solved and oversolved the energy source
problem that making liquid fuels from CO2 makes sense.  The energy
source is what's important, not the well understood chemistry of
making liquid fuels.

Keith