Microbes That Eat Garbage, Excrete Crude Oil

[raptorcrew2002]

"Ten years ago I could never have imagined I'd be doing this," says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. "I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to — especially the ones coming out of business school — this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into."

 

He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs — very, very small bacteria — so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as wood chips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.

 

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us.

 

Not that Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls "renewable petroleum." After that, he grins, "it's a brave new world."

 

Pal is a senior director of LS9, one of several companies in or near Silicon Valley that have spurned traditional high-tech activities such as software and networking and embarked instead on an extraordinary race to make $140-a-barrel oil from Saudi Arabia obsolete.

 

"All of us here — everyone in this company and in this industry — are aware of the urgency," Pal says.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,367642,00.html

 

So…

With our current price of gas many readers would find this both interesting and kind of a what the…

 

Interesting but am I the only one who sees the potential problem here?

“they feed on agricultural waste such as wood chips or wheat straw”

 

So when bacteria spreads and begins to destroy crops, and creates a new form of termites would that be a concern? Microbiology scares the h#ll out of me with so many people are saying could, but never thinking should. Messing with bacteria just never seems like the brightest of ideas.

 

Not to mention everything eventually mutates.

 

So what do you think? Would you fill up on Bug Out.

The gas companies have been cr@ping on us for so long, but literately!

I guess that would be a new twist to the saying.

[Kennyweird]

The problem with this is that you'd need an enormous amount of this genetically altered bacteria to meet America's gas needs, and consequently an enormous amount of land for these 'bacteria farms' and an enormous amount of money to pay for them. Not saying it can't be done, just saying it would require an enormous amount of approval from the public and an enormous amount of funding, and we've all seen how hard it is to get sufficient funding or approval for controversial solutions to the energy crisis.

 

As for the worries of them escaping and and destroying crops, I doubt it. It sounds like these bacteria can only feed on dead plant matter, not living. As for the possibility of them infecting people, most bacteria are harmless, so the answer would probably be no.

 

Doesn't this sound like ethanol repackaged? Yes, I understand gasoline has more chemical energy than ethanol, but still, wouldn't this encounter the same barriers as ethanol? Just my thoughts on this article, that's all.

[ChrisCrowder]

As we are fast approaching running out of oil, I think that it is worth the investment, as long as this is experimented with under controlled conditions. At the end of the day, we need oil, fast.

 

----------------

Now playing: Feeder - Silent Cry

via FoxyTunes

[Invertalon]

As we are fast approaching running out of oil, I think that it is worth the investment, as long as this is experimented with under controlled conditions. At the end of the day, we need oil, fast.

 

Haha, where do you get your facts exactly? There is no proof oil supply is running out.

[Goliath513]

As we are fast approaching running out of oil, I think that it is worth the investment, as long as this is experimented with under controlled conditions. At the end of the day, we need oil, fast.

 

Haha, where do you get your facts exactly? There is no proof oil supply is running out.

 

At the rate it is being used today - it will more than likely be gone within our lifetime. Sky rocketing oil prices have to do with supply and demand. As the supply decreases - demand increased by a proportional amount. With increased demand - higher prices result. Examine the basic economic facts, and you will see that the prices are going up at such fast rates because the supply is decreasing.

[Invertalon]

At the rate it is being used today - it will more than likely be gone within our lifetime. Sky rocketing oil prices have to do with supply and demand. As the supply decreases - demand increased by a proportional amount. With increased demand - higher prices result. Examine the basic economic facts, and you will see that the prices are going up at such fast rates because the supply is decreasing.

 

I understand supply and demand of oil raising prices, but that is all. There is no known proof saying hey, we will run out of oil. Nobody knows just how much oil is available to us. For all you know, there can be an oil goldmine right under your house and you will not know it.

 

Also, I remember hearing a few weeks back in an interview with one of the large oil companies, quote, gas can be fifty some dollars a barrel and they would STILL make money. Oil companies are showing record profits! Which means, they are charging more and more because WE are willing to pay for it.

 

Oil may or not be running out, but in the end, the gas prices are not justified. Especially when these oil companies can make profits at HALF the cost per barrel that is now. Something is fishy about that...

[Homer]

At the rate it is being used today - it will more than likely be gone within our lifetime. Sky rocketing oil prices have to do with supply and demand. As the supply decreases - demand increased by a proportional amount. With increased demand - higher prices result. Examine the basic economic facts, and you will see that the prices are going up at such fast rates because the supply is decreasing.

 

I remember seeing old filmstrips back in 7th grade dating back to the 1960's that Oil will run out by the year 2000.

 

Now did that happen?

 

There will always be oil, we will never totally run out. Maybe run low, but there are always huge pockets of oil all over the world that have yet to be drilled out.

[MG]

This idea is simply not economic simply due to the amounts of fuel that would need to be produced.

Oil will take many years to run out, it will just become harder to extract it and become less economic to do so.

This is all working on the fact though that our major cities won't be underwater by 2020 due to global warming.

For the common people it is just simply better to get a more fuel efficient car. Dump the 15 mpg 4X4 and buy a 55 mpg Citroen C1. Cheaper for you and supposedly better for the planet.

[ParkTrips]

Haha, where do you get your facts exactly? There is no proof oil supply is running out.

Well, there is a finite amount of oil in the world, and it doesn't generate terribly fast, so whether its 10 years away or 50 years or 100 years, we are running out of oil

 

Drill ANWR.

[BeemerBoy]

We will not run out of oil in the next 4 years, so this is a moot point.

[Vekoma Fan Boy]

At the rate it is being used today - it will more than likely be gone within our lifetime. Sky rocketing oil prices have to do with supply and demand. As the supply decreases - demand increased by a proportional amount. With increased demand - higher prices result. Examine the basic economic facts, and you will see that the prices are going up at such fast rates because the supply is decreasing.

 

I remember seeing old filmstrips back in 7th grade dating back to the 1960's that Oil will run out by the year 2000.

 

Now did that happen?

There will always be oil, we will never totally run out. Maybe run low, but there are always huge pockets of oil all over the world that have yet to be drilled out.

 

No, there is not an infinite number of oil pockets on earth. Just because one pocket runs out, does not mean that a new one will randomly appear to replace it. We WILL run out at some point, but it is hard to prove just when that will be. People have predicted, and so far they have been wronk. Just like all of the end of the world predictions. It will happen, but we don't know when.

[jason10]

It will run out BUT not forever. After it runs out and we have used up what we have, more oil will be produced (in tiny tiny tiny miniscule amounts). Oil is always being produced but, to get the amount of oil we started with back will take millions of years!

[california screamin]

Drill ANWR.

 

No.

 

1. A majority of people polled in the US don't want drilling in ANWR. 2. If we drilled right now, the oil wouldn't hit the market for 10 years and it would do NOTHING to reduce the price of gasoline, or our dependence on foreign oil. 3. Everyone can see that the REAL ANSWER is increased fuel efficiency and alternative energy resources all of which are currently available, but are not promoted due the powerful oil and auto maker lobbies in Washington.

 

Drilling in ANWR is a terrible idea. And it will do nothing to make Americans change their Oil Dependent lifestyles... and the American people will still drive around in gas guzzling S.U.V's which are terrible for the environment.

 

It will take 10 years before one drop of ANWAR oil hits the gas pumps. And, it will only be enough supply to lower the cost of gas 1-2% a gallon.

 

Not worth it to me. Instead giving big oil a new playground to make BILLIONS MORE IN PROFITS, why not start doing things that make us use less gas...

 

The reality is not only is drilling in ANWAR environmentally WRONG but would produce no long term effects on the price of gas.

 

Drilling in ANWR is simply not a good idea. It really will not help the prices of gas, it will destroy a portion of a beautiful environmental area. And we all know what happened when exxon drilled in Alaska (anyone remember Valdez??) The environmental effects from that have been horrible, and the area still has not recovered.

 

Anyhow. Only a few more months until Bush's appointed USFS and Environmental bozoz are out of office!!!

 

Edit -

 

Just another thought here -

 

if we use our own oil here in America first before the Middle East runs out of oil, we'd be more dependent on them IF we don't create an alternative fuel or an alternate means of powering our vehicles/economy.

 

Oil companies can pump oil for free off of federal land once the price of oil hit a certain fixed amount...

 

Free oil? Yes, that is why they want it soo bad...

anybody who says we should drill has been listening to uneducated people like rush limebaugh and all of those other idiots look if we drilled we wouldnt even see any for 10 years and it is not the pipelines that disturb wildlife it is the roads that we cut to get in there bottom line i have not been there and one day i would like to go when i go there i dont want to see oil rigs and pipelines everywhere

[gisco]

Funny you should mention the Exxon Valdez. One tanker, one spill. Anyone ever think of the number of ships that were sunk during WWII in the North Atlantic? or in the Pacific? Many were tankers but they all carried fuel oil. What is the environmental effects today of the thousands of ships that were sunk?

[BeemerBoy]

^ Interesting point.

 

The only reasons the Valdez incident still resonates as strongly as it does today is because it directly affected American soil, and it was a careless and preventable mistake. Truth is, there've been many spills worldwide since the Valdez, and yet 99% of Americans couldn't name a single one.

[Scaparri]

There is no known proof saying hey, we will run out of oil. Nobody knows just how much oil is available to us. For all you know, there can be an oil goldmine right under your house and you will not know it.

 

Exactly. There is no known proof. For all we know, we could be on the verge of running out of oil in less than a decade. Nobody really knows for sure. So does that mean we should just keep drilling like idiots as if it is never going to run out?

 

Also, I remember hearing a few weeks back in an interview with one of the large oil companies, quote, gas can be fifty some dollars a barrel and they would STILL make money. Oil companies are showing record profits! Which means, they are charging more and more because WE are willing to pay for it.

 

Oil may or not be running out, but in the end, the gas prices are not justified. Especially when these oil companies can make profits at HALF the cost per barrel that is now. Something is fishy about that...

 

Yep, you're arguing against yourself here. It's not like foreign companies care about our price fixing laws. As you said, "they are charging more and more because WE are willing to pay for it." We are ALWAYS going to pay for it until we find some other energy source, because our nation can't function in its current state without massive amounts of oil. So, as long as we remain hellbent on our dependency of oil, then we will always be stuck in a crude oil conundrum.

 

Seriously, if we know there is a limited supply, and we know the emissions destroy the planet, why aren't we doing more to find alternatives? Personally, it bothers me that our country hasn't placed a greater emphasis on ethanol production. We are fully capable of making it, and countries such as Brazil have proven that it is a completely realistic option. People get their panties in a bunch about the threat of rising food costs due to the use of corn, but there are other options. Most people just assume that corn is the only way to produce ethanol, however, there are actually multiple products that can be used and are potentially better sources. We just aren't investing enough to do more research. Brazil has proven that ethanol use reduces the amount of oil imported. Even if food prices rise, the money spent on both food and fuel would at least boost our own economy.

 

I really don't understand why people remain so gung ho on oil drilling and anti-alternative fuels. At the very least, we should be making more of an effort for the sake of our own economy so that we can become less dependent on other countries, because at the moment, we are nothing but a marionette to the Middle East.

[ParkTrips]

1. A majority of people polled in the US don't want drilling in ANWR.

A majority of the people in the US also don't know their representatives in Congress, yet alone whether or not their reps support Alaskan drilling. So what? Most don't know what is going on up there, or the logistics of it, or anything from Geological Surveys etc.

 

2. If we drilled right now, the oil wouldn't hit the market for 10 years and it would do NOTHING to reduce the price of gasoline, or our dependence on foreign oil.

I don't think anyone, certainly not myself, expects drilling to being next week if approved tomorrow. The foreign dependency could be reduced... not wiped out, but reduced. And at a time when US relations are troublesome with a lot of the world's leading producers, any cut in dependency would be a good idea.

 

Juse think.. we could have been in there for several years already, but we keep debating about it and wasting time.

 

3. Everyone can see that the REAL ANSWER is increased fuel efficiency and alternative energy resources all of which are currently available..

like nuclear energy?

 

And it will do nothing to make Americans change their Oil Dependent lifestyles... and the American people will still drive around in gas guzzling S.U.V's which are terrible for the environment.

I totally agree that it won't change dependency on petroleum, but what really will?

 

Buildings are terrible for the environment, do you suggest we all live in tents?

 

And, it will only be enough supply to lower the cost of gas 1-2% a gallon.

I'm not worried so much about the price of gas, as we got away cheap for a looong time. I just don't see finding wasting money on projects like the one this thread discussed as any more viable.

 

Instead giving big oil a new playground to make BILLIONS MORE IN PROFITS, why not start doing things that make us use less gas...

BILLIONS MORE IN PROFITS, my god, how shameful of the largest companies on earth to profit. What are the profit margins of, say, Exxon and BP? Thinking about it in terms of volume makes it sound bad, but when you realize the actual margin isn't too big, why all the fuss?

 

The reality is not only is drilling in ANWAR environmentally WRONG..

are you suggesting that the other drilling projects up in the Arctic have destroyed the environment or something? The land was set aside to have the least effect on wildlife as possible. No doubt there will be affects, but not catastrophic.

 

And we all know what happened when exxon drilled in Alaska (anyone remember Valdez??)

The Valdez was a shipping vessel, not an oil well. If you want to talk about something more relevant, talk about problems with the Pipeline.

 

 

i have not been there and one day i would like to go when i go there i dont want to see oil rigs and pipelines everywhere

The huge majority of the Wildlife Refuge will remain as it is today.. its so big you won't be able to notice any developments unless you are in the 1002 area.

 

Look, I'm all for new energy source and efficiency. But I'm also for using what we have.