Thread by @Dry_Observer

@business .@business Very useful for Russia, Iran and the Saudi's Aramco IPO.

But just pointing out we could dump algae in biodigesters, produce unlimited natural gas & recycle the waste on 6/23/14 preceded oil prices peaking 6/24/14 & plummeting by 75%.

https://twitter.com/Ralph_Cerchione/status/481323781420371968

@business .@business To sum up:
Algae rotting in biodigesters can make all the methane (natural gas) that you need.

Conventional GTL (gas-to-liquid) technology converts NG to oil at $25/barrel *without* pricing in de facto free energy or feedstocks.
futureimperative.blogspot.com/2011/07/amazon…

@business .@business A biodigester is a covered trench lined with block, w/a slurry of waste & water decomposing inside. Not exactly the most difficulty engineering feat if you have the lined hole and a sheet of plastic.

@business .@business So you can replace manure w/algae, throw in ruminant microbes from a sheep or cow (found in their cuds & outer stomachs) & rot it all down.

And yes, this is all public domain.

You're welcome.

@business .@business Most algae reproduces exponentially & most are autotrophic - requiring no complex organic molecules.

So recycle your CO2, exhaust (CO2/water) & decayed organics back in & you have an inexhaustible supply.

@business .@business You can also produce vast supplies of fertilizer, charcoal & other products w/it.

Leftover organics? Dried out, & you're just a low-oxygen burn away from charcoal. & that's your *waste.*

Used slurry or charcoal can be used as organic fertilizer.

@business .@business Charcoal locks up carbon in your soil for many years. So pull millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere.

The key isn't a net-zero carbon output.

It's a net-*negative* output until we can stabilize the climate.

@business .@business Charcoal can also replace coal in power plants, it just burns cleaner & hotter.

Or it can adsorb compressed natural gas, allowing CNG to be used as fuel in conventional gas-powered vehicles at a much lower pressure.

@business .@business Don't believe it? Just dig the trench. Given time & microbes - your algae *will* rot down on schedule.

Practical #Nanotech? Solar = to photosynthesis?

Why not use the algae & bacteria we already have?

Clean/efficient/cheap.

@business .@business Natural bacteria/algae can't be patented; even a poor villager w/a sheet of plastic & a trench can afford this.

Many companies promote their #algae research but the public domain is open to everyone. No need for patented tech.

@business .@business Also critical?

Swapping out existing technology cheaply without an immediate multi-trillion cost in radically updating your infrastructure.

Example: Compressed natural gas can replace gasoline in normal cars - requires canisters, hoses & a switch on the dashboard.

@business .@business We can't instantly replace all of our cars with electric models, or natural-gas-powered buses, or electric trains.

But we don't have to.

@business .@business The Saudis said at the oil crash’s outset they could pump at $2/barrel.

An odd declaration, seemingly out of nowhere.

What do they know that most didn't?
npr.org/sections/money…

@business .@business A cheap, unlimited supply of clean methane & GTL produces unlimited oil at $25/barrel.

Yes, without counting an effectively free feedstock & energy source for the conversion.
chemlink.com.au/gtl.htm

@business .@business Assuming you still *want* oil, with clean natural gas generating limitless electricity or pure-silica solar panels.

@business .@business Clean energy?

Raw heat, sand & a bit of recycled copper make pure-silica solar panels; less efficient than rare earth, but literally printable… from *sand.*
#3DPrinting

Or simply cast. The cheap, if less exotic method.

@business .@business Effectively free heat beyond the melting point of glass, recycled copper & #3Dprinting means solar panels for everyone.

The greatest cost to recycling metal, paper, plastic & glass? Again, raw heat, now virtually free.

@business .@business Recycle key waste streams & you have raw materials for #3Dprinters/#CNCs/#RepRaps.

Clean, almost free fuel/fertilizer/electricity for world’s poor is the best investment imaginable.

@business .@business Every NG power plant on Earth will realize they can run on #biogas, #recycle their exhaust & sell their refuse as #commodities.

No one owes you a market. Much less a toxic, $3 trillion+/year revenue stream that is killing the planet.

@business .@business With all that implies for energy, commodities, inflation and the economy. And human welfare.

So, oil with an effective cap of $25/barrel or lower vs solar & natural gas that are practically free.

@business .@business Anyone left in oil will be selling feedstocks & lubricants.

Which brings us back to Russia.

Russia’s economy - her per-capita GDP - fell 40+% from 2013 through 2015 in the wake of the 2014 oil crash.
google.com/search?q=russi…

@business .@business Remember how Russia & OPEC struggled to cooperate in a net reduction of 1.7 million or so barrels a day during that plunge.

What will a demand drop of 4-8 million/day - or more - do to them?

Collapse in demand from the economy & renewables + vast oversupply = crash.

@business .@business Renewables and conservation aside, any significant drop in the global economy is echoed by a corresponding drop in demand for fossil fuels.

The supply-demand balance in oil and gas prices has always been precarious.

Welcome to the tipping point.

@business .@business In mid-2014, 25% of Russia's economy & 50% of her government revenues came from oil/gas.

Russia exports oil, gas & weapons.

And her various criminal enterprises.

@business .@business We have already hit the key tipping point where new solar/wind are cheaper than new coal plants.

Coal is effectively finished as an energy source - as of 2016, the top 4 US producers lost 99% value in 5 years.

Gas & oil are on the same path.

@business .@business We could talk about global asset forfeiture, the implosion of their intelligence/organized-crime networks & the impact of the US power to cut them off from the global economy.

If our banks don't countersign you, no one this side of North Korea will.

@business .@business Remember also how delicate the supply-demand balance is for oil.

The US developed practical fracking by 2008, the global economy crashed (enforcing de facto conservation) from 2008 to 2009 and the Obama Administrations stimulus was mostly renewables/conservation.

@business .@business The US military has a simple metric:

How much money is saved on an annual basis if we swap out fossil fuels for renewables in this instance?

They then take a loan where the payments are substantially below the easily assessed savings.

They save money every month.

@business .@business So the military gets their renewables installed for what amounts to negative cost.

The Pentagon/US Federal government has tremendous credit, yes.

But there's a ton of institutions which could do this.

Businesses. State and local governments.

De facto negative cost.

@business .@business Is it beyond the reach of farmers?

What if the Federal government provided a zero-interest loan with payments that are again *below* the monthly saving accrued, w/payments beginning only once the system is purchased and installed?

@business .@business They could start by targeting elements with key follow-on benefits, like collecting methane from cattle barns or feeding stations/troughs, or enabling remote ranches or small towns to go off grid.

In areas where renewables are viable, this would be swift.

@business .@business And if we looked at the key elements in our society that most need to function in the event of a major power disruption - from natural disasters, cyber-warfare or other sabotage - we could prioritize on that basis and accelerate the move to renewables more efficiently.

@business .@business If we look at a grid at risk and assess what really *has* to keep working to avoid an area plunging into immediate crisis during any sustained grid-power failure, the really key elements aren't that numerous.

@business .@business Water supplies and sewage, large food-storage facilities, fuel supplies (including gas stations) and hospitals are obvious ones.

But how many major intersections *have* to stay open in a small city during power failures to avoid instant gridlock?

20? 30?

@business .@business Solar-powered, charge-storing traffic lights already exist.

You don't have to change out everything.

Swap out the lights at key intersections, replacing others as you can budget it in, starting with those that are critical or had to be replaced anyway.

@business .@business Traffic lights are an example of something small and cheap that can make a significant difference if they're taken care of.

Homeland security demands a considerable budget. Could some of these demands be combined and offset?

Again, a cost of less than zero.

@business .@business Or charities engaged in carbon offsets could arrange loans requiring only a partial repayment, the rest forgiven, while plowing their considerable "profit" of being able to rapidly reuse the money into the next loan and the next.
futureimperative.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-ch…

@business .@business But the practical, technical issues with shifting to renewables in a major way have largely already been solved.

Even without using radically improved methods like cheap superconductive power cells or generating all our natural gas using algae in biodigesters.

@business .@business You can ask the @FBI
how well that particular source of innovation is doing on, say, tracking & mapping cryptocurrency & malware & on the use of evolutionary algorithms in PSYOPs.

@business @FBI .@business Or ask the military on how well that whole install-renewables-for-less-than-zero-cost thing is going.

Apparently well, as it happens.