Why can't we make oil? I understand how it was made in the past,

[napi21]

but technonogy has gone a LONG WAY in everything else since then! Shen the link. It gives a very short & sweet explaanation of how oil was actually made, but if we're talking about animals, plankton and pressure, it wounds to me like it could be done.

http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/ExxonMobil/knowl/2/origin.html

[pokerfan]

1. We do

It's called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel">biofuel.

[Evoman]

2. We should cut out all the middle men and find better ways to use the sun.

[TheWraith]

3. Actually, you're absolutely right. We can make oil.

Not only are there biofuels like ethanol, but we can actually make something that's pretty much exactly like crude oil out of algae. Granted, energy independence would require an area almost the size of Kansas to be turned into algae farms--but think about how much territorial waters we have, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Oregone]

4. A lot of energy went into the original production of oil (energy over thousands of years)

If you want to replicate the process by harvesting carbon sources, applying pressure, and heat, well, you are going to need an energy source to do this on a massive scale. Maybe we could just use petro. :)

[TransitJohn]

5. I've got my perpetual motion machine just about ready to roll out

(which is what it'd take to produce the heat and pressure necessary for an oil window to put synthetic kerogen into to produce petroleum) then we can get right on that and pump hordes more CO2 into the atmosphere, to your heart's delight.

[quickesst]

6. Mobil1 Trisynthetic oil.....

What I've used in my Dodge Ram SS/T since it was new. Cost more, but I can safely drive my truck twice as long or more between oil changes, and it's not so-called Dino oil. Engine purrs like the day I bought it. 175,000 miles. Of course it's just a weekend toy now with the gas prices, and if it keeps getting worse, it will be a nice, but large lawn ornament. Thanks.
quickesst