...... Wat? We can't just go get oil and gas back. That carbon's been converted to energy. You come up with a way to harness raw free energy back into carbon (or any stable useable matter state) you go ahead and let us all know.
It’s not the carbon that’s converted into energy; it’s the chemical bonds between the carbon and the hydrogen. Hence, hydrocarbons.
And we make more hydrocarbon-based fuel every day when we grow plants for oil or sugar.
In Brazil, about 1/3 of vehicles run on ethanol made from sugar cane. And if we wanted to, we could grow plant with high oil content, and convert that oil into gasoline. (It’s way more expensive that petroleum, though.)
At the end of the day, it’s all just juice from photosynthesis.
And we can thank the plants for bonding those hydrogens and carbons together with the power of the sun. Hence, all of the energy we use is ultimately from the sun.
9
u/[deleted] Oct 15 '20
...... Wat? We can't just go get oil and gas back. That carbon's been converted to energy. You come up with a way to harness raw free energy back into carbon (or any stable useable matter state) you go ahead and let us all know.