Bugs Could Be Key to Kicking Oil Addiction

AP Biotechnology ^ | Sunday February 12, 1:42 pm ET | Paul Elias,

[liberallarry]

I've found it easier to connect my toaster to my bathtub.

[uglybiker]

Whoever thought that the solution to our energy needs could be found in the hair of hippies.

[Daniel Ramsey]

I visualize in the future anytime you go through a drive through at a Taco Bell, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC etc. you can also refuel your biodiesel engine. I cannot knock a diesel (there IS a pun there folks) because I am a diesel mechanic, they can run on almost anything from crude oil out of the ground to vegetable oil to even hydrogen with modifications that are similar to natural gas diesels used at oilfield pumping stations.

[Uncle Jaque]

Re your #52:

"...And the air he emits??? How would we harness & proccess that???"

That ain't "air"; that copious flatulance is METHANE, and you can burn that stuff. Haven't you ever been involved in a phart lighting contest?

Caution; premature ignition can result in nasty burns where you really don't want 'em!

[ExcursionGuy84]

Haven't you ever been involved in a phart lighting contest?

I always thought such events (although I've witnessed a few on film) were just tricks or special effects.

'Cause ins't the main odor in flatulence a sulfide [hence the rotten egg smell* and not a combustible hydrocarbon??

*which I MYSELF am an expert at cultivating, natch.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well, they shut down the turkey guts processing plant in Cartage Missouri, ....cause it smelled!!!


This country need a miracle....

[Uncle Jaque]

Although flatulance does contain sufides, C02, and other gasses, it has a high level of flammable methane.

I have wittnessed (but chickened out of participating in) such a contest in an Army Barracks back in '67, as a young Recruit.

A bunch of guys arranged their plywood regulation foot lockers (trunks) in a circle after a particularly raunchy feed of beans at the mess hall, and sat around taking turns cutting loose (those trunks really resonate) and flicking their Zippos behind themselves (the really brave ones leaned back and fired it off in their crotch), which usually resulted in a flash of blue flame and an audable, explosive "FWOOP!".

With the barracks lights dimmed, the blue flash would light up the whole place, and was really quite impressive.

One poor lad fired up his Zippo a little too soon, before his emission had quite finished emitting, and as soon as it blew, he jumped up howling, ran to the latrine trailing blue smoke, and sat in the urinal to quench his smouldering behind.

There was a quarter sized hole burned in the seat of his fatigues, it burned all the hair off of his thuchus, and he had 2nd degree burns where it made "going" terribly painful for a week or two.

His rectum, it seems, had become a "combustion chamber".

Naturally, the rest of his Squad found the whole thing terribly amusing.

[Carry_Okie]

It may seem hard to believe that microscopic bugs usually viewed as destructive pests can be so productive. But scientists and several companies are working with the creatures to convert wood, corn stalks and other plant waste into sugars that are easily brewed into ethanol -- essentially 199-proof moonshine that can be used to power automobiles.

This is going to put a heavy demand upon soil chemistry. Time to mine a few volcanos.

[Mike Darancette]

we need to convince the public this is real and not just a science project

We'll have to convince the public that the "Bugs" won't get out and devour our forests and houses. Some countries would rather starve than use mutant grain; this is the attitude that must be overcome.

[ExcursionGuy84]

Thanks Man.

Now that I know our gas is indeed flammable...

...I'm gonna have me a good time when my parents are away on an extended trip.

[Vinnie]

Horror/disaster book out a few years ago about "biologics"

'Andromeda Strain' by Michael Crichton.

He has another one dealing with nanotechnology called 'Prey'.

[Marine_Uncle]

" Something smells a little fishy here to me too..."
Sort of like the garbage to pure Arabian sweet light crude marketers. Claims one can just throw junk tires, he he, TV sets, barbells into the machine, push a button and light crude oil flows out the pipe. Besides. Unless the automobile manufactures where to be cohorsed into designing engines that operate at a peak effeciency on ethanol, then as usual at best these sort of schemes are only a partial fix.
To many people seem to overlook the realities such as how oil companies operate. This stuff is complicated. Are we going to build new strings of strategicaly placed oil refineries and start getting serious about allowing companies to drill in the US or not. And for those of us that have to some degree followed or at least read over the past twenty years plus, nothing has changed a bit. All talk and very little action. At any rate, the little green bugs look great in the picture, just the kind I would like to duplicate to use as a dry fly on some prestine trout stream.

[jmcenanly]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1577694/posts

[BenLurkin]

Great link. Thanks!