Correct the diesel tractor and more importantly the synthesis of artificial nitrogen fertilizers and petrochemical based pesticide makes the green revolution possible. Without which this planet cannot feed 7 billion people more like 500 million. I am a geoscientist for an oil company this technology is intriguing off peak power can be had really cheap, from a variety of sources my question is how they deal with the inevitable shale swelling when you heat the kerogen out of it. It pops like popcorn.
Did you ever hear of my great-uncle in law, Lewis G. Weeks?
He donated a Geology building to the University of Wisconsin, and another building to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in Tulsa, Oklahoma.