Hydrocarbons Could Form Deep In the Earth From Methane, Not Animal Remains

I guess a) there's no geological evidence that this actually happens - so the sub-headline is a bit misleading and b) no matter how it gets there, using natural resources faster than nature produces them is a bad resource management policy.

Still, the research suggests that this fuel could potentially be manufactured, which is pretty interesting (if not immediately practical).

OMG I can't beleive poppular science had the guts to post this article. kudos to pop-sci! Wow respect has grown!

The headline is not misleading...unless by mis-leading you mean bang on.

Abiotic oil is a fact. This was put forth by the Russians over 100 years ago. And using this "thoery", they have become the #1 OIL PRODUCER IN THE WORLD. Ya think we might want to listen to them on this??

Peak oil is a myth used by OPEC to keep oil prices high...in fact oil should/can be found all over the world. Oil does not come from decaying plants...I urge readrers to use their common sense...how can plants and dead dino's produce SO MUCH OIL? Those who doubt me please explain how the Russian's find oil reserves miles underneath the ocean floor, under CRYSTALINE BASEMENT.

I would urge people to google Abiotic oil / Russians...it's an amazing history. Of course Exxon and the Saudi's will parrot the "peak oil" myth as to keep robbing us at the pumps.

The fact is, oil is produced by the earth as a natural process. Wells in Arabia and Texas that should have gone dry decades ago via "peak oil" are refilling. So much evidence to support this claim....but greed as won as it has so many times in the past. They teach this subject in Russian universities, they need to teach this in North American Universities, the Russians don't depend on the middle east, and neither should we.

You can't write an article like this without referring to the "Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth about Fossil Fuels" by Thomas Gold.

Not to mention the findings of methane back in 2005 on Titan.

We are all sheep.

I really don't care how the oil is made or where it comes from. What doesn't make sense to me is there are vast amounts of carbon being released into the atmosphere. Whether you believe in global warming or not the consumption of all of the coal and oil over the last century has to be doing something. Its one thing to burn trees and such, things that will grow back and re-aborb the carbon. But fossil fuels dont. So why is it such a difficult concept that we should be transitioning to renewable fuels? Just because the oil is there doesn't mean we have to use it.

If it should be used for anything it should be saved for use in the chemical and medical industries instead of being burned. As my o-chem prof once said, future generations are going to look back and us and curse us for burning chemicals that are commonplace in oil but are difficult to manufacture. It just seems foolish to me

Okay, so first off, this is a theory in which several factors have been neglected(chemistry wise). There isnt suffisciant proof (proof as in, we would need to find an abiotic well)that they actually can exist in my opinion. Besides, wether we they do exist or not is irrelevant. The real problem here is that we are using up slow cycle carbon reserves at a demented rate and in doing so, damaging the environement. I think that this is actually a bad thing if abiotic oil does exist. It would reduce the "consumption stress" that the peak oil is causing, restricting polution and encouraging environementaly friendly shift(somewhat).

There is cleaner technology out there for cars..such as "water cars"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rb_rDkwGnU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1UrlDNkYSo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf4gOS8aoFk&feature=related

For more massive, power plant generators...I think some guy named Nikola Tesla..found away to generate electricity from the ionosphere.

Carbon = $
Carbon Tax = $$$

There is no such thing as "free" energy but the oil companies do what they can to suppress new technologies that might threaten their monopoly.

The H HO engine is an interested idea; however, you have to electrolyze H2O to make it, you will never get more energy out then you put in. Using radio waves to deconstruct H2O also requires more energy then you get out. It seems that Aldrons Last Hope, and most TV News anchors do not understand basic physics.

Hydrogen as a fuel source could work, if we had a power source to make it. To do this we we need to massively increase the amount of electricity generated by Nuclear, Solar, Win, ect; and build a nation wide distribution system. There are several energy companies (including those evil oil companies) and governments working on building a hydrogen infrastructure.

Getting power from the ionosphere is possible, if you can string a cable 100km to 200 km straight up. There have been several experiments that tried to generator power by dropping a tether from low earth orbit, none of them proved more practical then using solar panels. Any work crazy old Nick did on this matter is most likely locked with his Death Ray and Earthquake machine.

I couldn't resist responding to the agitated fossil-fuel worriers who have posted so far. Here's news: we've been transitioning to non-fossil fuels for quite some time now. Remember nuclear power? Zero carbon emissions, incredibly efficient. We started using it 60 years ago. If nuclear were more cost-effective compared to cheap coal and natural gas, we'd be using it more. It was relatively cheap in the early 70's. What happened? From 1970 to 1987, the inflation-adjusted cost to build plants increased 7 times, primarily due to the massive increase in regulations; much of which was unnecessary or rendered so by technological advances.

In the United States, petroleum use per capita has declined as cars and trucks became more efficient. We consume roughly the same amount of petroleum now as we did 2 decades ago even though the population has grown.

The "problem" is in developing countries like China and India. Until they reach the level of development of the Western world, their fossil fuel use is going to increase dramatically for a few decades. The good news is that populations in Western countries have stabilized or are in decline, reducing fossil fuel use. The same will happen in China and India in due time. By then technological innovations will have reduced fossil fuel use further.

ITT people that think oil comes from dead dinosaurs.

People people next to none of the oil comes from dead animals, almost all of it comes from plants.

Does this mean that it is possible to have oil on Mars?

I say - F' IT! Forget about "green" anything and alternative fuels. Why?? Because the way the BS "market" is designed and operated. Because every energy type will be compared to what gas is "worth" which is total crap! You know they will alway suck the same amount of $$ (or more actually) from you while trying to convince you it's cheaper or better. F' it then.

Just look at E85... My car can run on it and I have gas stations that sell it here and hmm.. F'ing CORN price has NOTHING TO DO WITH OIL yet as soon as oil goes up, they jack up E85 the same amount!! Bastards! All this leaves a bad taste in my mouth ... it just makes me pissed enough to not do ANYTHING green.

Even the talk from the Dumb*ss Democrats on electric cars .. they convince you to buy an electric car then scream RAPE as you "rape" the govt from their well deserved tax revenue.Now they want to install GPS tracking in your car ans tax you per mile!! Just a circus!!! I'll go green when it helps the environment AND *I* save money, NOT the govt or corrupt big businesses!

@cruz...hmmm...E85 is mostly gas, a little paranoid?

bye the way, oil and natural gas are from ancient biological remains, fact, other claims on here are just plain ignorance or trolling

No one does anything for free. People sell their ideas, time, and assets in order to make a living and provide for their families. Life requires effort and assets.
We will never run out of fuel because someone will ALWAYS find a way to make an alternative. It might not be cheap like oil has been, but there will be an alternative.
Instead of complaining about the fuels, and the damage to the environment, and the evils of big corporations and oil companies, try educating yourself and others, and then discover the alternatives yourself.
Even if abiogenic does not exist, the computer simulation from the Lawrence Livermore Labs shows a way to produce hydrocarbons. This is science, and hard work, and technological innovation, but it is a solution.

ajohnson1986:

To your first point, the answer is, why not?

Carbon dioxide is a tiny percentage of the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is also, if you will recall, plant food.

Some greenhouse practices include increasing the CO2 quotient in the air by 300% or more.

The result: plants grow faster and lusher, and produce larger fruit.

So, one possible side effect of increasing the CO2 is an increase in the vegetation and food production around the world.

Hardly a bad thing! Especially considering that CO2 is completely non-toxic and totally non-harmful to human health.

Also the other crap that is released in exhaust smoke, however, is another story. But the emphasis on CO2 is likely absurd.

As to your second point, it's a very good and valid one that we should really be considering more.

@budd...why don't you pull a rabbit out of your hat while your at it, none of what you said has any basis in science, except that plants need CO2, deserts are increasing in size as land suitable for farming is decreasing and while all this is happenning the human population keeps growing, unless we (not magic) can dramatically increase the production of agriculture the future is not looking pretty, get a reality check and quit watching fox news

sorry, that was a bit off topic

Quote: No one does anything for free
Answer: There are many people who do things for free. As an example Princess Diana advocated for landmine removal. Exactly WHO was paying HER?

@cholin3947 did I say it was a free energy device..no I didn't so don't assume cause you make yourself look like a fool. The energy needed for the electorlysis can come from a chemical battery. The video's posted were for three different methods. The person you refer too as crazy old Nick, is the greatest scientific mind the world has ever known.

@drtroll, it's a fact that oil is produced naturally by the earth, not from dead plants...explain how reserves of oil are found under crystaline basement? Russia is the #1 producer of oil on earth, they probably know what they are doing.

"People people next to none of the oil comes from dead animals, almost all of it comes from plants" says 'Moonborn'. The title of this article says oil comes from animals, and the author refers to 'zooplankton and algae' as 'critters'. Well, it is only 'pop' science.

Interesting idea! I work in a small oil and gas exploration company and we also dabble in developing wind farms. I just had a long conversation with our geophysicist and he had heard several talks on the subject. The general conclusion (in our office) is that while the conditions may be right, the physics of obtaining production quality oil are a low percentage. That deep the molecules are heated so much that they eventually turn into a mixture of gases. The closest deep well to us is in Oklahoma, they drilled to 31,441 feet where they encountered severe pressures and molten sulfur kept melting the drill bit. Now in a basin such as offshore, the sediments accumulate and real oil can be found at greater depths.

Russia also claimed to have a stock pile of nuclear warheads aimed at our most populated cities during the Cold War Aldron, that too was a falsehood.

Check the C.I.A fact book on oil production by country.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2173rank.html

Russia did have nukes aimed at america's most populated cities and probably still do. Just like the U.S has them aimed at Moscow.

I never believed in the ridiculous myth of fossil fuels, even when they forced it on me as a schoolchild. If oil was made from melted dinosaurs, then the world would have run out of it back during the industrial revolution. Oil is formed in the same way as gold, uranium, and rare earth metals, by chemical processes deep within the earth. Over the millenia, tectonic activity forces it toward the surface and makes it accessible to mankind. And it is constantly renewed.