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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Wealth potential of new fuel-making technologies We may never have to worry about running out of oil. I know that sounds crazy. It's the opposite of everything you've ever seen or heard. But I'm telling you now, it's true. And the reason why could make a few investors extremely wealthy. Yes, worldwide, we're thirsty for crude. And yes, it's all running out. What's more, what's left is either trapped in a war zone or in a dying well. At least that's the message you get from the news. But can I tell you what nobody else is talking about these days? See, there's an upside to every crisis. And the crisis over desperate oil demand and high oil prices is no different. How so? For one thing, the most basic good news is that new demand means new incentive for oil drillers to invent bigger and better ways to get more crude. For instance, finding oil used to mean turning rock beds into pincushions until you got lucky. Today, we use satellites and ultrasound to find oil-rich new fields. Meanwhile, more than half the world's oil reserves are trapped in rocks like chalk and limestone. But Norwegian scientists have just discovered how to make "smart water" — a mix of seawater and sulfate that could unlock up to 60% more oil and get it out. That alone could mean hundreds of billions of "new" barrels of oil added to the world supply. And in Canada, engineers just figured out how to slash the cost of processing oil tar into clean-burning methane... by using a tiny microbe to do all the work for them. That's revolutionary. Now doesn't that already sound a far cry ahead of Colonel Drake's first rickety oil drill back in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859? Of course it does. With the help of technology alone, you could see oil supplies double or triple in your lifetime. But even those are just the beginning. Because there's a very real possibility we may never have to drill for crude or fight an oil war again, starting very soon... How "Pond Scum" Could Soon Power Your Car You probably know, it took the earth 300 million years to "make" oil. Can you imagine what a breakthrough it would be if we could squeeze that whole process into a month... a few weeks... or even a few days? Because it looks like that's exactly what we're about to do. That's right. As you read this, technicians in a half-dozen labs and companies are figuring out how to "make" oil — and I mean the real kind — in laboratory beakers. It's called "cellular oil" and it could soon replace the need for every drop of oil we now get from the ground... or from overseas... and even from Alaska or offshore drilling. Gas for your car, jet fuel for airplanes, truck and train diesel — all of it homegrown, and as much as we want. In the same way earth "made" trillions of gallons of oil... but much faster. See, it turns out that not only did the earth use the natural lipids in algae to make oil over the millennia. Today's algae — common pond scum — is packed with those same natural lipids. And if you think I'm talking about boring "biofuels" think again. Scientists are turning this pond scum into real, regular petroleum. It's possible to process it the same way, too. In the same processing plants and pumped from tanks at your local gas station. This isn't like getting "biofuel" from food crops either. For one, you don't eat algae. So using this won't jack up your grocery bill. But also because it turns out we can get a LOT more oil out of algae than we can from any other crop source. An acre of soy, for instance, only gives up a pathetic 50 gallons of fuel on a good day. An acre of corn, what we use for ethanol now, yields only 250 gallons of fuel. Even sugar cane only yields 450 gallons of fuel per acre. Meanwhile, you can get up to 10,000 gallons of fuel from just one acre of algae. How much fuel is that? Well, think about it this way. Right now there are more than 40,000 regular oil and gas fields around the world. Some are huge — hundreds or even thousands of square miles. Just the Bakken Formation alone could run as large as 25,000 square miles. It covers parts of North Dakota, Canada, and Montana. And nobody's even sure how much oil it still holds. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy says we could replace all U.S. oil demand with algae-oil farms totaling just a little bigger than the state of Maryland. One top biotech engineer from Arizona State recently told NPR algae-oil technology could meet worldwide demand — not just oil, but all fossil fuels — with as much land-area as Texas. And remember, we don't have to grow algae-oil on land at all. They can make oil for us almost anywhere — out at sea, in skyscraper-like greenhouses, even in wastewater. And oil-producing algae grows fast too. You can replace an entire fuel crop of algae in about 10 days. Then you can harvest the oil and start all over again, as often as you like, with the same algae. Exxon Is Already "In" for $300 Million Exxon is already "in" on algae oil for $300 million. That's how much they are giving Synthetic Genomics, just one of dozens of companies working to get this onto the market. You can't buy in alongside Exxon, because Synthetic Genomics is private. But we've got our research team looking into many more of these companies. You'll start hearing a LOT more about this, very soon. It's like milking a cow. This is a gigantic breakthrough. Maybe on par with the day Drake cracked ground to start drilling oil in a creek bed, back around the middle of the 19th century. So why don't you see news screaming across your TV screen? This might sound like science fiction to you. But imagine what people thought of solar, geothermal, or even nuclear power... and now they're all part of the mainstream. As you read this, the Italian city of Venice is gearing up right now to power half their city with an algae-based power plant. Others will follow. The windfall profits will follow too. This little guy can turn switchgrass into fuel. And this is just the beginning... Another company just discovered a way to break down waste paper "sludge" with enzymes... for as much as 500 million more gallons of biofuels per year. "Sea termites" liquefy sunken ships. Now scientists are figuring out how to use their stomach enzymes to break down switch grass and wood chips into fuel. The switch grass breakthrough alone could soon replace two-thirds of America's gasoline demand. That's a game-changer in energy stocks and world politics, right there. Another company just discovered how to milk high-energy oils from cyanobacteria. Now they're working on reengineering them to breed faster and make more. I'll bet you remember the hydrogen-car headlines a few years back. But the "right now" market is for hydrogen-powered trains. Prototypes already travel the Midwest. You see my point... why sit on the sidelines if you don't have to? Billionaire Warren Buffett is famously tech-wary. But he jumped on a chance to park $230 million in the Hong Kong lithium-battery maker, BYD Co. Ltd. — and saw his stake soar nearly seven times in value, to more than $1.5 billion. Right now, many of these tech companies are loaded with cash. They're also lining up to grab ground against competitors. That means breakout market moves. It could even mean money-doubling mergers and takeovers. That's exactly why the smart money is watching these companies and more right now. It's why I hope you're watching these companies too Patrick Cox, Co-Editor Technology Profits Confidential Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
This is exciting to hear. I hope to see it come true. ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
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