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Re:The real roots of early city states may rip up the textbooks by jjoonathan on Saturday October 14, 2017 @11:57PM (#15475816)
> oil-based fertilizers

Which fertilizers are those? I was under the impression that nitrogen fertilizers were by far the most important. We get the nitrogen from the sea of it that we're swimming in -- no need to dig it out of the ground. The Haber process also uses hydrogen, which probably comes from WGSR, is that what you mean? If so, I strongly suspect that fertilizer production necessary for human survival would easily be economical on electrolytic hydrogen.

Re:The real roots of early city states may rip up the textbooks by nyolfen on Sunday October 15, 2017 @12:37AM (#15475908)
ammonium nitrate for instance is frequently (typically?) manufactured as a petrochemical
Re:The real roots of early city states may rip up the textbooks by gmueckl on Sunday October 15, 2017 @08:05AM (#15476804)
Hydrogen is for the most part produced from natural gas through steam reforming (only a small fraction is produced through electrolysis). And the Haber-Bosch method requires substantial heating which is also usually supplied by burning oil or gas based fuels.