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A comment on Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab. Parent comment

Re:Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes mi... by shortly on Wednesday December 18, 2013 @04:01PM (#6930715)
> Doesnt this take away from the real issue of fossil fuels? Pollution, increased CO2 and climate changes.

No. Any CO2 released when these fuels are burned has to come from the algae. The algae gets it from the air. So CO2 is cycled, but not added to the atmosphere.

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Re:Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes mi... by wil421 on Wednesday December 18, 2013 @04:41PM (#6931027)
For my understanding, the problem with the fossil fuels is that they are trapped in the ground and we are releasing the carbon that was trapped in the ground into the atmosphere.
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Re:Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes mi... by ams6110 on Wednesday December 18, 2013 @05:18PM (#6931279)
That is true for fossil fuels. But for oil produced from algae, the carbon came from the atmosphere or the immediate surface environment, so it's not introducing any "new" (or long-sequestered) carbon.
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