OK, this is big news. A research team has worked out a way to nearly triple the efficiency of the Fischer-Tropsch process.
This means cheap synthetic hydrocarbons from coal are on the horizon. It probably sinks shale oil and biofuels for good – which is a good thing, as biofuel demand has been driving food prices higher. Potentially, it could make the U.S. – which has huge coal reserves – independent of foreign oil sources for the forseeable future.
Now watch for it: I [predict that the so-called “environmental movement” will scream in horror at this prospect, and we will learn yet again that they are mostly about enforcing eco-puritan poverty on us all rather than doing anything actually useful about actual ecological problems.