Why Is It That All The HUGE Scientific Discoveries Are Being Made In FOREIGN Countries?

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Scientists may have made a discovery that will eventually free us from the grip of foreign oil. Scientists..........in SPAIN (also France, Germany, and Sweden). And Big Oil is already scared enough that they're trying to buy their way in.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110331/bs_afp/spainenergyalternativeenvironmentresearch


Spanish scientists search for fuel of the future
by Virginie Grognou

ALICANTE, Spain (AFP) – In a forest of tubes eight metres high in eastern Spain scientists hope they have found the fuel of tomorrow: bio-oil produced with algae mixed with carbon dioxide from a factory. Almost 400 of the green tubes, filled with millions of microscopic algae, cover a plain near the city of Alicante, next to a cement works from which the C02 is captured and transported via a pipeline to the "blue petroleum" factory. The project, which is still experimental, has been developed over the past five years by Spanish and French researchers at the small Bio Fuel Systems (BFS) company. At a time when companies are redoubling their efforts to find alternative energy sources, the idea is to reproduce and speed up a process which has taken millions of years and which has led to the production of fossil fuels.

"We are trying to simulate the conditions which existed millions of years ago, when the phytoplankton was transformed into oil," said engineer Eloy Chapuli. "In this way, we obtain oil that is the same as oil today."

The microalgae reproduces at high speed in the tubes by photosynthesis and from the CO2 released from the cement factory. Every day some of this highly concentrated liquid is extracted and filtered to produce a biomass that is turned into bio-oil. The other great advantage of the system is that it is a depollutant -- it absorbs the C02 which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

"It's ecological oil," said the founder and chairman of BFS, French engineer Bernard Stroiazzo-Mougin, who worked in oil fields in the Middle East before coming to Spain. "We need another five to 10 years before industrial production can start," said Stroiazzo-Mougin, who hopes to be able to develop another such project on the Portuguese island of Madeira. "In a unit that covers 50 square kilometres, which is not something enormous, in barren regions of southern Spain, we could produce about 1.25 million barrels per day," or almost as much as the daily export of oil from Iraq, he said.

(more at link)

[HopeHoops]

1. Perhaps because we're too busy discovering new ways to make fatty food huge?

:shrug:

[ChicagoRonin]

2. Two words

Profit Motive

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Ain't capitalism wonderful?

Alla dat capitalist competition is how come our Internet service is better than anywhere else in the world subSaharan Africa.

[polichick]

3. Corporate whores run our government and have for decades.

[kickysnana]

10. +1

[ThomCat]

25. Yes, to get a research grant your research needs to benefit a corporation.

So all research in this country tends to be something that improves a product, or creates a new product, or improves a method of production. It's all based on what corporations need.

In other countries research grants can be more based on what scientists think is interesting just for the sake of science, or they can research what might be in the public's interest. You aren't going to get nearly as much of that in this country.

Even if you do get research like that in this country, if a major corporations buys up the rights to your patents they can suppress your research if it might cut into their profits. No oil company is going to want your promising research into green energy going into development, for example. Or, perhaps you develop a way to "grow" a paper substitute from bacteria, but it's not yet quit cheap enough to replace real paper, a paper manufacturer might buy you out and prevent any further research so that you can't ever cut into their market. They have too much invested in their current way of doing business, after all.

[Safetykitten]

4. Because science is bad. Science is the devil's playground.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Because we direct our research to finding better ways to kill people?

[fascisthunter]

7. because CAPITALISM Rules this Country

everything depends on profits.... a very dumb system.

[SeattleVet]

8. Because we don't need no stinkin' science

We gave the world 'Dancing with the Stars', and Glen Beck. What more do we have to do? It's not like we need to start up another Apollo project or something.

USA! USA! USA!

/sarc

[BeFree]

9. yeah

And in Japan they are experimenting with nuclear stuff; way ahead of us.

;;;;;;;;;

Our problem is we are so beholden to corporations and tax revenue, that if it can't be a big corporation production or can't be taxed like oil, then we can't have it.

[RC]

11. One word, "Republicans".

BTY, 50 square kilometers equals a little over 19 square miles. Not something enormous?

[Lisa D]

12. Because there are intelligent, creative people all over the world.

:shrug:

[Duer 157099]

17. Best, most logical reply n/t

[themadstork]

22. Yes

The competitive tone underlying this post is the same reason some scientists refuse to share data. Science is a collaborative process.


That said, it's always OK to ask why we aren't pulling our weight. The war on education and the non-rich are probably the biggest factors. Hard for little Stephanie to become a scientist when her mom can't afford decent food and her education is so watered-down and defunded that she probably didn't have access to the higher science classes anyway.

[gkhouston]

29. That, combined with reply 21. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. Algae biodiesel is the solution.

Feeding it CO2 from the cement factory is novel, but I wouldn't call it a huge scientific discovery.

The biggest problem is breaking down the algae to extract the lipids.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

14. The Huge Discovery Is The Ability To MAKE Oil

As opposed to having to pump it out of the ground in a hostile foreign nation. We've got this, and we've also got huge medical breakthroughs happening in countries that actually ALLOW stem-cell research (imagine that), and pretty much every scientific breakthrough you see happen is happening in another country.

Just another way the right-wing is bringing this country down. We will never have these kinds of scientific discoveries in this country as long as people continue to believe that the invisible man in the sky will be mad at us if we experiment.

[lumberjack_jeff]

18. The initial algae biofuel research was done by the DOE under Jimmy Carter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_Species_Program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel_in_the_United_States

Bioreactors are nothing new, and the CO2 can be fed into it from myriad sources. Cement plants, Wastewater treatment, even a whiskey distillery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel#Carbon_Dioxide

The process creates algae, not "oil". The algae needs to be broken down mechanically or chemically to release the triglicerides, which then need to be converted via transesterification into useful fuel.

[Gregorian]

15. Because they haven't been taught how to be good consumers yet.

We are lazy. They aren't. I forget what call center I called the other day. I think it was a cellular modem for data transfer. When I called I got a guy who sounded off shore. I asked where he was, and he reluctantly said Asia. I prodded, and he said Philippines. It was midnight there. In a matter of fact tone of voice he said "We work hard here". It was juxtaposed against how I feel about what we're doing over here.

Don't get me wrong. I haven't worked in almost 20 years. I've had it easy. And maybe I'm unable to put words to how I see this. I just don't see the same level of effort being put into things in this country as used to be. In fact, I'm not all into the work ethic. But when I put my mind to something I persist until it's done. Which is why I haven't worked in 20 years. I've been working on something else, which isn't working. So I'm pursuing it until it does work. I may die trying, but I won't quit. Am I rambling? I'm guaranteed to offend someone here. I uaually do.

I think it boils down to survival. When one is comfortable, they usually don't struggle to survive. They are surviving. I always go back to my music metaphors. It's like a band that is just starting out. They sound great. Then go listen to their last albums. Usually they sound like garbage. Or as Bill Hicks would say, sucking satan's cock.

[Fearless]

16. Only environmentally friendly until you USE the oil.

:banghead:

[krabigirl]

19. People here care more about their kids being a popular jock than becoming a scientist?

[toddwv]

20. Decades of a right-wing war on education, science and technological progression.

We'll be paying for the Bush Legacy and the Reagan Legacy still lives on...

[Lars39]

21. Because there was a brain drain during Bush terms.

[econoclast]

23. Hate to rain in the parade, but

You know they have capitalism in Spain too. BFS is a privately held company headquartered in Spain. Very capitalist. Their process is patented.

[damntexdem]

24. Because we long ago lost our edge in science.

And we now lag behind.

[Crabby Appleton]

26. Don't know why you think they're only working on this

outside the US. Just about every major university in the US has been doing research in biofuels.

http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/08/28/anellotech-launches-latest-fast-pyrolysis-venture-expands-growing-field-of-biocrude-pyrolysis-companies/

and US companies, for example

http://www.sapphireenergy.com/

http://www.anellotech.com/

google biofuels

[justiceischeap]

27. 'Cause the stupid rules in the US

It's not cool to be smart in the good ole US of A. It's cooler not to pay taxes and wonder why the country in bankrupt. It's not cool to allow "illegals" who do that learnin' in our country to stay here and apply that knowledge. It's not cool to drive things that aren't derived from oil. I mean, how can you take NASCAR seriously if you're runnin' those cars on vegetable oil, algae or electricity?

[LiberalEsto]

28. No Child Left Behind? nt