this is the greatest thing ever

[rone]

devonapple brought to my attention this little device that, by judicious application of microwaves, extracts oil and gas from plastics, rubber, and just about anything that has a hydrocarbon base, and leaves a remainder of pure carbon.  The video linked therein is a mediocre production, but it's still impressive.

Comments

[reverendluke.livejournal.com]

I still think I'll just hold out to have my car retrofitted with a Mr. Fusion.

[catbear.livejournal.com]

Their website is embarassing and the production values of the video are absolutely abysmal -- seriously, they don't even have a tripod? I'm getting a "cold fusion" vibe.

[mrbalihai.livejournal.com]

I'm skeptical. I remember the many garbage-into-oil schemes being reported in the press a year or so ago when oil prices first started to spike, and nothing came of any of them.

also

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Warning: Found in New Scientist

[mskala.livejournal.com]

Is this a good thing? I figured one of the few silver linings of non-biodegradeable plastics is that every gallon of oil made into plastic that sits in the landfill for a bazillion years, is a gallon of oil NOT turned into CO₂ and making the atmosphere heat up. So if we can encourage people to use as much plastic as possible, we're hastening the day when we'll run out of oil and actually start reducing greenhouse gas emissions for real.

Making it possible to burn more oil before we run out, isn't necessarily a good thing.