Wandering Adventure Party

Thanks for finding the silver lining in this.

I’m not as confident. Refining columns work reliably for decades requiring just a couple trays being replaced every now and then. RO membranes are generally fickle, need a lot of babying and require complete replacement every couple years.

There’s also energy integration opportunities in a refinery to use the “waste” heat to preheat feeds and of course the feeds precool the hot top stream. Being a highly commoditized market pushes companies to drive three bottom line down.

I think we’ll only see meaningful impact by phasing out of fossil fuels, not making their manufacture incrementally more efficient.

That’s actually urban.

Alright, I don’t think we’re understanding each other.

Yes, the primary source of hydrogen nowadays is oil, but it doesn’t have to be. We can electrolyze water for that. We can also use modern alternatives to monoculture that do not deplete the soil.

Sulfur can be mined without resorting to the oil chain.

I don’t know why you mentioned ethylene. It is used as a ripening agent, but we can simply wait for fruit to ripen on their own, with the added benefit that they would develop their flavor instead having the bland taste we currently get at the supermarket.

Medication, explosives, detergents, dyes come from the chemical industry, and yes, there’s an important difference.

Solvents and paints are something harder to replace, but there are some plant based alternatives being used in very niche applications.

All of the alternatives are not being used today because it’s more expensive. And they’re more expensive because they don’t have a century of research dedicated to make them cheaper like oil has.

We don’t NEED oil. It’s just more convenient, it allows us not to change the status quo, to not think about different ways we should live. With oil, we can put our head in the sand and pretend we’re not careening to our own demise.

I think there’s a not insignificant cultural factor at play here. Extra manicured gardens feel artificial to me, and don’t yield the same effect as something more resembling of a natural setting. And I know I’m not alone at this. I’d love to see this replicated in at last two or three other continents to contrast the findings.