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As the article states, the Fischer-Tropsch process is nothing new. Germany did it on a much larger scale in WWII. The United States has enough coal to sustain our energy needs for at least 2000 years at present rates of consumption. The energy content is not a problem. However, burning coal or conversion to oil releases about twice the CO2 as burning oil directly. Hence. carbon emissions is the reason a coal based energy infra structure is suboptimal. This is also the reason oil will never go far above $100 per barrel for long. At that point it becomes cheaper to start converting coal.
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