The science behind clean hydrocarbons | The Freethink Interview

Welcome to The Freethink Interview, a interview series from our sister channel @freethink where we talk to the new generation of builders, leaders and thinkers shaping technological progress. Join us for thought-provoking conversations with some of the world’s most interesting and ambitious technologists.

Could solar energy be the key to unlocking a future free from fossil fuels and extreme poverty? Casey Handmer, founder and CEO of Terraform Industries, believes so. His company is pioneering technology that could revolutionize how we produce and consume energy, potentially solving climate change and global energy inequality in one fell swoop.

Terraform Industries is developing machines that create synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air. It sounds like science fiction, but the technology is rooted in simple chemistry and powered by the rapidly advancing field of solar energy.

But Handmer's vision extends beyond just replacing fossil fuels. He sees solar energy as the catalyst for a new era of human progress. By providing cheap, abundant energy to every corner of the globe, we could potentially eliminate extreme poverty within our lifetimes. It's an ambitious goal, but one that Handmer believes we have a responsibility to pursue.

0:00: Introduction
1:20: The future of energy
1:50: Solar vs. nuclear
2:45: Solar deployment
3:23: Solar vs. fossil fuels
4:50: What is a fuel?
6:52: The terraformer
7:49: Industrial Revolution

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[freethink]

Yes, we know the aspect ratio is ridiculous and no, we're not going to change it.

[Morjixxo]

I am an energy engineer, and this is misleading and not the solution.
They forgot to mention, than burning ANY Hydrocarbon, will produce CO2 (CxHx + O2 --> CO2 + H20). So there is no net effect on the Atmosphere CO2 since everything you extract from the air gets reemitted there.

They forgot to mention, that in this way they are actually converting Electricity (which is a more valuable energy medium, because it costs 2, 5 kWh of Fuel to produce 1kWh of Electricity with our most efficient Power Plants) into Hydrocarbon. That's THE OPPOSITE of electrification (and it doesn't promote it, since it you just continue to use Hydrocarbon-powered things)
If you have electricity, you use it for the things that need that, you don't convert it back to Hydrocarbon, to then burn it.

What they are actually doing, is they are leveraging the fact that currently the world needs Hydrocarbon and they are using solar electricity to get that, instead of using the precious electricity directly. Plus every change of energy type comes with several losses.

It's like taking a Cheesburger, throwing away everything except the bread, and market that.

Am I missing the point?

[UjjwalKumar_]

Whats utterly saddening is that we are not ready to save ourselves unless it becomes commercially profitable.

[badrinair]

I like the party where he's honest. Clearly mentioned that this process is 30 % efficient. I respect honestly

[vadepierce]

4:42

This really resonated with me. I’m working 60 hours a week right now, with the hope… that I can start a recycling business… no future I’m apart of will have pollution like we have now. I have a way to fix it. I am it. And I cannot fail.

[dethmunky]

Finally, someone found a way to use free and abundant solar energy to make more gasoline.

[tomellis]

Turn 100% electricity into fuel at 30% efficiency, turn it into power at 30% efficiency giving less than 10% overall.

[GrooveTasticThang]

I applaud the gentle man’s honesty to call out the inefficiency of the cycle ( including the re burning of the hydrocarbon in a machine)- e- synthetic liquid fuel will have its applications ( ie aviation) from excess solar or wind or even Nuclear ( it might revolutionise the economics of Nuclear)but pumped hydro is better for long term storage- Also we would remain dependent on Desert locations and governments, been there before 🤔

[parthraj]

What is the point? The general population will never get to reap the rewards of “cheaper” electricity. We as a people will be shadowed behind corporations who will capitalize it and charge us the same price or more for this technology. How often do prices go down?

I’ve been passionate about solar since childhood, and this makes me hopeful. But I also know that no matter the advancements in technology, the common people always play a losing game.

Solar is good for earth, i love it. But doesn’t change anything in our lives, because they wont let it affect us. They’ll find a way to bleed more money from us on this, and something tells me, they’ll also find a way to pollute the air that this solar would have replaced as clean.

[JonathanLoganPDX]

But why do we need synthetic fuels to begin with? Why don't we just go all electric with massive overbuilding solar and storage, and also increase efficiency radically?

Jevon's paradox aside, we have the capacity to be all of our needs with wind, solar, and mass battery storage - and we could also convert excess solar into hydrogen and ammonia.

And, with small modular Thorium nuclear reactors we would have more than sufficient peak power capacity with a flip of the switch.

[estaykylyshbek]

How much money, energy and raw materials goes into solar panels? Aren’t solar panels not recyclable? How do broken solar panels pollute the land and water and air???

[AndogaSpock]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the film making in this video? Superb!

[yugantarbhasin]

we are doing that in India, ethanol mixing in petroleum, solar used to grow sugarcane

[Davt]

How do we recycle ♻️ the solar panels once we come to that point

[mhirasuna]

The low price PV solar panels are only manufactured in China. No other country come close. Right now there is cut throat competition between the Chinese PV solar companies. Low price mean low profits and some of these companies will not survive. The surviving companies will raise prices.

[chrisallum]

3:18 that boost in growth would not have happened without the MASSIVE amount of subsidies and other artificial forces on the market.

I do agree it will continue to improve and take over a good portion of production.

[ollyoo]

A great concept, and well articulated. One thought is whether or not the future of the oil/gas economy will stay the same over time as solar comes down in price. If there's a significant reduction in demand for oil and gas, it would follow that the price for those commodities could also drop - maybe enough to keep them being the cheaper option vs converting solar to synthetic hydrocarbons.

[goiterlanternbase]

7:45 Solar may be cheap and abundant, but only half of the day😉
The processes you like to use only work with constant, stable load. You can't cut them off at night, you even can't reduce the throughput at night, without damaging the reactor🤗

So, you need to facilitate in, the costs of storing roughly 70% of the required power🤗 This wont make your attempt futile, it will just eat up your margin and raise the price for the customer roughly tree times your actual estimate😉 That is why everyone with two brain cells, tells you to go straight for batteries and use DAC to provide carbon for organic chemistry, like detergents and lubricants and plastic.

[incognitotorpedo]

The direct air capture part is where this all goes to hell. The carbon in the atmosphere is too widely dispersed. You have to pay a huge entropy cost to gather it, and that costs energy = money.

[ronkirk]

The problem in the U.S. is that only ~25% of the new green energy sources coming online are actually retiring fossil fuel energy generation sources such as coal and oil. The majority (~75%) is going to satisfy INCREASING demand for electricity. At this rate, we will never reduce fossil fuel usage in time to save the planet and ourselves from massive disruption. We will need MASSIVE amounts of H2 produced by green energy electrolysis just to convert other industries such as steel production by direct reduction.