Catherine's+Podcast+Review

I chose to listen to "Can We make Gasoline From Bacteria?" From the Brain Stuff and www.howstuffworks.com

a.) Your Initial Thoughts about the topic you chose - what do you know Honestly, prior to this podcast, I knew very little about alternative energy sources. I know that hybrids help reduce fuel emmissions, that ethanol is a chemical mixture made from corn (I think?) added to fuel to help reduce the amount of gasoline. Beyond that, I know very little about anything reducing the amount of gasoline used. b.) What did you hope to learn prior to listening to the podcast Prior to the podcast, I want to know if it possible to reduce gasoline consumption. I support alternative uses of energy but I am not as educated about it as I would hope to be. I want to know if it possible to replace gasoline with anything but fossil fuels, which have a limited supply. c.) What did you learn from this podcast From this podcast, I learned that a company called Joule Unlimited was granted a patent to re-engineer gasoline and diesel. Their website boasts that they will be able to replicate gasoline and diesel. They will be able to sustain virtually unlimited fossil fuel production without the same cost and amount of land necessary. Their pilot operation is currently underway to begin in 2012. This will produce 15,000 gallons per acre of "gasoline", which is unprecedented. Diesel would be so inexpensive if manufactured through Joule that the percentage of the population would gladly switch their cars to diesel. It would be easy to replace all gasoline, diesel, and coal in America with this technology. However, Joule Unlimited isn't the only company to claim that they will be capable of these productions.