[VipertheSniper]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Yep - to the tune that coal converted to gas from the reserves in this country alone could run this country at it's current level of consumption for 250 more years. Basically, long enough to design clean and efficient alternative power sources before it even came close to running out.

That's just not true, current coal reserves last, according to the American Coal Foundation, 245 years, if consumption stays the same. The Fischer-Trops synthesis gives a yield of about 50% gas. The yearly demand of fuel per capita in the USA in the year 2005 was 604 gallons, which is about 1,7 tons of fuel. Given the 50% yield of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis you would need 3,4 tons of coal to produce that fuel, given that current coal consumption per capita per year is 3,8 tons of coal that is nearly doubling the demand of coal per capita per year.... how should that last for 250 years? Just doesn't add up. Even if the synthesis process has been refined, how much does it yield? I've searched hard and haven't found anthing on it, but even if it were 100% which is impossible, it would still drive the demand up by 1,7 tons per capita per year which would nearly be a 50% increase in demand for coal, which cuts the 245 years down to roughly 165 years (and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle between that and 130 years)... Still long enough to design clean and efficient alternative power sources, but not nearly as long as you say.