Sasol making 1.1 million barrel per day Coal to Liquid Operation in Indonesia by 2015, Competitive prices with Oilsands and Deep Water Oil

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South Africa’s Sasol Synfuels has a US$10 billion project to build 1.1 million barrels per day of oil equivalent with a massive coal to liquid operation in Indonesia.

Until recently coal to liquid cost $1 billion for 10,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent. So the Sasol operation is eleven times more cost effective at $1 billion for 110,000 barrels of CTL liquid per day

If the price of ten billion dollars for 1.1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day could be hit by 2015, then such a project would be competitive with the pricing and timescale of oilsand projects and deep water oil. It would also be competitive with the scale of those other large oil projects.

The environmental impact of CTL is discussed at gristmill. Look at the discussion to see some less biased assessment. 1.08 times the CO2 of diesel.

Lighter Cars and Electrification will Reduce Oil Demand

Toyota and others are working on 600kg cars instead of 1000kg. Cheaper titanium, more carbon fiber and other materials.

Steel accounts for about three-quarters of the average car weight in Japan of around 1,350 kg (2,976 lbs). Using carbon fiber to replace steel in key parts could cut vehicle weight by up to 40%, to slightly above an average 800 kg (1,800 lbs). This could improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide by approximately 30% per car.

China’s BYD has started selling its plugin hybrid electric car in
China for US$21,000.

EEStor’s ultracapacitor patent details. They are supposed to be having commercial rollout in 2009.

A lot of better battery and ultracapacitor tech…sufficient for many
planned needs for storage it is a matter of
cost and scaling up for sufficient industrial impact.