>> > They are not 'renewable' because nobody can
>> > wait 2 million years for new deposits to form naturally.

>> And if they could they STILL wouldn't be renewable .

> Why not ? Another carboniferic (sp?) era is looming ahead with 
> global warming
> and all that. Maybe there will be dinosaurs too ?

What I meant was the point which we both (I think) raised - energy 
"sources" are really energy transfer media. It all runs downhill and 
we can only choose the channels that it runs through for our 
convenience. Renewed coal and petroleum products would simply be 
energy inefficient but moderately convenient ways of storing energy in 
an accessible form.  Just as lunar Helium 3 is.

I'm told that you can make oil and coal from raw biological materials 
in extremely short time frames - months to a few years using natural 
processes and garbage to oil equivalent in hours using man made 
processing.

It intrigues me that there seems to be a trail of 'just achievable" 
stepping stones leading off planet. This is, of course, entirely a 
coincidence, or the aliens are hiding really well, or ... . Lunar ice, 
lunar He3, Martian water, asteroid belt resources galore ...



        Russell


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