How can we make more fossil fuel?
In much the same way it was made the first time by nature. Oil as it comes out of the ground is a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds that are the remains of deposits of algae and microscopic animals, also called phytoplankton and zooplankton. There is currently a $300 million dollar (actually much larger) effort in San Diego, California by a company called Synthetic Genomics and Exxon Mobil to use algae to make oil. The lipids, a form of fat, in the algae are a major component of crude oil. Chevron has a joint effort with a company called Catchlight Energy to use algae as a raw material for making petroleum. Chevron has also partnered with Weyerhaueser Co, one of the worlds largest forest-products companies to begin using wood waste. Ligno-cellulose found in wood is also a component of petroleum. In nature the only reason it takes millions of years for these organic materials to change to oil and natural gas is that it takes that long for it to be buried to a depth where the temperature
