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Comment Re:We have multiple solutions (Score 1) 69

In the real world gas turbines can burn vegetable oil which is significantly more efficient than fermenting grain to ethanol. This is called SAF - sustainable aviation fuel.

An alternative real world solution is biomass pyrolysis to methanol and then reforming methanol to any chosen hydrocarbon using the Fischer-Tropsch process (invented in my former home town in 1925 by the way).

In the real world synthetic fuel can also literally be created out of air, water and electricity. This is called eSAF or Power-to-Liquid. The way it works is splitting water to hydrogen and oxygen (water electrolysis) and splitting the carbon dioxide from the air into carbon monoxide and oxygen (thermal decomposition) and then combining hydrogen and carbon monoxide to any desired hydrocarbon using the aforementioned Fischer-Tropsch process.

None of this is science fiction or needs star trek replicators. All the required engineering has been done during WW2 since Germany had no oil.

Comment Re:We have multiple solutions (Score 1) 69

Just science. Synthetic fuels - created with the Fischer-Tropsch process - have been around for a century. Aircraft can use it without any difficulties, SAF actually has better quality and burns cleaner than the usual aviation grade kerosene. The only reason SAF is not widely used is its cost and limited production.

Comment Re:unsportsmanlike buttock comfort (Score 1) 121

There really is very little technical difference between the high end bikes - everything carbon and super stiff with Dura Ace or SRAM RED groups - especially since the minimum bike weight is set by the UCI rules to 6.8 kg and getting that weight is nowadays even possible when using cheap parts from aliexpress. Hell, I have a mountainbike from 2010 that has the same weight - with everything off the shelf, even suspension fork.
But what the teams usually do is to remove every bearing seal to lower friction and the cyclists have their own preferences about the frame sizes, crank arm lengths and the drop bar angles.

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