this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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I mean, the stuff inside the infrastructure basically exists to burn, almost like it's asking for it.
That being said, there are some very useful non-combustitory uses of crude oil. It'd be nice if its wholesale extraction could be limited to actual durable uses with less climatory impact and not just to be turned into CO2, H2O(v), and various other badder stuffs.
My first year Chemistry dissertation was about this. Of all the useful things you can do with hydrocarbons burning them is the most wasteful.
Like what? I’d love to know more.
Plastics, waxes, solvents, synthetic fibres and even pharmaceuticals. There are second order products from cracking like hydrogen which are important for things like fertilizer but that is rather carbon intensive.
You can use organic oils for some of these. However organic oils are more complex so need to be broken down into simpler building blocks which all takes energy and processing. Of course you also need to grow oil bearing plants which also tend to require a lot of fertilizer.
Plastics, to begin with
Well, for starters, a lot of plastics are made from hydrocarbons as a starting material.