This idea comes in 2 degrees of seriousness:
Fixative and,
Insurance policy.

The first level consists of simply growing some fast growing plant (algae?), drying it, and stuffing it into empty oil wells - taking the carbon with it. The removal of CO2 from the air by the plant is a good thing.

The second level is to (instead of just stuffing it down there as vegetation) grow the plant, turn it into oil - possibly using Thermal Depolarization - and then put it back down there. This not only removes carbon, but if society is to collapse, the Industrial revolution will be possible again.
-- my-nep, Mar 11 2004

Thermal Depolarization http://www.spiritof...announce/newoil.htm
[Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

P.S.
Cement is then used to plug the holes.
-- my-nep, Mar 11 2004


This idea lacks an appreciation for the reality of oil drilling. The pressures and technical difficulties of actually implementing this would be enormous. If the goal is to store up hydrocarbons for the future, there are much better ways than stuffing them down a very narrow hole in the earth and using up a lot of that valuable energy in the process.
-- zigness, Mar 11 2004


It also seems like you skipped a step. First we have to produce enough artificial oil to stop the need for drilling oil. Then we can consider putting some back.
-- Worldgineer, Mar 11 2004


I thought this was gonna be about army draftees lecturing/heckling the drill seargent about how to dress, walk, talk, etc.
-- Mungo, Mar 11 2004


fish for two reasons: 1) carbon sequestration is more efficient if you just put pressurized CO2 down there. 2) if you can produce all this extra biomass, just burn *that* instead of oil. at least the biomass is carbon neutral. the problem is that you *can't* produce all that extra biomass efficiently, at least not yet, but that's where the biodiesel/ethanol concept comes from.
-- Agamemnon, Feb 15 2007


I thought this was going to be a neat idea for filling holes in wood or metal. Run a drill-like tool in reverse, feeding ribbons of the appropriate material into the grooves of the drill-bit, so that you sort of screw the material back into the hole.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 15 2007


This is one of those "I dont understand that it would require more energy to actually acomplish this idea" idea.
-- Antegrity, Feb 16 2007


In a sense we are already putting a lot of oil back into the ground in landfills as plastic, may not be pretty but most of the carbon will stay tied up in the ground as it did as oil.
-- Dan Fakeman, Nov 19 2010



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