this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2026
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Science

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New York Startup Builds Fridge-Sized Machine That Can Turn Air Into Gasoline (www.jalopnik.com)
submitted 5 days ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/science@beehaw.org
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The main reason why this process isn't "something for nothing" is that it takes twice as much electrical energy to produce energy in the form of gasoline. As Aircela told The Autopian:

Aircela is targeting >50% end to end power efficiency. Since there is about 37kWh of energy in a gallon of gasoline we will require about 75kWh to make it. When we power our machines with standalone, off-grid, photovoltaic panels this will correspond to less than $1.50/gallon in energy cost.

Doesn't it sort of defeat the purpose of gasoline being used because it's so energy dense? Like, this seems to suggest little more than the benefits of electrification in transport.

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[–] CanadaPlus 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Ah, so it's just a fairly compact way to make e-fuel. E-fuel will be really important going forwards for certain industries.

Doesn’t it sort of defeat the purpose of gasoline being used because it’s so energy dense?

I think the idea would be to make it in a fixed place with grid power and then load up your plane or whatever. It sounds like they're maybe marketing to consumers, which is weird, since not very many people would think it's as cool as I do.