[evilos]

Yes but it is important not to confuse the source with the form.

For example we can create hydrocarbons using solar/wind energy and that is still "renewable" even though hydrocarbons are involved. They are merely the medium of energy storage.

[throwaway173738]

Call me when the hydrocarbons we buy off the shelf are actually made from wind and solar. Until that day you’re still arguing for the artificiality of a real distinction.

[bluGill]

How much are you willing to pay? https://renewablelube.com/ mostly plant based for the solar source. In general about 5x the price of pumped oil, and they may not last as long. I've bought for them before, no other relation

[abdullahkhalids]

Prices of products are a very strong function of total production. Solar panel electricity once was 20x the price of other ways - now its 0.5x or less. In competitive industries the price will come down to only a small multiplier on raw input price.

[adrian_b]

Technologies of making synthetic fuel using energy, water and carbon dioxide are a century old and they have been used for producing great quantities is special circumstances when the price did not matter, e.g. by Germany during WWII (though at that time they produced cabon monoxide by burning coal, instead of reducing carbon dioxide from air, because this was cheaper).

The only reason why they are not used now is that the current price of fossil oil is significantly lower.

There is research to develop more efficient methods for the synthesis of hydrocarbons, based on the electrolytic reduction of carbon dioxide, but their progress is slow, in good part because such critical research is funded much less than frivolous research, such as that for AGI.