Refinery Electricity

During oil refining, especially during the coking process, a huge amount of burn off occurs. There is so much heat generated from this process that flames can be seen shooting out the tops of large smokestacks at refineries. All of this heat is essentially wasted. This heat should be used for a productive purpose, such as generating electricity. Adding electricity generators would be a small undertaking compared to the initial construction of the massive structures already in place at these refineries. The benefits of such a project would be potentially enormous. By working with electric companies to create and install the initial generators, both industries will profit from customers in the long run. The electric company has the additional incentive of saving fuel costs when they use this waste heat from the refinery. Even more fuel is saved via transportation costs when a new power plant is built in proximity to a refinery.

Also, the carbon that refineries emit could supply algae farms the necessary CO2 to replicate and distill ethanol or bio-diesel. This "Green" fuel could be exported or used to generate electricity. Ultimately, "Closed Loop" systems could be built that completely use all the energy potential of fossil fuel.