hydrocarbons

To elaborate, there are three main end-member types of source rocks (organic-rich shales, etc that produce hydrocarbons when heated).

We do know the basic components for life, such as complex hydrocarbons and amino acids, do occur in non-biological nature.

There are many more ways to produce methane geologically/biologically than there are to produce liquid hydrocarbons.

Well nothing beats the stability and storage density of hydrocarbons, so they will never go away.

LNG (liquified natural gas), however, can be (and is starting to be) sold globally as a commodity similar to liquid hydrocarbons.

The flowback liquid from fracking contains water and a number of contaminants, including radioactive material, heavy metals, hydrocarbons and other toxins.

There is nothing magic about long chain hydrocarbons they are just really cheep right now.

Titan, Saturn's moon, is loaded with far more hydrocarbons than are available on Earth.

Synfuels -- hydrogen or synthetic gas or liquid hydrocarbons created from surplus electrical supply, are the most likely options in my book.

No, the chemical process your car is using is almost identical to the one your cells are doing right now (oxidizing hydrocarbons).

And with coal you can do anything else, make plastics, make hydrocarbons, what-have-you.

Or you can turn electricity and air and water into hydrocarbons only slightly less efficiently than you can turn electricity and water into hydrogen.

Your body produces heat, but that's due to chemical reactions that primarily amount to burning fuel (fats are essentially hydrocarbons and the primary products of their "burning" is CO2 and H20 which exit through the lungs).