The enormous size of the oil and gas market drives adoption of synthetic fuel production

Originally posted at the Terraform blog June 16 2026. One of the underrated joys of hardware tech development is having the opportunity to tell and retell the story until it gradually becomes less mysterious. To me, what Terraform is doing was as obvious as breathing five years ago. To others, even long standing employees and investors, some of the finer points are not yet as obvious as they should be. When I stumble on one of these areas, it provides an opportunity to write a blog about it. How does new technology enter the market? New technology costs more. Adoption at scale requires two strategies: A beachhead market willing to pay enough to make early production profitable, and economies of scale that drive down costs as adoption increases, with cost falling at least as fast as the beachhead is exhausted. Think of Tesla’s strategy around electric cars. First, the Roadster, an overpriced toy to mature the tech at a smaller and cheaper scale. Then the Model S and X, premium cars…