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| Name: |
water_watcher
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| Subject: |
On our way to energy independence
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Date:
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3/1/2011 7:13:15 AM
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Obama approve 1 "one" new oil well in the gulf and it makes "Front Page" news in the NY Times. Now we are a country that claims it wants "energy Independence" and we have a president that finally approves a single new well in the gulf and it makes front page news. Now if he opened up all drilling, or Anwar, and many other known significant reserves that are currently off liminits and could actually make a difference ... now that would be front page news.
It is laughable how the liberal press looks for any small positive thing and turn it in to a big deal, to try and make people forget the disaster he has created with the economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/business/energy-environment/01drill.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=oil%20well%20in%20gulf&st=cse
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| Name: |
lamont
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| Subject: |
My thoughts exactly....
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Date:
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3/1/2011 8:42:15 AM
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I'm sure this ONE drilling operation is going to make a huge dent in the $3.29 per gallon I paid this morning. Sheesh!
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| Name: |
MrHodja
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| Subject: |
My thoughts exactly....
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Date:
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3/1/2011 10:59:14 AM
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You may be looking back at $3.29 wistfully....wholesale price for gas jumped $.20 overnight...
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| Name: |
water_watcher
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| Subject: |
My thoughts exactly....
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Date:
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3/1/2011 2:32:07 PM
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I agree ... yet our great president still thinks we should all be driving electric cars and that will solve the problem. But he forgets oil produces a lot of our electricity and if we had a huge ramp up in electric demand, not only could the grid not handle it, but there is not enough capacity. Then there is the waste from electric plants that is considered to be a bigger issue than burning oil.
Bottom line, for every action there is a reaction ... you can't starve one source of energy and support another and think the problem will get solved.
We need to increase our domestic oil production at the same time we are enouraging alternative sources of energy.
Not that I will be here to see ... but I would bet we are still highly dependent on oil in 50 years.
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| Name: |
Pontoonfisher
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| Subject: |
My thoughts exactly....
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Date:
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3/2/2011 7:30:39 AM
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The reserves in the US should be kept that, reserves. There will come a day when we will need the oil that's within our own borders. I feel now is not the time. One has to be naive if you think that if we start pumping more oil from our own borders that the price will oil will go down. $3.00/gallon gas and up is here to stay. Electric cars are not the answer. They ultimately shift from one fossil fuel to another. The solution is a renewable alternative fuel.
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| Name: |
Talullahhound
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| Subject: |
My thoughts exactly....
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Date:
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3/2/2011 7:44:44 AM
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I actually think electric cars may be a solution for those in urban areas that make short trips around town, just like that little "smart car". But I don't see the general public embracing electric cars.
I rather agree with Pontoon. I think we need to retain our reserves. I think there are other renewable resources that could be used to develop new technologies.
I don't think enough time has passed to know and understand the full effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf. So I'm not ready to start drilling all over the place.
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| Name: |
Summer Lover
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| Subject: |
Drill now
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Date:
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3/2/2011 8:05:41 AM
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At this point, a workable "renewable energy source" does not exist. Even if we stop growing corn to ruin, I mean run cars, it takes far too much energy to make ethanol. Hydrogen fuel cells - neat concept, but so costly that not even the Government can print enough money to implement it. Solar is far too inefficient and wind power would be of little help (also see printing money for both). I would vote for nuclear power, and realize that we have to transport and dispose of spent fuel rods in a safe manner. I guess we can just follow the leader when he says we are going to just "invent stuff" - although I thought he was talking about more Government regulation and widgets....
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| Name: |
Talullahhound
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| Subject: |
Drill now
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Date:
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3/2/2011 10:02:38 AM
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I just can't believe that there aren't any other solutions. Industry will follow the money, so until they can be convinced that there is money to be made in the short term, they will not put the money into research.
I think Nuclear power should be explored. We abandoned it too soon.
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| Name: |
water_watcher
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| Subject: |
My thoughts exactly....
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Date:
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3/2/2011 3:44:57 PM
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I understand the logic of why you think we should maintain our reserves ... but we are pulling almost $1 trillion dollars a year our of our economy through purchases of foriegn oil ... and much is going to parts of the world that do not like our way of life very much.
I would much rather see more of that money stay within our own borders, which creates millions of jobs and grows our economy rather than others.
"Known" reserves in the US, at todays consumption is something around 150 years.
I do think there needs to be other energy sources ... Nuclear for one. It is efficient, we have the technology and it is very cost effective. While we use Nuclear Fission today (splitting of atoms) ... Nuclear Fusion (joining atoms) is much more efficient and no waste to deal with. It is what occurs naturally, but it is much more difficult ... although it has been done and research continues. Why not fund that ... we are much closer to Fusion technology as a viable source that weare solar or wind. They have applications too ... but in certain areas and a limited basis.
Point being ... while oil is our primary source of energy, bring more home and use the growth in the economy (resulting tax revenue) to help our budget crisis and fund research on viable alternatives.
Keep sending money to other countries to buy their oil, may keep us with the reserves, but we keep digging deeper in the hole, send more jobs elsewhere and have less tax revenues to fund alternatives.
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| Name: |
MartiniMan
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| Subject: |
My thoughts exactly....
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Date:
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3/6/2011 8:44:13 PM
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Here is the problem with reserves, the amount of time that it takes to move them from the reserve category to being gasoline pumped into your car is too long given our current inventory of available crude oil. Our reliance on imported oil is a huge national security issue. I don't disagree with what you are saying conceptually. It has always been appealing to me to hold onto our reserves and use the rest of the world's oil but we should only do that if we have the infrastructure in place to take advantage of domestic sources in a very short period of time. Right now that is not even close to being the case.
What has driven my change in thinking on this is our work for oil companies that explore for, transport and refine oil. I had not realized just how little there is in reserve for refining. Think of the concept of just-in-time manufacturing where they receive the necessary parts right when they need them for assembly. Saves tremendous costs not having unproductive inventory on hand but puts you at the mercy of even one supplier. Same is true for oil refining, especially with all the special blends they have to create for different states and different seasons. What this means is that if crude oil supplies are disrupted, because of the very limited quantity of crude oil and refined petroleum products in storage we would run out quickly. Recall what happened with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the south where a couple of week shutdown in the refineries resulted in no gasline or diesel all over the south. Not a spike in prices, but no availability That would happen across the country and frighteningly quickly.
So if you could figure out a way to have readily available sufficient crude oil reserves that are sufficient in quantity to carry us through to the point where our ramped up production can fill the gap then this might be workable. Our current strategic reserves don't even come close.
As to you point about $3 gasoline being here to stay that is simply not correct. Every time we have a spike in prices everyone assumes that it will never go down again. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the prices will drop again. They always have and they always will until available production cannot keep up with demand which is nowhere near the case in the foreseeable future. The current spike is due to traders betting that it will continue up for a while with all the turmoil in the Middle East and they can make a quick buck. It will go down, you can bet on it.
As for renewable alternative sources, they will happen when the price of petroleum becomes so high for a sustainable period of time that they become financially viable, and not before. We have seen all the negative consequences of government intervention trying to promote alternative sources. The only way anything happens is for the government to distort the markets by taxing or giving tax credits or cash. As we have seen with the ethanol house of cards as it comes tumbling down, only when the underlying economics are there to drive long-term innovation will anything happen. We are simply not there yet but we will some day. But with the enhanced recovery methods coming into the marketplace we will have plenty of oil, not to mention natural gas and coal to cover us for decades if not centuries.
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