I remember when they told us that nuclear power would be too cheap to meter. Hell, they need to put ball bearings in those meters now.
Why do you think the U.S. is over in the Middle East fighting a war right now?
So that we exert our influence on, develop, and protect, for the benefit of the greater capitalist world, their big oil reserves.
What - did you think we’d go over there for an altruistic cause like defeating tyranny? Because we want to defend Israel for the sake of defending Israel? Because we like sand and nice rugs? No - we want them to be nice, cooperative neighbors in the ever-expanding westernized world, and we’re trying to drag them, kicking and screaming, into 2004.
I think that there will be plenty of oil around for a fairly long time, and it won’t be overly expensive. Too many rich and influential people want it that way. The U.S. won’t be hitting any energy wall anytime soon.
Seems pretty obvious. In the game of nation-state politics, it’s a good move for the U.S…
On some points I agree with you on others you are so far off base your not even in the city the ballpark is in.
The major beef is ‘no more cheap energy’, totally false, the US has hundreds of years of coal which is easilly extractable and there is a process to convert coal to a gasoline subsitute since at least WW2.
If you think we will just sit with our thumb up our ass when/if oil runs dry (or prices itself out of the market), you have no idea what this country is made of.
(checking…
Ok still in the pit, continuing)
As for the SUV craze, I agree, I wish I could drive a fuel efficent car, but to be honest I don’t feel safe in one because of all the SUV’s out there. Especially it is common around here for parents to give their teens a new HEAVY SUV because they know that teens are more likely to get into accidents, and they want their kid to survive, most likely at the expense of a responsible driver, driving a fuel efficent car.
As for mass transit, I use it often. I frequently walk 21 minutes to a train station (yes I know the time exactly, if I allow 20 minutes I miss the train), and enjoy it. But there are issues w/ trains and more w/ buses that I feel must be addressed before it becomes more accepted. One is trains should run at a higher speed so it is competive with drive times, 2nd is Amtrak, which could be run a lot better, but OTHO should not have to pay to maintain the track network anymore then greyhound should have to pay to maintain the interstate network, right now they are at a great disadvantage. As a frequent LIRR, Metro North and Amtrak commuter, I do have to say that Amtrak has a very nice system which I would like to see the other commuter rails adopt. 1st is the quite car, no cell phones, no talking above a wisper, low lights so people can sleep. The 2nd is comfortabel reclining seats, and the 3rd is tray tables so one can get some work done. Oh yea also there is usually a snack car, which would solve the drive thru comment.
Buses just suck, they take the slower routes and make frequent stops, dedicated bus lanes could help a lot.
So I agree we need to re-work our mass transit system.
But also consider this, low energy prices help out the poor and lower middle classes more then the upper. It allows them to work further from home, giving them more opportunities to better themselves and families. It also allows the lower classes to live outside the congested areas to experence a better quality of life that only the rich can afford in other countries.
The same logic applies to those awaiting the Rapture.
I can take public transportation from right outside my door to right to the front door of my work. I tried it once. It took roughly an hour and a half, since it requires three busses and two trains. Or I can drive to work in less than 20 minutes. Guess which I do?
Actually, it’s less of a dilemma than that, even, since by the time I go home from work, all the public transportation is shut down.
My brother is in the oil industry.
First off, we are not in Iraq for the oil. Secondly, we have oodles of oil reserves - it’s just not become economic to exploit them. Thirdly, the use of oil for vehicles is a small if not miniscule proportion of the use of oil.
Go Navy! Beat Army!
Tell ya what, pal. I’ll drive whatever you fucking want me to drive when you’re making the payments.
Oh, lordy, don’t say that. Now we’ll have a fuck-you-with-a-stick tax to provide Kias for everyone.
Your brother may or may not be correct on point one, but I’m afraid he is at least partially wrong on points two and three. Most projections of oil reserves I’ve seen do factor in reserves of non-conventional hydrocarbon sources, although I’ll agree that there is room for debate on their true extent. As for usage, this chart I’ve linked to on a Department of Energy site shows that transportation accounts for 2/3 of all US oil usage. The accompanying text states that 2/3 of that total consists of gasoline, most commonly used for personal transport. The proportion of refined products used for transport is less in many other countries, but to the best of my knowledge is growing worldwide.
Oh, well hell - I guess that changes everything. :rolleyes:
Basic Choices and Constraints on Long-Term Energy Supplies, Physics Today
Well, remember that in the UK gas is so much more expensive is because of the much higher fuel taxes - 50.19 pence per liter. That is equal to 3.6 GBP per gallon; which works out to about $7 per gallon at current exchange rates. Pre-tax, gas prices in the UK are only slightly higher than they are in the US.
thanks for the info jjimm, but my main point stands, Americans are not just going to sit there w/ their collective thumbs up their asses, they will find energy sources. Coal is a quick fix till we get something else going. Perhaps He3 from the moon (which AFAIK has plenty and a single shuttle size payload returned would fuel the US electricity needs for a year IIRC), that’s if we can figure out that ellusive fussion thing, and reinvent lunar travel.
The estimated total reserves are at least double that value. The link you provide is only considering economically recoverable reserves (at least, the “250” number lines up with that). However, what is economically recoverable with coal changes dramatically and fairly rapidly, as those on the East coast of the US are discovering with FOB prices double what they were last year. And coal reserves are not nearly so mapped out as people think - there is a large level of uncertainty still, even in the major basins, as to exactly how much coal there is. Even waste coal tailings are common enough now for several small power plants to be built in Pennsylvania just to use the mine waste (can’t say too much more on that since I’m working on designs for 2 of them…)
Enlighten my ignorance here. Why aren’t we using more nuclear energy in our country?
(Honest question, I swear. No hidden motives except curiosity.)
Hell, they can’t even build new coal-fired plants in California without environmentalists hamstringing the approval process through endless legal action.
This is much worse in the case of nuclear plants, and essentially makes them nonstarters from the outset.
NIMBY is worst of all when it comes to power plants. Hell, this attitude torpedoed a windmill farm off the coast of Cape Cod.
Since that is partly his job - reservoir modelling - I think he knows what he’s talking about. The key phrase is ‘economic to recover’.
The linked article states that in the rest of the world the primary use is heating and power generation.
NIMBY. Most people hear the words “nuclear power” and immediately think “OMG CHERNOBYL ATOMS EVIL NO NUKES!!!” as if every reactor is a potential dirty bomb. Never mind the fact that Chernobyl was a completely different (and awful) design than Western nuclear plants, and despite this the only reason the accident occured was because the plant technicians overrode every damn failsafe installed to prevent such an accident. I once heard it described as something close to breaking into a bank vault and killing the security guard just so you could shoot yourself in the head with the guard’s gun.
“Hysteria” is putting it mildly. If you read what the guy has to say, it doesn’t matter what we do, we’re boned. We could convert to a cold fusion society, were that possible (though, interestingly enough, I couldn’t find any mention of nuclear power in any form on his site), and we’d still be fucked as far as that guy’s concerned. How did James Randi put it? You’ll never go broke predicting gloom and doom.
At least one consultant says that it’d be possible to switch over to a hydrogen economy by 2015 with an aggressive program by the government. Synthetic oil seems to be progressing nicely, and one could always buy an air powered car.
Does Arizona still have the tax credit program for people who buy or convert their cars over to alternative fuels? I know that the program was so successful that it nearly bankrupted the state and there was talk of getting rid of it. Based on Arizona’s experience, it looks like people will buy alternative if given an incentive to do so.