$40 per barrel oil ?

rdnor · #1 (**permalink**) 06-04-2006, 11:05 AM

I have been hearing of these deposits for decades . It is about time we utilize our own resources and keep our money at HOME ! Kiss off Abdul ! Oh and you to Hugo! http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/print/...2359%2C00.html

rdnor · #2 (**permalink**) 06-04-2006, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdnor

I have been hearing of these deposits for decades . It is about time we utilize our own resources and keep our money at HOME ! Kiss off Abdul ! Oh and you to Hugo! http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/print/...2359%2C00.html

Whatsamatta ? Do I stink or sumthin ?

OkhamsRazor · #3 (**permalink**) 06-04-2006, 11:54 PM

Snifff... snifff... I don't smell anything. Yeah, I've been hearing about these deposits since the oil embargo. The problem is, 98% of the research in how to best utilize these resources stopped 15 seconds after the embargo was lifted. We're still slightly in the dark on just how to go about utilizing the stuff.

I realize that's an oversimplification and there are a few independents that have persisted through the years. oil-techinc.com These are the guys I've followed most closely over the years as they quietly make breakthroughs in processing.

But... What's so fantastic about an oil based economy anyway? Wouldn't an economy based on renewable energy be that much better? It's all energy. That's the name of the game, not oil.

Look, if we don't figure out the best way to do it, someone else will, then they get to run with it. We no longer have a monopoly on the best and the brightest. Hugging one and a half centuries of tradition and old school tech while letting someone else discover the next energy boom would have far more tragic and far ranging consequences than removing oil from our economy. Besides, wouldn't it be cool to say... "nah, leave the mountains and the shale beds, we're makin' methanol from the sun". Methanol would still let you drive you big ass SUV, truckers wouldn't have to convert since bio-diesel is as easy to make as corn oil. Hell it might even ease domestic jet fuel so I can afford to start traveling again.

There are several breakthroughs coming down the pike in alternative and renewable energy, but we are in a race to see who gets there first. South Africa has already taken the lead in high efficiency inexpensive solar tech, and they've licensed it to Germany who already has more renewable sources than we do by far. We simply cannot afford to fall any further behind. We call ourselves world leaders, lets start acting like leaders. Better yet, let's just lead, period.

I'm certainly in no hurry to reward the oil companies. These gas bags have been sticking it to the American public for over a hundred years. The history of strip mining on this continent is poor to say the least. Not as bad as say China, but it's a devastating process any way you look at it.

We deserve better than duking it out for the last scraps of a dwindling resource. We need cheap abundant power and lots of it. Why continue to pour money into something you know is an eventual dead end?

rdnor · #4 (**permalink**) 06-05-2006, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OkhamsRazor

Snifff... snifff... I don't smell anything. Yeah, I've been hearing about these deposits since the oil embargo. The problem is, 98% of the research in how to best utilize these resources stopped 15 seconds after the embargo was lifted. We're still slightly in the dark on just how to go about utilizing the stuff.

I realize that's an oversimplification and there are a few independents that have persisted through the years. oil-techinc.com These are the guys I've followed most closely over the years as they quietly make breakthroughs in processing.

But... What's so fantastic about an oil based economy anyway? Wouldn't an economy based on renewable energy be that much better? It's all energy. That's the name of the game, not oil.

Look, if we don't figure out the best way to do it, someone else will, then they get to run with it. We no longer have a monopoly on the best and the brightest. Hugging one and a half centuries of tradition and old school tech while letting someone else discover the next energy boom would have far more tragic and far ranging consequences than removing oil from our economy. Besides, wouldn't it be cool to say... "nah, leave the mountains and the shale beds, we're makin' methanol from the sun". Methanol would still let you drive you big ass SUV, truckers wouldn't have to convert since bio-diesel is as easy to make as corn oil. Hell it might even ease domestic jet fuel so I can afford to start traveling again.

There are several breakthroughs coming down the pike in alternative and renewable energy, but we are in a race to see who gets there first. South Africa has already taken the lead in high efficiency inexpensive solar tech, and they've licensed it to Germany who already has more renewable sources than we do by far. We simply cannot afford to fall any further behind. We call ourselves world leaders, lets start acting like leaders. Better yet, let's just lead, period.

I'm certainly in no hurry to reward the oil companies. These gas bags have been sticking it to the American public for over a hundred years. The history of strip mining on this continent is poor to say the least. Not as bad as say China, but it's a devastating process any way you look at it.

We deserve better than duking it out for the last scraps of a dwindling resource. We need cheap abundant power and lots of it. Why continue to pour money into something you know is an eventual dead end?

If private industry is willing to put up the money , The Sierra Club needs to get out of the way .

rdnor · #5 (**permalink**) 06-05-2006, 03:54 PM

Sorry , had to cut that short . I am all for renewable energy , by all means go for it . I just cannot see crippling our country in the meantime . Environmentalists that long for $10 gas have life ass backward . They would be the first ones screaming when the price of tofu and bean sprouts quadruples in price . The ripple effect on the economy at large would be devestating , especially to the poor that the left claims to care for so much . Shooting ourselves in the foot again by imposing a BTU tax that Gore (ugh) is so fond of would finish the US off as a world power . Gore's claims that the US is the chief offender when it comes to pollution is nothing short of insanity . A short trip to Mexico should clear that up for the doubters out there . If that does not convince you that gore's claims are lunacy , head to China . Old technology coalfired plants rule the day in some of the populated parts of China , and their rising industrial economy is fueled primarily on coal . Even their oilfired plants are obsolete and filthy . I think the alarmist view on the environment is just that alarmist . When the clean renewable energy that I keep hearing about becomes reality I will embrace it , until then , let's start drilling .Replacing the entire US fleet of cars and trucks with "alternative" fuel powered vehicles will take decades and again , hit the poor the hardest . My current truck has the latest fuel injection and antipollution technology that I had to pay for , I plan on driving it awhile .

rdnor · #6 (**permalink**) 06-06-2006, 05:00 PM

Hello?.........

OkhamsRazor · #7 (**permalink**) 06-06-2006, 09:51 PM

Sorry, I subscribe to 157 threads, sometimes it takes me a while to work my way back around.

I wish it didn't take crippling our economy, but it seems that Americans are alergic to making any sacrifice unless some catastrophic event shakes them awake. Perhaps I'm being pesimistic.

I do agree that we should continue to search for ways of getting our oil fix at home. And I guess I'd rather tap a large reserve than destroy the Alaskan refuge for a truly paltry return.

The thing is, and I may be wrong about this, but it really doesn't matter if we pull the oil out of rock here or buy it from foreign sources, we the consumer will be paying market prices for it. Why would Exxon sell it to us for $40 when they can sell it on the open market for more than twice that?

I'm not so concerned on the environmental end of things. There are plenty of ways we can cut back on polution (whether we will or not is another question). But I would like to live in a country that hasn't ripped down every "purple mountain majesty" and sullied every "fruited plain".

I just don't buy the argument that it'll take years to make the change. We invented the atom bomb on the double, put men on the moon in less than ten years, developed the SR-71 from drawing to flight in mere months... we can conquer this challenge too. It's what we do. And we do it best.

I also think you underestimate the effect this new technology will have on the US economy. But to take advantage of it, we must be the first and the best. Times a wasting.

rdnor · #8 (**permalink**) 06-06-2006, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OkhamsRazor

Sorry, I subscribe to 157 threads, sometimes it takes me a while to work my way back around.

I wish it didn't take crippling our economy, but it seems that Americans are alergic to making any sacrifice unless some catastrophic event shakes them awake. Perhaps I'm being pesimistic.

I do agree that we should continue to search for ways of getting our oil fix at home. And I guess I'd rather tap a large reserve than destroy the Alaskan refuge for a truly paltry return.

The thing is, and I may be wrong about this, but it really doesn't matter if we pull the oil out of rock here or buy it from foreign sources, we the consumer will be paying market prices for it. Why would Exxon sell it to us for $40 when they can sell it on the open market for more than twice that?

I'm not so concerned on the environmental end of things. There are plenty of ways we can cut back on polution (whether we will or not is another question). But I would like to live in a country that hasn't ripped down every "purple mountain majesty" and sullied every "fruited plain".

I just don't buy the argument that it'll take years to make the change. We invented the atom bomb on the double, put men on the moon in less than ten years, developed the SR-71 from drawing to flight in mere months... we can conquer this challenge too. It's what we do. And we do it best.

I also think you underestimate the effect this new technology will have on the US economy. But to take advantage of it, we must be the first and the best. Times a wasting.

Then let's get sarted !

157 threads ? you are a busy man ! Better get to it !