Peak Oil

[MizMotown]

Since oil is and always be a hot topic and seeing the mention of a solar powered railway I thought I'd add this topic. When is this country going to get on the ball solar energy?

Some interesting links...

http://www.peakoil.net/

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

http://www.321energy.com/

http://www.communitysolution.org/

http://www.truth-out.org/

http://www.publicintegrity.org/

http://oil.com/

[Detroitnerd]

The first answer to the energy crisis will never happen: Conservation. You know: Stupid, unsexy stuff like carpooling, turning off lights, moving close to work -- making choices to choose to use less energy.

Nah, that's boring. Let's spend our effort building this cargo-cult runway where the big solutions to energy production will land. Tomorrow. If we just keep waiting. And hoping. Keep those banana beacons lit!

[Retroit]

Only about 1% of electricity in the U.S. is generated by petroleum. The major sources of electricity generation are:

• Coal 47%
• Natural Gas 21%
• Nuclear 20%
• Hydroelectric 6%
• Solar, wind, geothermal, & biomass 6%

[[source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electri...m/epm_sum.html)

I would like to see less dependence on oil and greater use of solar, but we're dealing with two separate problems:

1. Oil is still relatively cheap [[not including the costs involved in maintaining our presence in the Middle East). The best way to reduce oil consumption would be to make it more expensive. This could be done with an increase in gas taxes. However there is strong opposition to this on the part of many consumers. I support higher gas taxes, to be phased in gradually over time.
2. Solar power is still relatively expensive and not well suited for all conditions. So far, solar has been subsidized with tax incentives, but a homeowner is still faced with high upfront costs that can only be recouped over time from savings [[or even profit) on electric bills. The best way to make solar profitable would be to increase taxes on electricity. But again, consumers will resist this. I support higher taxes, especially during summer months, since this is when there is the greatest demand and since winter is a more critical time for poorer people who may heat their homes electrically.

As much as I hate taxes, if they serve a beneficial purpose, I am more willing to support them than to have income indiscriminately extorted from my paycheck.

[rb336]

first, "peak oil" concepts are all very iffy in terms of being scientifically substantiated.

second, some forms of natural gas ARE petroleum-derived.

[jiminnm]

The cost of oil will continue to increase without adding more taxes, and there will be little the US can do about it. While our consumption has actually decreased in the last two years, consumption in the BRIC countries [[Brazil, Russia, India, China) has held or increased. Last numbers I saw, the total of those countries was approaching the total of US consumption. So, our impact on worldwide oil consumption gets a wee bit smaller everyday, and the impact of economies growing faster than ours gets a wee big larger. That demand will drive up the price of oil. We won't need taxes to reduce to reduce consumption, the price will drive it.

[Retroit]

^I'm not so sure the last barrel of oil extracted from the earth will be any more expensive than one extracted today. Was the last tree chopped down on Easter Island any more expensive than prior ones? Was the ivory from the last mastodon any more expensive than from ones killed earlier? Was the nearly-last Right Whale [[killed for its oil, incidentally) any more expensive the earlier ones? If the price of oil does peak due to scarcity, it will be too late to reduce consumption to sustainable levels.

[maxx]

Exxon is interested in algae-based biofuels.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/07...-in-33562.html
And so is the President.
http://content.usatoday.com/communit...sed-biofuels/1

http://www.oilgae.com/

And the process absorbs CO2.

[rb336]

an old friend works in an algae lab. there is so much they are doing with it. algae could well replace pteroleum in pharma as well.

wish i had taken THAT route