Quote:
Originally Posted by camaraderie
CD...I appreciate the use of my quote and the fact that you consider me an impeccable source!
I really do believe that quote...but I won't pin my forseeable future to "alternative sources" making up a major part of that three legged stool over the next 20 years. Nor will nuclear. But with the price of oil higher and going even higher, there is plenty of incentive for PRIVATE companies to invest and develope both if government will only stop putting up roadblocks. Maybe 20 years from now well have 1000 nuke plants coming on line and producing all the energy our coal plants do now. Maybe in 20 years we'll have more efficient solar and wind and battery technology that will allow homes to live passively off the grid much of the time and cars that will no longer require oil.
In the meantime we need to drill for oil and FIND more...since oceans form 75% of the planet it stands to reason that they contain 75% of the oil. Most of that hasn't been found because we couldn't get to anything but near shore until recently (BTW...near shore is 60% of current world production) ...so why bother looking for it? We need to do this to reduce our dependence on others for our security...to improve our own economy and to create American jobs. Your asking for proven reserves is a bit disingenuous since proven reserves are not the only issue. 70% of the public supports drilling...let it go CD. The other stuff you want will come on line as soon as companies can make money at it...if the government lets them. If alternative technology does NOT provide the answer and oil runs out 50 years from now...we'll all be sitting next to our nuclear fireplaces thanking those good souls who in 2008 had the foresight to start building nuke plants again.  |
I hear ya, cam. I have been putting together the costs to take us 25% off of oil It includes wind, solar, geo (which actually was pretty cheap), and nuclear. The cost to get off of oil is very high - well into the hundreds of billions of dollars.
I have put a LOT of research into this and read articles until I was blue in the face. I currently have open about a dozen links to the DOE, USGS, conversion tables, MIT papers, etc. It is mind boggling.
I will concede that there is NO easy way to get off of oil, and certainly no quick way. But I still hold my position that oil is not the RIGHT way.
Bottom line: I have no problem with the people of our country voting to drill here... as long as they really know WHAT they are agreeing to. The sites are filled with missinformation and INTENTIONALLY missleading facts.
But they wont research it. THe will read the Drill Now, Pay Less. They will vote for it because they are paying $4/gallon and think surely that is the root cause and the environmentalists have been screwing them over. Nothing is further from the truth. We just flat do not have oil here in the quantities to sustain us for any reasonable amount of time. And why we concentrate on more oil, we should be making a sincere effort to get off. Otherwise, in ten years, that bumper sticker will say, "Drilled then, Paying now."
Ugh. I am taking a break from this thread.
- CD