Can our economy afford to switch from petroleum to alternative energy right now?
America needs abundant and affordable energy.
Lower gas prices would be a consumer tax cut.
America needs abundant and affordable energy.
Lower gas prices would be a consumer tax cut.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
We have been talking about this since 1973. When IS IT going to happen?
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
What alternatives? AL Gores alternative is causing STARVATION around the world- wonder how many children died so far … GEE and we have MORE OIL here in the USA than the ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST has….. HELLO!
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
We can’t afford not to. Gas prices aren’t going anywhere but up, even if we drill up and down the coasts. We need to invest in homegrown, renewable sources of energy. If we do it now, we’ll be in the lead and selling the technology all over the world. If we don’t, we’ll be buying it from some country that was more forward-looking.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
We can’t afford NOT to switch. We have been putting it off for decades.
Actually, it has the potential of generating a lot of new jobs, new manufacturing, and a sustainable, long term energy plan.
We have been sucking at the earths oil and coal long enough. The technology is there, or very close to being ready. I have confidence in this country. If we don’t start weaning from the fossil fuels NOW, we will just keep on the way we are going, only to face even bigger, more pressing problems in the future.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
If you tried to power your car and your home with "alternative energy" you would have no money left over for food or anything else.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
I doubt if America will ever be able to afford to switch to alternative energy.
First of all there isn’t any such source energy source available at the moment, and if it ever does get developed it will likely be done in Europe or Asia.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
even if all the Algore acolytes swore off all petroleum products, the
answer is still…absolutely not!!!
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
Yes, green energy has made great strides in efficiency and cost. Wind and solar both are very close to or even at or below the cost of other types including coal (the low cost standard) depending on location and grid compatibility. They also continue to make advances in technology that will soon make them cost effective in all areas. With us exporting hundreds of millions of dollars to those counties that would like to harm us the bigger question is can we afford not to.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
Where is the alternate energy? Solar energy?
It will take another 50 years to make solar panels cheap and affordable and efficient to produce sufficient energy. Presently solar cell produce a dc voltage which after regulation charges a battery pack. This battery pack energises an Inverter to produce AC voltage. The AC voltage is used to power our appliances. Alliances are not designed to run on DC. Also when sun is absent (night) there would be energy generation.
Wind generators.They are good but should have enough wind for proper power generation. so big wind farms are to be made.
Geothermal energy. Still in infancy. Will take time.
Nuclear reactors. Good. initial investment is huge and the waste generated is extremely difficult to remove and destroy.
Now tell me what energy you want.
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
yes electricity and natural gas
t boone pickens has a plan that will work
email your congress man and demand it
July 10th, 2010 at 2:13 am
Oil will continue to be a large part of our energy picture for the foreseeable future, primarily for one reason.
Food production.
Consider that food production in the US consumes more energy than the entire output of France for all uses. Altering the way we produce our food in any significant way going to unproven technolgy is a huge gamble with dire consequences should it fail.
The trucking industry has been experimenting with hybrid and even entirely electric vans for short run and local delivery from terminal points, but oil will be necessary for time sensitive cross-country hauling.
Farm tractors and heavy construction/earth moving equipment requirements are different. The primary requirement is torque, not "economy" as it takes a lot of continuously available power to overcome the drag necessary to pull a 40-foot cultivator through soil or to push, scoop and carry tons of earth from here to there.
Locomotives use electric motors to drive the "trucks" (wheel assemblies) and the sources of that electricity are generators turned by huge diesel engines.
An independent farmer is hard pressed to purchase conventional farm equipment. A tractor or a combine can easily top 100,000 dollars but at least the farmer has confidence it can do the job.
I don’t see them rushing out to spend 5 times that amount on equipment that may not be up to the task.
Ask any farmer what its like to be totally dependent on the weather.
I don’t view drilling for US oil as strictly an economic issue but a necessary security step.
Sure, I realize that with the market structure much, if not all, of that oil will wind up on the open market. That’s fine as it will effect the ability of OPEC to control the amount of oil on the market and seriously reduce their ability to influence market price by controlling their output.
We should go ahead and find it, tap it and cap it if necessary so that if the need arises, it can more quickly be brought to market. The mere ability to quickly replace withdrawn oil with our own is a deterent to radical manipulation of the world’s oil supply.
Lower oil prices will reduce the amount of cash some countries use against us with the added benefit that we will not lose the ability to fuel the war effort.
Worst case scenario, if our oil is already flowing into the market at higher levels and those few who hate us but supply some of our oil cut us off, that US owned part of the flow can be diverted for domestic use.
Indeed the US still has large reserves of oil, most of which is not the cheap easily extractable variety.
Local solar power for domestic electricity, will still require connection to a grid, as the sun is not visible every day. Wind power has the same retraints because depending on the weather can be troublesome.
It matters not to the coal or nuclear fired power stations if the sun don’t shine or the wind dont blow.
That’s not to say that non-fossil sources of energy shouldn’t be adopted but we should not be totally dependent on them.
No matter, I view the production of US oil as a no-lose proposition.