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Why do people treat this like a sporting event?
My team won!
Neener!
Here's my take on energy:
I'm real big in favor of the long-term solutions (wind, solar), and sooner we start the better. Who knows how much damage we'll have done to the planet before we get off Oil.
Nuclear - its not cheap to build plants, and there is no safe way to dispose of the radioactive byproducts.
Well, except bury them in Nevada (McCain's plan).
Expect a $10 billion bill for each nuclear plant.
Oil - its going to run out, at some point. I've read many different estimates some saying 20 years at most before we've tapped out the planet. Others say 2050. I don't pretend to know if those estimates are accurate or not.
Then there's silly details like taking 7-10 years before oil starts pumping.
And that it won't drop gas prices much.
And silly environmental concerns - who needs an oil free coast?
Surely cleaning up oil accidents won't cost much, right? (maybe the tree-huggers will clean it up for free!)
This is a debate I've been having with a friend of mine who is pro-drilling, despite being on the California coast. I've asked him specific questions, and its been two weeks.
No answers yet - but he's college educated, so I expect him to come back to me with something more than "my gas prices will drop!".
Even a best case scenario... what are the estimates?
Surely conservatives have estimates about how much oil will be provided by drilling off our coast, right?
Will it be... 50% of our annual oil consumption?
That would be great!
Even I would expect a price drop, and I'm a skeptical bastard.
5% of our annual consumption?
Not so great.
And then how long until it runs out?
I'm not sure anyone can have accurate estimates for how much oil is off the coast (if a link with estimates was provided in this thread, I missed it).
Seems like drilling off our coast is a crapshoot, with some obvious negatives and some hard to evaluate positives.
Good post jockey seriously...
The problem we face however is that we tend to do nothing. We are reactive rather than proactive. I blame both parties for this. They didn't solve anything... They delayed, lingered and waited. SOP for dc.
Renewable energy is not an impossible dream. Wind, solar, tidal, geo thermal are all untapped resources.
Compjockey I hope this answers a bit of your questions.
....
Quote:
Scientists from Cornell University have discovered a massive amount of Oil off the coast of Louisiana.The find is some 60 billion barrels or 3 Times more than current US recoverable Oil of 20 Billion barrels, and would bring US total reserves to 80 billion barrels which is on par with Venezuela. The area was found under layers of salt domes by a new method of oil discovery known as “gas washing” . A process in which geologist are able to track the movement of oil deposits by the way they interact with the flow of natural gas. This method helps scientists to make extremely accurate 3D-seismic maps of deep underground oil deposits and mitigate the risk involved in drilling such deep under sea wells.
Quote:
The most recent attempt to unravel the complexities of ANWR geology was made by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1998. It entailed 3 years of study by 40 scientists. This is the most comprehensive study ever done and incorporated new field work, all the well data available and the information derived from reprocessing and reinterpretation of all the seismic data recorded in ANWR. This assessment contains the best information available to the public. In round numbers the study says there are between 6 and 16 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil in the study area. The mean (average) is about 10 billion barrels (a little less than Prudhoe Bay, the largest oilfield in North America, has produced in the past 25 years). Technically recoverable oil is the amount of oil that actually comes out of the ground, since you can�t get it all. At Prudhoe Bay the recovery factor (the percentage of oil you can actually extract) is over 60%. The USGS used a very conservative 37% recovery factor in their ANWR assessment. If the recovery factor in ANWR fields can match Prudhoe Bay then the technically recoverable average increases to about 18 billion barrels.
While we have a very good idea how much oil is there due to the advancements in technology we won't know what % is recoverable until we drill. That is after all why it is called oil exploration. We will be oil dependent for the next generation...it is a fact as nuclear, solar, wind all take time. Most take 10-20 years to develop/build and another 20+ years to get them to produce 10-20% of our energy needs. We are looking to find enough oil to sustain us while we work on these alternative methods. Saudi was the largest producer of oil and their production has become 50% sour crude. Sour crude can only be refined in the US and later this year India will have a plant that will be able to refine sour crude. The US has a ban on oil drilling, a ban on new refineries and the most stringent laws on sulphur in crude. Here we are with a Hurricane that moved thru limited refining abilities and no gas in some parts of the US like Tennessee.
Congress has made some very poor choices and we must do all that we can to get out of this mess....drill, nuclear, wind, solar and explore alternative sources.
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We will be oil dependent for the next generation...it is a fact as nuclear, solar, wind all take time. Most take 10-20 years to develop/build and another 20+ years to get them to produce 10-20% of our energy needs. We are looking to find enough oil to sustain us while we work on these alternative methods. Saudi was the largest producer of oil and their production has become 50% sour crude. Sour crude can only be refined in the US and later this year India will have a plant that will be able to refine sour crude. The US has a ban on oil drilling, a ban on new refineries and the most stringent laws on sulphur in crude. Here we are with a Hurricane that moved thru limited refining abilities and no gas in some parts of the US like Tennessee.
