What happens when the oil runs out? (Tok: apartment, houses)

[Rubi3]

Currently, the US is the world's top oil supplier and most likely will be there for several years.

[Rance]

Hemp. It grows like 4 times faster than trees, and can be used to make dozens of products including fuel and oil. The seeds are a great food source as well. Why do you think the government outlawed it in the first place! Because Big Oil and Pharmacy companies paid off the politicians to make it illegal.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Dakster

Ray - I like BioDiesel... BUT -- That won't work in AK for most of the year. It has a high cloud point and Cold Filter Plugging Point. (CFPP). So, it isn't a good fuel for Fairbanks unless you have a way to always keep it warm.

The cloud point of soybean biodiesel is about 34°F (1°C), whereas the cloud point for No. 1 diesel is about - 40°F (-40°C) and for No. 2 diesel between -18°F (-28°C) and +20°F (-7°C).

That's true about biodiesel in Alaska (too cold).

[Dakster]

Originally Posted by Rance

Hemp. It grows like 4 times faster than trees, and can be used to make dozens of products including fuel and oil. The seeds are a great food source as well. Why do you think the government outlawed it in the first place! Because Big Oil and Pharmacy companies paid off the politicians to make it illegal.

Must be interesting exhaust if you are running your car on hemp oil....

It's bad enough that running Biodiesel made from used fryer oil makes you hungry, since it smells a little like whatever was cooked in it.

[Rance]

Henry Ford did it years ago. Those model T's would run on darn near anything. And he actually built a car body out of hemp.

[Dakster]

It still grows wild in Iowa. They call it ditch weed there. There is no THC in it. So I don't see how that would be illegal to work with. I wouldn't mess with it though, just because.

Our government military specs for engines state they must run on multiple fuels, yet our Civillian cars cannot... Makes you wonder.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by Dakster

Our government military specs for engines state they must run on multiple fuels, yet our Civillian cars cannot... Makes you wonder.

I would guess this is a matter of cost. Being able to use multiple fuels must have some cost associated with it, which the military is willing to pay for contingencies, but most people would not be willing to pay it for their personal vehicles.

[Dakster]

I was only half serious with that statement...

Really, It is probably more of an emissions, power, and drive ability thing. Military doesn't care as much about NVH as long as the equipment in the vehicle works. And they don't have epa emissions to meet either. So they can tune a motor to run on not so great fuels.

They do care about sound if they are trying to sneak up on something... But for most vehicles that isn't the case either.

Some new civilian vehicles coming out will run on CNG, E85,and regular gas (RUG). And those are more money.

[starlite9]

The pipeline was built for a 20 year run, it's now going on 37 years? There has been excessive corrosion on the feeder lines where many of them had to be replaced completely. The main line is no longer pumping the volume/pressure it did 20 years ago. Reason given was production is down. Yet they are opening new areas all the time.

My view is that the main pipeline can't handle to pressure with the level of corrosion there as well. So the story is not enough oil, but I think if they went back to the previous levels it would rupture the line and the EPA would shut it down and there is no way they will/could replace it. Costs, regulatory hurtles, tree-huggers, EPA itself and a host of other items that would kill the industry overnight.

At that point about 70% of the State would be effected very quickly when the money dried up.

In 1985 ARCO laid off about a few hundred workers, the ripple effect was wide spread. There were entire new subdivisions that were empty, you could buy a house/condo for 40% of its value. Funny think was, it was the 1989 EXXON Valdez oil spill that dumped some three billion dollars into the economy that got us going again! Talk about irony!

Once the oil stops, it will be a mass exodus out of the state. In 1985, it was just a glitch and was a very good look at what we can expect when "S**t hits the Fan" you might say...

Most of the States budget is based on oil revenues, so you will see a lot of State workers and services cut, no real options. Politicians will refuse to cut spending where it really helps, instead they will raid the PFD fund until it's gone in a year or two hoping for salvation, but it won't come. They have increased the budget at all levels they don't have room for glitches. When they spend about $15,000 a year on every man, women and child in the State, where many of the States down South spend a third of that, it's just a matter if time.

Not happy about it, but we elected a bunch of liberals over the years that live to spend everyone else's money to make life "Better", and when the pipers comes, they won't pay, they simply won't have the money.

Timber is all but gone, fishing is reduced, Pebble Mine has liberals attacking it and other self interest groups that may completely kill it so one guy that spearheaded it can keep his wilderness fishing lodge private, and the list goes on.

At this point I guess I'm starting to worry, all this will happen at once when the line fractures from the cost savings of cutting preventive maintenance and all the folks that set us up will be headed for the boarder. I don't want the pipeline to fail, but it's already started. Still no gas line either, not even on the drawing board per say, we waited too long and now everyone is drilling for it. We have bypassed our time of being in the game.

Just my opinion.

[richelles]

If you would replace Alaska in your mind with present day Kansas you could say almost the exact same thing about the future. It isn't all cutting what you so cavalierly say are the liberal programs that causes the harm to the economy. It is when the collection of taxes is so reduced that the amount available to pay for what even a staunch conservative like your self would be forced to admit were necessary government service that were being cut. Kansas is even considering which schools to close because now that the revenue is being reduced by tax cuts there isn't enough to pay for everything. And which ones will get closed first? Why it will have to be in the liberal enclaves because they got the extra benefits. You can bet the conservative politicians will find enough money to avoid cutting their cushy jobs however. When did you ever hear about a politician cutting his or her salary in the face of budget cuts? Why they are even talking about getting rid of wind powered generation there.