Gas Attack!

[MoPho]

Many of the products that we use every day are based in oil, but that doesn't mean that we couldn't use other things like soy beans or so. I just think that we should not be myopic and put our heads in the sand. In any race someone wins, why not America?

 

 

 

I think it is being myopic to try and reduce the cost of oil now so to make us feel better, rather than adjusting our lifestyles and saving our resources for later when we may really need it.

 

The cost of energy going up IS the incentive to find alternate energy sources now so that America wins the "race".

 

 

 

[powderbrake]

Oil production is already screwed up by government influences. Let the free market decide. Drilling offshore ( up to 200 miles out) will produce lots of oil, as will Anwar.

 

There was a news article on last night that saidover 50% of the oil damages on beaches etc, came from NATURAL SEEPAGE from cracks in the sea bottom. Offshore drilling was the smallest segment, less than 1%.

We can drill safely offshore, lets let the drillers go, and see what happens to oil futures.

 

I'm not recommending we not pursue other forms of energy. Sooner or later we will build more nuclear power plants, and when they eventually discover an efficient battery, cars can run on electric or on fuel cells , powered by hydrogen, generated from nuclear electricity. Of course Hydrogen is kind of a joke. there is simply NO distribution system in place, and it's energy density is so low that you really can't carry enough to satisfy most folks.

 

I saw a windmill farm in Kansas last week with about 100 windmills, only 20 or so were working. That was fine with me, I'm an anti-windmill guy, solely based on the fact they are Eye Pollution. A stationary windmill is ugly, but you can ignore it, a rotating windmill draws your eye.

Remember when they would show a picture of early 1900's downtowns? All the buildings were obscured by the myiad wires and telephone poles. People concluded it was an eyesore, and now all building is done with underground wiring. Same goes for windmills. Off my windmill rant now.

 

 

[spotcheck]

 

 

I think it is being myopic to try and reduce the cost of oil now so to make us feel better, rather than adjusting our lifestyles and saving our resources for later when we may really need it.

 

The cost of energy going up IS the incentive to find alternate energy sources now so that America wins the "race".

 

 

 

Agree entirely. They ain't making any more fossil fuels (or California coastlines - at least until The Big One recalibrates the map ). Just looked this up - Domestic production roughly 5 mm bbl/day in 2008, and importing roughly 10mm/day (2.3 from Canada). Can't drill or pump our way around those numbers - "pump one, buy two". It's a commodity market, so USA cannot influence global prices - OPEC, sure - but not us. Keep our oil for ourselves? Protectionism has a very nasty way of rebounding.

 

I (and assume many of you also) have travelled a fair amount over the years in Europe (and NZ). Best recall is their fuel prices were min 2x US prices (up to about 5x in Turkey). I fully realize that is primarily a result of their domestic policies. I can't get my hands around what OUR policies are - darn sure can't farm our way out of this in Iowa.

 

Noon, Jan 20 - be interested to see what happens with people in charge that are not from the oil bidness.

 

 

[jbanker]

:)

I saw a windmill farm in Kansas last week with about 100 windmills, only 20 or so were working. That was fine with me, I'm an anti-windmill guy, solely based on the fact they are Eye Pollution. A stationary windmill is ugly, but you can ignore it, a rotating windmill draws your eye.

Remember when they would show a picture of early 1900's downtowns? All the buildings were obscured by the myiad wires and telephone poles. People concluded it was an eyesore, and now all building is done with underground wiring. Same goes for windmills. Off my windmill rant now.

 

 

 

Better watch out or we will be calling you Don Quixote...

 

Jack

[gjslutz]

I don't think there is one answer, but we had better be open to all. I don't like the looks of windmills, but if it would help I would put one up in my back yard. Untill this election issue, both sides of the isle had their heads in the sand. One thing for sure, we sure are sending all of our oil money to people who want to kill us. I and all of us have seen this train coming at us full speed. Both the right & left has had their people in power, along with both that are presently running now have avoided this issue. The new speaker of the house said it was Bush's fault and she would fix it. It is now a bigger problem. I don't think it is her fault alone any more than his. Other than either not bringing a plan to start us on the plan to free us up from the mid east oil. We have been in deep shit and going in over our head

. There isn't a one quick magic fix. I don't care who is in office Jan. 20th, we need all to tackle this problem, not just blame each other as has been in the past

20 or so years.

 

Gary

[BobDrye]

If the figures that have been stated in many places are anywhere near correct, the United States has an abundance of proven reserves of fossil fuels. These reserves are more than adequate to fuel our economy for generations. We are in a transitional period and need to find sources of energy that would eventually get us off of fossil fuels. I think the argument should be, what is the length of the transitional period, and what incentives should be used to expedite that period? I can’t believe that lowering our standard of living, accepting a recessionary period, is in any way compatible with the model of the American dream. We live as kings today and kings elevated their standard of living by owning or using the services of slaves and servants. The industrial revolution, fueled by fossil fuels, has raised our standard of living by using machines instead of slaves and servants to facilitate it. I don’t see what future benefit we would find in eliminating those vehicles that have enabled us to enjoy the standard of living that our forefathers have built up over the past two centuries.

The best way to ensure a stable future supply of a product is to generate a continuing demand for the product. Trees are harvested and replanted by growers who know that their customers will want trees in the future to use in making various goods. In the same way, knowledge that demand for oil in the future is what spurs energy companies on to invest in the infrastructure and ability to supply energy to customers in the future. Artificially lowering the demand for energy greatly weakens this signal and reduces their incentive to invest.

In 1995 I spent a week in Oshkosh enjoying the EAA fly-in. I believe that was the year that they celebrated the inception of the x-prize for the first private company to put a man into space. I thought the task was insurmountable, nothing that a small company could ever accomplish. Just a year or two ago Sealed Composites led by the brilliant entrepreneur Burt Ritan witnessed the launching of Space Ship One and accomplished that goal. Why not embrace that spirit? Man times in our history we have faced seemingly insurmountable challenges, but the American entrepreneurial spirit has more than met that challenge. I’m the type of guy that always believes that the glass is more than half full. How is the energy challenge that we face today any different than many other seemingly insurmountable challenges in our history? I believe that on November fourth, that we will make one of the largest decisions in our life when we choose who will lead us through this current tenuous period.

Many of us remember the movie The Lion King. Upon the death of Mufasa, his son was not ready to lead and left the tribe. In his absence, Scar brought about darkness in the land. It was only upon the return of a leader with vision, Simba, that the kingdom was returned to a period of light and prosperity.

 

 

 

[gjslutz]

Bob, I was at Oshkosh also, but didn’t see you there. I have seen Burt Rutan a few times over the years. As you know he has many great aircraft designs to his credit including the first airplane to circle the earth on one tank of fuel. To see him, you would think he was a Grass Roots Singer, not the person who thought way outside the box. His R&D program cost and build is less than what most Aircraft Co’s spend for lunches for their R&D programs. He thinks & operates in small scale. Very much as Colin Chapman did with the 7.

[Mondo]

Rutan's company is a little over an hour away. Our new airport has a mock up of his spacecraft/plane hanging in the lobby. He does have some serious sideburns;)