my take on high energy costs
I wish Americans would stop thinking one magic solution will solve everything.
today we import 65 percent of our oil. And while we are mostly self sufficient for power (electricity) producing fuel, that is at risk as we continue to import greater amounts of liquid natural gas because virtually all new power plants built in the last 10 years are natural gas.
so. what solution do we do?
Answer: all of them...now.. in a big way.
1) develop more oil... shale oil, bio oil from saltwater algae, smart ethanol coal oil (fischer tropsch) , arctic, offshore, tar sand, and old well re-openings . .
2) develop power production of all types. nukes, clean coal, solar, wind, geothermal, tidal... Along with this develop efficient large scale energy storage systems.
3) demand destruction through enforced efficiency across the board.
each of these options *might* offset 20 to 30 percent of our energy import needs over in 15 to 20 years. even then, as populations climb, we are likely to remain shorthanded.
Until then, our dollar is becoming worthless as we flood the world (and a lot of the world who hate us) with trillions upon trillions of our hard earned cash.
today we import 65 percent of our oil. And while we are mostly self sufficient for power (electricity) producing fuel, that is at risk as we continue to import greater amounts of liquid natural gas because virtually all new power plants built in the last 10 years are natural gas.
so. what solution do we do?
Answer: all of them...now.. in a big way.
1) develop more oil... shale oil, bio oil from saltwater algae, smart ethanol coal oil (fischer tropsch) , arctic, offshore, tar sand, and old well re-openings . .
2) develop power production of all types. nukes, clean coal, solar, wind, geothermal, tidal... Along with this develop efficient large scale energy storage systems.
3) demand destruction through enforced efficiency across the board.
each of these options *might* offset 20 to 30 percent of our energy import needs over in 15 to 20 years. even then, as populations climb, we are likely to remain shorthanded.
Until then, our dollar is becoming worthless as we flood the world (and a lot of the world who hate us) with trillions upon trillions of our hard earned cash.