Oil addiction

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[edit] Overview

The United States in particular, and the global economy in general, depends heavily on non-renewable fossil oil as a fuel for transportation. More specifically, it depends upon oil remaining relatively inexpensive.

Unfortunately, the pre-eminence of oil extraction as an industry has led to the gradual entrenchment of powers with an invested interest in maintaining this dependence and, by extension, preventing the development of alternative energy sources. As a result, we find ourselves not only dependent, but unable to break away even when we clearly see it is in our best interests – in other words, addicted.

[edit] Theory

In practical terms, a "fuel" is any substance which can hold enough energy to power a reasonably-sized vehicle for a distance of at least several hundred miles while fitting into a container small enough to be carried by that same vehicle. The key fact here is not that the fuel provides the energy, but that it contains it. An extension cord plugged into a household power socket can provide a lot of energy, but you can't take it very far. Conversely, most batteries (anything from a miniscule Lithium watch battery to an automotive wet-cell battery) are quite portable, but cannot hold enough power to move a vehicle any useful distance.

The most important thing about oil, which is even more true once it is refined into chemicals such as gasoline (petrolium) and diesel, is that it has a high energy-to-volume ratio – in other words, you can pack a lot of energy into a relatively small space. There are very few substances which approach this density, and most of them create other problems -- hydrogen, for example, is far more combustible than gasoline, and is extremely hazardous to transport in quantities large enough to be useful as a fuel.

[edit] Finite Supply

To the best of our knowledge, naturally-occurring oil is formed by the actions of heated chemicals under extreme pressure over "geological time scales" (millions of years), and therefore is not something of which we can quickly make more. Once the naturally-occurring supplies have been exhausted ([1]), we will need to have found either an alternate method of production or a better means of storing energy.

[edit] Environmental Effects

(to be written) Some data here: [2]

[edit] Related Pages

[edit] Links

[edit] Reference

[edit] Projects

  • Stop Oil Speculators "Speculators and investment banks can game the energy trading markets, using loopholes in commodities law to drive up the cost of energy and reap record profits... at the expense of American families and small businesses!" This site is more about reducing/preventing the exploitation of oil dependence rather than reducing oil dependence itself; should probably go on a page about high gas prices and the way the Republicans are using those high prices to argue for more domestic drilling
  • Dollar a gallon gasoline: how-to/editorial page started by H. Keith Henson

[edit] Filed Links

  • 2008-07-28 /S/D/ ANWR Drilling Would Provide Quick Relief “Yet there is an even stronger argument for opening up ANWR: because of its impact on oil prices in the future, relaxing federal prohibitions would cause current oil producers to change their pumping decisions right now. Even though the additional barrels from ANWR wouldn't physically hit the market for years, current knowledge of this fact will alter current behavior, leading to rapid relief at the pump.”
  • 2008-07-02 /S/D/ Mission actually accomplished Article quotes a 2001 article (New York Times) in which it is stated that Osama bin Laden wants the price of oil to hit $144 per barrel (about six times the then-current price) – and then goes on to point out that this has in fact happened.
  • 2008-06-18 /S/D/ Don’t Expect Too Much From ANWR “Last month the Department of Energy produced a report titled, “Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” .. The report makes two points that indicate that drilling in ANWR won’t do much to decrease energy prices any time soon. First, the report states that drilling wouldn’t add to domestic production for at least 10 years, and peak production can’t be expected until the 2020s. Meanwhile, under the middle-of-the-road estimate for output oil prices would be expected to decline by only 75 cents per barrel in 2025. If there’s less oil than expected in ANWR the reduction in prices would be 41 cents per barrel in 2026, and if there’s more than expected the drop in prices is seen around $1.44 per barrel in 2027. That would translate into a reduction in gas prices between just one cent and four cents, according to an analysis prepared by Congress’s Joint Economic Committee.”
  • 2008-06-14 /S/D/ Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol “Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”. .. Mr Pal is a senior director of LS9, one of several companies in or near Silicon Valley that have spurned traditional high-tech activities such as software and networking and embarked instead on an extraordinary race to make $140-a-barrel oil (£70) from Saudi Arabia obsolete. “All of us here – everyone in this company and in this industry, are aware of the urgency,” Mr Pal says.”
  • 2008-03-22 /S/D/ Americans on economy: This hurts “"This economic downturn will be relatively mild according to the numbers," said Wachovia economist Mark Vitner. "But the pain and discomfort for the consumer will be the most severe since 1991, and possibly since 1981 to 1982." .. But there is some hope for the future, as a majority of those surveyed feel that the economy will rebound in 2009.” ... “"For some time we've been trying to determine the breaking point for when gas prices take their toll on the consumer," said John Kilduff, an energy analyst at the trading firm MF Global. "It appears we've found that point." .. Rising fuel prices have caused most Americans to cut back on their driving. Of the over 1,000 American adults surveyed in the poll conducted March 14-16, 64% said they have made some changes to their driving behavior as a result of higher gas prices, with 19% saying they have cut back on driving enough to have a major effect on their daily lives. And 5% say they have stopped driving altogether.”
  • 2008-02-26 /S/D/ Oil Hits a High; Some See $4 Gas by Spring “Gasoline prices, which for months lagged the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts fearing they could hit $4 a gallon by spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily and oil closed at an all-time high on Tuesday of $100.88 a barrel. .. The price of oil has quadrupled in six years, and Tuesday’s close was not far below the inflation-adjusted all-time high set in April 1980, after the Iranian revolution. That record, $39.50 a barrel, equals $103.76 in today’s money." And the chairman of Hess Corporation predicts an oil crisis in the next 10 years, fueled by both increased demand and reduced supply.
  • 2008-02-19 /S/D/ Scientists Would Turn Greenhouse Gas Into Gasoline “[Two] scientists [at Los Alamos National Laboratory], F. Jeffrey Martin and William L. Kubic Jr., are proposing a concept, which they have patriotically named Green Freedom, for removing carbon dioxide from the air and turning it back into gasoline.” The catch is that it involves additional energy consumption, but that doesn't negate the usefulness of the technique.
  • 2008-01-24 /S/D/ Startup Says It Can Make Ethanol for $1 a Gallon, and Without Corn “A biofuel startup in Illinois can make ethanol from just about anything organic for less than $1 per gallon, and it wouldn't interfere with food supplies, company officials said. .. Coskata, which is backed by General Motors and other investors, uses bacteria to convert almost any organic material, from corn husks (but not the corn itself) to municipal trash, into ethanol. .. "It's not five years away, it's not 10 years away. It's affordable, and it's now," said Wes Bolsen, the company's vice president of business development. ” The only catches are (1) the pilot plant will have very limited production, (2) distribution networks still need to be set up to handle E85, and (3) most cars need "flex fuel" modification to be able to use it. None of these are insuperable problems, and may well be solved by the marketplace given the incentive of greatly lower fuel pricing. See also htyp:Dollar a gallon gasoline.
  • 2007-11-28 /S/D/ Google Goal: Power Cheaper Than Coal "Google Inc. said on Tuesday it plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to help drive down the cost of electricity made from renewable energy below the price of coal."
  • 2007-09-03 /S/D/ Blown Away by Ed Hiserodt: “Hardly a stump speech goes by without a political candidate calling for “more renewable sources of energy such as wind or solar” to either stop our dependence on foreign oil or to slow the CO2 emissions that mean certain doom for our planet. The politicians are doing what most politicians do: spewing rhetoric that they know voters want to hear; proposing programs they know little or nothing about.”
  • 2001-10-14 /S/D/ Fears, Again, of Oil Supplies at Risk “"If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap," said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. "He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel" -- about six times what it sells for now. ... If there is a serious disruption of oil supplies, it will probably not be in Venezuela or in the North Sea, but in the countries of the Persian Gulf. Those countries have taken the politically risky position of siding with the West, however quietly, in the campaign against Mr. bin Laden, thereby alienating many of their own citizens. And the proof of their support for the West is in the oil that OPEC nations continue to ship, recently forgoing a production cut even as they faced falling prices that rob them of revenue.”
  • 1977-04-18 /S/D/ Jimmy Carter's Proposed Energy Policy In 1977 “Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you about a problem unprecedented in our history. With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly.”

[edit] Possible Solutions

  • Fuel Oil Synthesis: If gasoline and diesel could be synthesized from renewable resources, all we'd have to deal with would be the environmental effects
  • Alternative Portable Energy: There are other ways to store energy so that it can be used portably; the trick is getting the energy density high enough.
    • Apparently electric cars have nonetheless been within the realm of practicality for some time
  • 2006-02-17 Kids Build Soybean-Fueled Car that gets 50 MPG (2006-03-01 slashdot)
  • oil plenitude: some people argue that oil supplies are in effect inexhaustible (and oil combustion isn't causing any real environmental problems, either) so we shouldn't be worrying about it

[edit] Editorials & Articles

[edit] News

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