Oil & Energy

[Cabin4]

What should we do to reduce oil imports (Making Arabs that hate us rich) and consumption in general ? Were has congress and the administration gone wrong on this and what opportunities did our government miss out on?

[dukkillr]

Nuclear.  3 mile and Chernobyl did more to hurt US energy policy than all the politicians since WWII.  Congress AND the President refusing to seriously address mileage standards doesn't help either. 

[beemanbeme]

Go stand beside any of the major (and there's a bunch of them with more building) arteries leading into DC metropolitan area in the morning and watch the macho, muscle cars with one person in them tearing down the road and realize that is repeated around every metropolitan area in the USA  and then ask your question. 
Go to any elementary or Jr high school and watch the parade of gas guzzlers dropping off one and two kids because they are too good to walk a quarter or half a mile to school or "shudder" ride a school bus.  Look at the size of the student parking lot at the high schools. And then ask your question again. 
And just to stir the pot a bit, why do the citizens have to wait for the gov'ment to tell them what to do? Can't they pull their heads out of their butts and take a little initiative on their own? 

[DalesCarpentry]

I used to enjoy going out for a ride. No longer. My 3/4 ton van gets maybe 14 miles to the gallon. I don't drive anywhere but where I have to any more. I think more people should do the same. Dale

[Cabin4]

What about wind, solar, nuke, water, e85, geo thermal, hybrid cars/trucks, bio diesel, etc....

What should our government have done to maximize these alternative energies?

[DalesCarpentry]

Please don't take this the wrong way and I am by no means trying to pick a fight. I have said I would behave around here and I will. I would like to just point out that I find your avatar offensive. I am sure the Jewish people around here along with others must also. I have said my piece on this and there will be no further comment from me on the subject. Sometimes things just need pointed out. I hope there are no hurt feelings here. Dale

[kevthebassman]

Nuclear.  3 mile and Chernobyl did more to hurt US energy policy than all the politicians since WWII.  Congress AND the President refusing to seriously address mileage standards doesn't help either. 

This man knows.

What should our government have done to maximize these alternative energies?

First of all, we need to stop this ridiculous chase after ethanol fuel made from corn.  Corn fuel will never work for the United States.

My humble opinion is that we should set a series of goals and start a contest.  Make the brightest minds compete to come up with an efficient means to produce cheap energy on a massive scale, and offer a 1 billion dollar (or more) prize to the group who can come up with a way to make the Hydrogen fuel cell work, or to come up with a better means. 

Giving out the money first in the form of research grants leads to waste and nothing ultimately gets done.  The way to motivate people is to do it in a capitalistic way... make alternative energy profitable and make advancing alternative energy an activity that could be a jackpot.

[billy_56081]

"First of all, we need to stop this ridiculous chase after ethanol fuel made from corn.  Corn fuel will never work for the United States."

Well we finally agree on something. I live and work around the Ethanol industry quite a bit and can see this fraud being perpetrated. I even had one of the managers at one of the New plants tell me he cannot see this lasting more than 10 years.

[Heather]

Nuclear.  3 mile and Chernobyl did more to hurt US energy policy than all the politicians since WWII.  Congress AND the President refusing to seriously address mileage standards doesn't help either. 

This man knows.

What should our government have done to maximize these alternative energies?

First of all, we need to stop this ridiculous chase after ethanol fuel made from corn.  Corn fuel will never work for the United States.

My humble opinion is that we should set a series of goals and start a contest.  Make the brightest minds compete to come up with an efficient means to produce cheap energy on a massive scale, and offer a 1 billion dollar (or more) prize to the group who can come up with a way to make the Hydrogen fuel cell work, or to come up with a better means. 

Giving out the money first in the form of research grants leads to waste and nothing ultimately gets done.  The way to motivate people is to do it in a capitalistic way... make alternative energy profitable and make advancing alternative energy an activity that could be a jackpot.

Can you run for President, if not I will definitely write you in.  It is sad that the people in office can not take a logical or common sense approach to a problem the way you can. 

Heather

[Sourdough]

We need to drill in ANWR, and other places that are currently off limits.  It will not hurt the Caribou one bit.  We also need to build new refineries.  We have not built a new refinery in over 30 years.  We need some on the west coast, California listen up.  We need to get the Gas pipeline from Alaska down to the lower 48 as quickly as possible.  We also need to start mining the coal that is locked up in states like Wyoming.  That coal can be turned into gasoline, better than corn.  We also need to drill off the coast of Florida, yes I know it is a sensitive area, but Cuba is drilling there and I think we can drill more responsibly than they will.

We also need to start harnessing the power of the tides and waves.  Wind is too unpredictable the tides are regular and never fail.  More Nuclear plants would not hurt either.  We should at least finish the ones we have started like the one at Hartsville Tennessee.       

[deltecs]

We need to drill in ANWR, and other places that are currently off limits.  It will not hurt the Caribou one bit.  We also need to build new refineries.  We have not built a new refinery in over 30 years.  We need some on the west coast, California listen up.  We need to get the Gas pipeline from Alaska down to the lower 48 as quickly as possible.  We also need to start mining the coal that is locked up in states like Wyoming.  That coal can be turned into gasoline, better than corn.  We also need to drill off the coast of Florida, yes I know it is a sensitive area, but Cuba is drilling there and I think we can drill more responsibly than they will.

We also need to start harnessing the power of the tides and waves.  Wind is too unpredictable the tides are regular and never fail.  More Nuclear plants would not hurt either.  We should at least finish the ones we have started like the one at Hartsville Tennessee.      

I agree, but let's not forget more hydro and thermal.  If we can drill for oil, we can drill toward the magma in shallow crust areas and use thermal efficiently and indefinitely.  We really need a long range energy plan with an eye toward complete independence on foreign energy supplies.  We have the technology, the capability, the man power, the money and enough resources throughout the nation to be completely energy independent for centuries.

[thumbcocker]

The democrat's won't allow any drilling. Plus it's an election year, good news for America is bad news for democrat's. Bad news for democrat's is good news for America.

[SHOOTALL]

this is funny , people calling for GOVT. to force us to do what we won't do on our own !
We are in the decline stages of a nation now for sure !

[Graybeard]

Please don't take this the wrong way and I am by no means trying to pick a fight. I have said I would behave around here and I will. I would like to just point out that I find your avatar offensive. I am sure the Jewish people around here along with others must also. I have said my piece on this and there will be no further comment from me on the subject. Sometimes things just need pointed out. I hope there are no hurt feelings here. Dale

I tend to agree that the photo in the avatar is somewhat offensive BUT if you read the words below it you will see that it is intended as a put down to both Hitler and to the antigun crowd. Still even tho I'm not a jew the photo is offensive and does kinda rile me each time I view it.

[rex6666]

They are putting in wind mills in west Texas i guess as fast as the can, Wind is real predictable there. I think we should try more nuclar (is that the way W says it)
 I can hardly believe their is enough wind any where to turn one of the wind mills they are putting in west Texas each blade is about 85-100 foot long.

[Cabin4]

Please don't take this the wrong way and I am by no means trying to pick a fight. I have said I would behave around here and I will. I would like to just point out that I find your avatar offensive. I am sure the Jewish people around here along with others must also. I have said my piece on this and there will be no further comment from me on the subject. Sometimes things just need pointed out. I hope there are no hurt feelings here. Dale

I'm certainly no fan of Hitler or Nazi Germany for that matter. The Nazis are directly responsible for the death of both an Uncle of mine and my Grand father. My Uncle was in the 116th infantry and landed on Omaha beach during the D Day Landing. It was the last time he walked this earth at 18 years old. My grand father was killed as a civilian on the island of Malta while the Nazis were bombing the heck out of that place during WW2. Most of my family that lived on that island lived in bomb shelters for weeks on end before it would subside for periods. My familes houses were destroyed more then once during WW2. More bombs were dropped on Malta then any other place during WW2 based on sq miles.

My avatar is meant only as negative to Hitler and the Nazis. I'm not Jewish either but have enough reasons to hate what Hitler was, did and stood for and that's why I use his image in negative terms.

Sorry if it is offensive to anyone.

[oldandslow]

Cabin4, the first time I saw your avatar I thought " What the hell is this". Then I read the fine print and figured it out. Now it doesn't bother me.

[deltecs]

   I sure am glad that we read the subtitles.  If we as voters did the same thing with our candidates, we wouldn't be talking about racism, women in power, or any other politically correct English term.   We would be voting for the candidate with the most substantial policies.  By the way, will someone enlighten me as to the policies of Obama and Clinton, other than getting elected, being the first black or women President, raising taxes, more gun control, and opening our security to jihadists?  I personally think these are not good policies, so what are the good ones with these 2 candidates so similar to the Hitler avartar with subtitles?

[beemanbeme]

I don't like the avatar either. Maybe if you put a circle around it with a slash or put a target over it, it wouldn't be so jolting until (and if) you read the fine print. I have trouble giving your post their proper attention; I just can't get past the avatar.

Back on task: Two things in the posts leap out that I agree with strongly. I totally agree that the reward money for an invention or discovery should be given at the end.  They do have PROFESSIONAL writers that prepare grant applications you know. That ought to tell you something about that. If a guy's got a good idea, he can shop it to some investors for a share of the reward instead of going to a bottomless pit of taxpayer's money.
And, sadly, Shootall's comment about us sitting around waiting for the gov'ment to do something was very telling. 

I do know the corn to fuel caper has corn high enough that the locals are griping about feeding their stock.  Laying pellets are up about $3 a sack.  I read somewhere that it takes over a gallon of fuel to make a gallon of fuel from corn. I don't know if that's true or not.

[magooch]

I wouldn't hold my breath until some new technology replaces the energy resources that are presently known.  I think it is a case of practicalities and economics rather than new discoveries. 

There are a lot of rumors about the known and estimated reserves of oil in the ground and most of the ones I've heard, involve hundreds of years worth at the present usage.  Some of the scaremongers keep trying to say that the earth is just about to run out of fosil fuel.  I think there is something to the argument that if that were so, why would airplane manufacturers be getting orders for new jets that cost so much.  I'm pretty sure they don't contemplate running those jets on corn fuel.

The biggest bottle neck we have when it comes to developing the resources that we have is the environmentalists.  Their only answer to everything is conservation.

[beemanbeme]

Magooch makes a good point. Back in the 60's?? I said if we're gonna run out of oil the day after tomorrow, why are all the big oil companies building these multil billion refineries? 

I think the greenies have made such a silly legal game of thwarting any sort of research or exploration or exploitation  that they are hurting their causes for the long run. I think there has to be some environmental restraint but a lot of the crap that goes on is just lawyers getting rich and screwing up the system "because I can".

[SHOOTALL]

That picture of Hitler should make any free man angry , angry enough to not allow it to happen ever again . I am not a Jew nor claim to know their ways but if i were and my people had gone thru. what the Jewish people have endured it would be mandatory for all Jews to own a gun and to see the picture to make sure we knew why we owned the guns .
I say keep that picture least we never forget why !