MIT Prof...Future Really not so Bad...

[TM7]

Dan Nocera: The Future
is "Really not that Bad"

http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/videos/alternative-energy/dan-nocera-the-futureis-really-not-that-bad.html

cheap, clean, easy, abundant energy, and soon...if you want it says MIT Prof.

..TM7
.

[Shu]

TM7,
 Why must you insist on fighting your big buisiness/big oil masters? There are no resources but foriegn oil and you will be glad to pay $5.00 a gallon for fuel. Stop this nonsense and renewable energy is just not workable. If you continue with this the "thought police" will be dispatched and you will be sent for re education.

All kidding aside there are some good energy sources that are available and not horribly expensive or 20 years away. Again I point to the town of Chena Alaska and thier geothermal source. There is no reason this and other technologies could not be used today.

[Shu]

There are alot of good alternatives. Unfortunately there are some out there like the ethanol program or cold fusion. Cold fusion sounded really good unfortunately the two guys claiming they did it were lying.

I really believe that with a funded research and development program we could get away from a huge petroleum dependency. Unfrotunately we are like herion or crack addicts.

[magooch]

I don't know about you guys, but until all of these miracle fuels show up at my local cut-rate filling station, I'm still going to have to rely on gasoline.  And as soon as the speculators quit bidding up the price, maybe we can get back to what used to pass for normal.

I'm still reminded that we were scheduled to run out of oil in the Seventies.  You can see how that went.

[Shu]

Unfortunately we do depend on gasoline. I am not saying it will run out in my life time. What I am saying is reducing dependence on foriegn oil will reduce our presence in the middle east. I really don't enjoy paying $3.70 a gallon for gas and it is rising. If we reduce the dependency the prices will go down.

Geothermal is not a magic power source of the future it is a now source and simple power plants in the state of Texas alone could provide enough electricty for the US. It is well known there is a tremendous amount of energy in water. It is just getting the hydrogen out efficiently. Yes you still see gas stations etc, because there is no desire to move away from foriegn oil.

If we build more efficient houses, factories, office buildings etc we will use less petroleum products.

Nope not a greenie just fed up with the middle east crap driving prices up and causing us to waste our resources.

[Empty Quiver]

I think that the honest truth is that the alternatives are not economically viable period end of story, no conspiracy here move along.

Think about it, if you were an energy titan would you not have the resources to exploite the next source? Would there not be the incentive to be the company who saved the world from big oil? Could you not make an even larger return on investment if this source were cheaper? The truth is, prices are set by value to the consumer not by cost to produce. Why not get that "free" energy and sell it at a moderately reduced price? Drive the competition out of business and RULE THE WORLD!!!.

The reason is this... Oil is still the cheapest, easiest, and most dense energy source around. There was a time that wood, coal or peat were the cheapest easiest and densest available sources.   

[Shu]

I love conspiracy theories.

Follow the money trail and you will find most answers.

As pointed out by Empty Quiver oil is one of the best energy sources, while that is true, it does not mean other sources shouldn't be looked at. It is very hard to drive a car with geothermal energy. Gasoline makes the best sense. Heating your home with geothermal makes more sense. How much fuel oil per house per year. Switching energy sources requires switching or remodelling infrastructure and that is very expensive.

It is true the government drives technology. Funding for most research comes from government grants and contracts. Big companies do not like to fund research becuase it is so dang expensive.

Ask yourself why the federal government spent so much money on interstate hiways and why they had to meet certain specifications. The answer is they were made that way to land heavy bombers during the cold war, in case there home bases run ways were destroyed.

[Empty Quiver]

.

Ask yourself why the federal government spent so much money on interstate hiways and why they had to meet certain specifications. The answer is they were made that way to land heavy bombers during the cold war, in case there home bases run ways were destroyed.
[/quote]

How much of that "military" use was simply made up to get a cold war public to accept that sort of a spending project? I'm just asking because I really don't know. Was this was a legit plan or simply an acedemic excercise that found its way into common thought?

I could envision it being a place to land but when it came time for re-arming and service it sounds like a non starter simply due to the space needed for the service equipment.

[magooch]

Yeah, in the event of an all out war where our air bases are taken out, the top brass is going to worry about where to land bombers.  That type of war would be over in a matter of minutes.  I doubt that the bombers would even get off the ground.  We used to keep at least one squadron of bombers in the air over the Artic at all times.  I doubt that is the case anymore and probably hasn't been for a long time.  Anyway, in the event those bombers had to do their job, there was no return trip.

[Shu]

Eisenhhower was the president and that was part of his reasoning for the interstate hiways.
Anyway I would guess most of the technology you enjoy has been Fed sponsored with most comming from military applications that have been adapted to civilian use.

In a nuke war, there would be 30 minutes + for weapons to reach the middle of America. If you can't launch stand by planes in less than 30 minutes why even have them.

When people are paying 5 and 10 bucks a gallon for fuel, the public outcry might be enough to get the technology rolling.