Turning Oil into Salt - We must become independent — not just of imported oil, but of oil itself.

NRO ^ | September 25, 2007 | R. James Woolsey & Anne Korin

[neverdem]

A determined pack has begun to race its engines and to try to shoulder us off the road toward energy independence. It’s time for those determined to stay on the track to drive aggressively.

The energy-independence question is really about oil — the rest of U.S. energy use presents important issues, but not the danger of our being subject to the control of nations that “do not particularly like us,” as the president put it. Some of the engine racers have an economic interest in keeping our transportation system 97-percent oil-dependent. Less understandable are the authors of a recent Council on Foreign Relations report accusing those working for such independence of “doing the nation a disservice.”

[neverdem]

The printer friendly version isn't available.

[CutePuppy]

Salt = “new” oil. Back to the salt mines, then...

I like James Woolsey, but he mostly talks about
1) shifting the time of consumption of energy (night, when it’s “cheaper”) without giving consideration to the fact that it’s only cheaper now because it’s used less, and won’t be when everybody starts shifting, and

2) batteries, i.e. storage of energy, not production of energy, which is how oil, among other fuels, is used.

Better, cleaner, and probably cheaper, investment in alternative energy generation would be nuclear power :

“Nuclear Power Can Help Solve US Energy Concerns, Say Experts”
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPrint.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200709/NAT20070925b.html

(CNSNews.com) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s recent remark that the “Iraq war is largely about oil” sparked a political nerve and made headlines. It also highlighted a problem with America’s energy supply, which some analysts and policy-makers think could be solved cleanly and abundantly through nuclear power.

Nuclear energy currently provides about 20 percent of America’s electricity, with 100 nuclear plants located at 65 sites in 31 states, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. By contrast, 80 percent of France’s energy needs are supplied by nuclear power. Other examples include Belgium, 54 percent; Sweden, 46 percent; Switzerland, 41 percent; and Japan, 34 percent.

While the U.S. emerged as the world leader in nuclear power, research, design and construction in the latter half of the 20th century, the industry has been at a near-standstill since the Three Mile Island accident near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979. There has not been a new nuclear plant built in America since then, largely because of environmental, political and financial considerations, according to energy policy analysts.
.....

[Alberta's Child]

I've read a number of Woolsey's articles on this subject in recent months, and his ignorance about energy is pretty remarkable for someone who is supposed to be involved with the topic in some kind of "expert" capacity.

I finally concluded that he's nothing more than a big-name hack who works for some kind of policy study group in Washington that is financed by major corporate interests that are trying to compete with the oil industry.

[CutePuppy]

Yes, since 2002 he was working for Booz Allen Hamilton, and his latest PR “projects” are plugin hybrids and ethanol from cellulose (switch grass and sugar cane, I assume), which are, at least, significantly better and more efficient than corn.

[djxu456]

a practical elecric car,
would cut the ragheads out of the deal

[sd-joe]

Yes, nuclear is a critical part of solving our dependence on oil and especially Middle East oil.

Night consumption of electrical energy is not only cheaper, but uses electrical energy that would otherwise be largely wasted.

[capitalist229]

his latest PR “projects” are plugin hybrids

Sea bed nukes ringing the country providing electricity and hydrogen but don't hold your breath.

BUMP

[bilhosty]

dogone right! But, to get things going we would have to have a leader. You know someone who proposes an aggressive agenda and a plan and then moves heaven and earth to do it. we do not seem to have that. The GOP needs to get rid of its country club passive do nothing culture and change and do it fast.

[nathanbedford]

I suppose whether we can get to plug-in hybrid cars sustained by nuclear power stations has to do ultimately with whether the rap against the greens is true: they are not so much for environmental protection as they are for destruction of capitalism.

When I first heard this indictment of the greens I was bemused and did not take it seriously but if one considers all the bizarre theories that have been spawned by The Frankfurt School and which have been so eagerly embraced by academia-critical theory, patriarchal theory, feminism, deconstruction, relativism, political correctness-one is given pause. For each of these New Age eschatologies were created explicitly to tear apart Western values to promote the success of Bolshevism.

Why not environmentalism?

[woofer]

Yes, nuclear is a critical part of solving our dependence on oil and especially Middle East oil.

Why and how is that? 3% of electrical generation is from oil fired boilers. And these are rapidly being replaced by GE and Siemens Repowering, combined cycle plants. These plants use natural gas to spin the Combustion Turbine with a direct coupled generator. You increase electrical output and the byproduct exhaust is used to boil water for the formerly oil burning boiler's steam turbine. $120 million investment pays for itself in four years, five from the time the first shovel of dirt is turned. Delivery time with GE has risen from 18-24 months AOR to the current 30-40 months in just the past year.

Night consumption of electrical energy is not only cheaper, but uses electrical energy that would otherwise be largely wasted.

So, sleep during the day? Turbines spin twenty-four hours a day, 7/365. If you're worried about "wasted electricity",just remember that there is no "electricity" on the lines until a load is added, until then it's just "potential". Ohm's Law, baby.

[woofer]

Just wanted to add that power isn’t any cheaper after dark. Production and infrastructure cost are static, all day long. Usage drops off after 2200 hrs and picks back up after 0600 hrs. The only reason utilities charge less for off-peak power is that its there, they’d like to recieve money for it so they drop the end-use cost. If more got used, there’d be no off-peak and prices would rise.

[Alberta's Child]

Why and how is that? 3% of electrical generation is from oil fired boilers.

That's a good point. One of the biggest myths in any discussion about this topic -- and this myth gets perpetuated by the silly, asinine statements by many of our elected officials (including President Bush in a speech on this subject a while back) -- is that nuclear power can somehow help the U.S. "overcome our addiction to Mideast oil."

What people don't seem to understand is that nuclear power is an alternative energy source for generating electricity, not for powering vehicles and aircraft, manufacturing petrochemicals and lubcricants, etc. (these are major uses of oil). Increasing the use of nuclear power will reduce our need for energy sources like coal and natural gas (these currently serve as major energy sources for electrical power generation), not oil.

[airborne]

a practical elecric car, would cut the ragheads out of the deal

And Chavez.

But "big oil" won't let that happen.

[larryjohnson]

print version
R. James Woolsey on Oil & Energy Independence on National Review Online
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=OTlmMjFjYWRjOWI3ZGI0MzUxZDJjYTBlMmUzOTc2Mzc=

[Salvey]

to get things going we would have to have a leader. You know someone who proposes an aggressive agenda and a plan and then moves heaven and earth to do it.

This probably won't happen until some of the bright, clean, conservative, young GOP congressmen, now in their 30's and 40's, move up the leadership ladder. I just hope that the lid doesn't blow off things before their ascendancy.

[thackney]

uses electrical energy that would otherwise be largely wasted

Available capacity is not the same as wasted energy. If power isn't drawn, energy is not converted, loads are not put onto the generators and more fuel is not consumed.

[bilhosty]

“This probably won’t happen until some of the bright, clean, conservative, young GOP congressmen, now in their 30’s and 40’s, move up the leadership ladder.”

I remember how impressed I was with the young GOP congressmen in there 30’s and 40’S in the 80’s and after the ‘94 elections. What we need is a culture change. We just seem to have something that produced passive do nothing country clubbers who have no vision and spend their political capitol on getting tax breaks and ten spending the public money since they don’t have to pay so much any more.

[Old Professer]

If the engine is running at sychro speed it is using 65% as much fuel as it will use at 100% load.(about 33 gal/MW vs 50 gal/MW)

[thackney]

Yes but the units are not running on no-load conditions. There is still load and the peaking units are shut down at night.

Unless the yearly average night-time spinning reserve is greater than the yearly average day-time spinning reserve, there is no waste.

There may be some, but I doubt it is a significant percentage of load.

[RightWhale]

It would do that and if the USA is the only country with the tech to build the electrics the USA could regain the world auto industry lead.