Abundant energy will power future growth

Financial Post ^ | July 12, 2008 | Lawrence Solomon

[Delacon]

Up! Up! Up! The world is consuming more and more energy and, as if by miracle, the amount left to consume grows ever higher. Never before in human history has energy been accessible in greater abundance and in more regions, never before has mankind had more energy options and faced a brighter energy future.

Take oil, the scarcest of the major energy commodities. In the Americas, proven oil reserves have increased from 170 billion barrels to 180 billion barrels over the last two decades, according to the 2008 Statistical World Review from British Petroleum. In Europe and Eurasia, proven oil reserves almost doubled, from 76 billion barrels to 144. Africa's proven oil reserves did double, from 58 billion barrels to 117. Even the Asia Pacific region, where China and India are reputed to be sucking up everything in sight, has increased its proven reserves. And the Middle East, the gas tank of the world, shows no sign of slowing down -- its reserves soared by almost 200 billion barrels, from a whopping 567 billion barrels to a super-whopping 756.

Bottom line for the world: an incredible 36% increase in oil reserves during the two decades that saw the greatest globalization-spurred oil consumption in the history of mankind. And that doesn't include the 152 billion barrels in proven oil reserves obtainable from Canada's tar sands. Is there any reason to doubt that the next two decades won't build on the steady growth of the last two?

These oil reserves aren't the end of it. These figures -- for the year ending December 2006 -- represent oil that's not only known to be available, but also economic at 2006 prices using 2006 technology. Since prices have soared in the last year, and technology has improved too, BP's annual assessment for the 2007 year will show greater proven oil reserves still.

But this is still not the end of it. Unconventional oil reserves are now in play. In 2005, the Rand Corporation estimated that the oil shale in America's Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, contains 1.5 to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil, with as much as 1.1 trillion barrels of oil recoverable, an amount comparable to the reserves of four Saudi Arabias. Oil shale becomes recoverable at $95 a barrel, it determined. With oil now trading at $140 a barrel, oil shale

exploitation is now very much economic. Then there's Canada's tar sands, with its even greater potential--estimates of the total reserves that may be available top two trillion barrels, or eight Saudi Arabias.

This is still not the end to it. Most of the oil we know about lies in the well travelled portions of the globe. But most of the world remains unexplored -- the interiors of Africa, Asia and South America have seen relatively little oil exploration. Oil exploration in the oceans, too, is in its infancy. For all practical purposes, mankind has limitless oil supplies available to it. The story is similar for natural gas and coal, the other major nonrenewable sources of energy. And for nuclear power. And for the renewables.

The amount of solar power landing on Earth could supply our current needs 10,000 times over. This potential will soon start to be realized on a large scale thanks to breakthroughs in the U. S. and Israel that have dramatically brought down the cost of solar technology. Wind also represents an inexhaustible resource, as seen in a 2005 NASA-funded study at Stanford University of viable wind sites worldwide. It found that wind power could satisfy global demand seven times over, assuming a realistic capture rate of 20%. Some European countries already meet a significant portion of their power needs with wind.

The world is awash with exploitable energy, both renewable and non-renewable. Availability is not at issue and never has been.

The only issue is the cost --both economic and environmental --at which it can be exploited.

Nuclear currently fails on economic grounds. But most fossil fuel technologies don't need subsidies and soon, neither will most renewable technologies. That leaves the environment as the chief determinant of what energy we use, and where we use it. Thanks to environmental awareness and the high energy prices we now face, energy production has become ever cleaner, safer, and more efficient, giving us more meaningful options than ever before.

Whatever the outcome, whatever energy forms we ultimately rely on, the table is diverse and bountiful, allowing the world economy to grow large and to grow cleanly. And it will have been largely set by environmentalists.

Lawrence Solomon is executive director of Energy Probe and Urban Renaissance Institute. LawrenceSolomon@nextcity.com

[Delacon]

"Whatever the outcome, whatever energy forms we ultimately rely on, the table is diverse and bountiful, allowing the world economy to grow large and to grow cleanly. And it will have been largely set by environmentalists."

I agreed with everything in this article until this last line. While it could be said that the environmentalist obstructionism has forced the oil industry to come up with cleaner exploration and production techniques, it has never been their goal nor should they be given any large share of the credit.

 

[Delacon]

ping

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

The market (really, marketers) demanded cleaner.

A good marketer always asks, “How can we make a buck from this?”

[RightWhale]

Dream on. BTW, the USA could help out the ITER fusion project a little more.

[Little Pig]

I would only classify nuclear as being held back by economic issues only because of the ridiculous litigation hoops they must jump through to get plants approved. Take the legal element out of the equation and nukes look a heck of a lot better. New pebble-bed technology and far-more-advanced computer controls mean much more efficient and safe reactors, and thus greater ROI. More ROI=more incentive to build=more plants=more energy going into the grid.

[Deetes]

BTTT

[Delacon]

“The market (really, marketers) demanded cleaner.
A good marketer always asks, “How can we make a buck from this?”

Well sorta. What happened is that environmentalists succeeded in painting the oil industry as a bad guy. Marketers and pr people hired by the oil industry responded by telling the industry to clean up it’s act.

[antiunion person]

And it will have been largely set by environmentalists.

(MEGA BARF ALERT)

[Nick Danger]

This must be terribly depressing news for liberals. Our return to the lifestyles of the poor and medieval has been postponed again. No sackcloth, no ashes, no ascetic life of subsistence agriculture. Woe is us.

[ripley]

“this must be terribly depressing news for liberals. our return to the lifestyles of the poor and medieval has been postponed again...”

respectfully, don’t count on it. these liberals are loved by the electorate and can do no wrong. they will probably continue to block drilling and villify the oil companies. don’t forget the words of maxine waters whose desire is to nationalize, “take over”, the oil companies and refineries. the country is dealing with liberal snakes, not healthy-minded humans.

IMHO

[Kevmo]

The most promising power generation technology will come from the guys who are doing Deuterium electrolysis using a Palladium electrode and seeing excess heat. If the American Physical Society is to be believed, this process is a chemical battery that consumes its own chemical ash.

Here’s a sample of publications on this subject:

Stringham, R. Anomalous heat production by cavitation. in 1998 IEEE International Ultrasonic Symposium. 1998. Sendai, Japan.

Marini, P., et al., Protocollo innovativo per l’ ipercaricamento di catodi di Palladio con Idrogeno messo a punto all’INFN di Frascati, in 21mo Secolo. 1999.

Miley, G.H., et al. Future Power Generation by LENR with Thin-Film Electrodes (PowerPoint slides). in 233rd ACS National Meeting. 2007. Chicago, IL.

Mosier-Boss, P.A., et al. Pd/D Co-Deposition: Excess Power Generation and Its Origin (paper and PowerPoint slides). in 233rd ACS National Meeting. 2007. Chicago, IL.

Dash, J., R. Kopecek, and S. Miguet. Excess Heat and Unexpected Elements from Aqueous Electrolysis with Titanium and Palladium Cathodes. in 32nd Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference. 1997.

Mizuno, T., T. Akimoto, and T. Ohmori. Confirmation of anomalous hydrogen generation by plasma electrolysis. in 4th Meeting of Japan CF Research Society. 2003. Iwate, Japan: Iwate University.

Alguero, M., et al. An Experimental Method to Measure the Rate of H(D)-Absorption by a Pd Cathode During the Electrolysis of an Aqueous Solution: Advantages and Disadvantages.

Asaoka, Y., et al. Simultaneous Measurement Device of Heat and Neutron of Heavy Water Electrolysis with Palladium Cathode.

Biberian, J.P. Excess Heat Measurements in AlLaO3 Doped with Deuterium.1995. Monte-Carlo, Monaco: IMRA Europe, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France.

Botta, E., et al. Search for 4He Production from Pd/D2 Systems in Gas Phase.

http://www.lenr-canr.org/LibFrame4.html

[Tenacious 1]

I agreed with everything in this article until this last line. While it could be said that the environmentalist obstructionism has forced the oil industry to come up with cleaner exploration and production techniques, it has never been their goal nor should they be given any large share of the credit.

I am waiting for the day the environmentalist put up a banner that says, "Mission Accomplished."

I will be the first to congratulate them, give them medals and usher them into the history books out of the way of economic progress.

Please let me know when they have saved the planet.

[Tenacious 1]

The most promising power generation technology will come from the guys who are doing Deuterium electrolysis using a Palladium electrode and seeing excess heat. If the American Physical Society is to be believed, this process is a chemical battery that consumes its own chemical ash.

What about that thing where they separate the hydrogen atoms from salt water? It seems like we have plenty of that just waisting away around the world.

(Sarcasm)

[Kevmo]

That sounds like that Kanzius guy. He seems to have developed a way to use radio waves for electrolysis, which would require more power in than is generated out.

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:John_Kanzius_Produces_Hydrogen_from_Salt_Water_Using_Radio_Waves

“it is not yet practical for energy generation as long as more energy is consumed by the radio frequency device than is produced for burning”

But it looks like a good cancer treatment. ;-)

[Dick Bachert]

PEBBLE BED NUCLEAR BUMP!!!

NOW!!!!!

[RightWhale]

Okay. Scale it up. Power out should be 500 megawatts. Go for it.

[Kevmo]

Okay. Scale it up. Power out should be 500 megawatts. Go for it.
***I’d be happy to. All we would need is the money that would go into only one fission nuke plant.