Posted on 08/23/2009 12:26:48 PM PDT by reaganaut1
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Brazil, long proud of its push to develop renewable energy and wean itself off oil, has a bad case of fossil-fuel fever.
An enormous offshore field in territorial waters -- the biggest Western Hemisphere oil discovery in 30 years -- has Brazilians saying, "Drill, baby, drill," while environmentalists fear the nation will take a big leap backward in its hunt for crude.
There has been virtually no public debate on the potential environmental costs of retrieving the billions of barrels of oil, a project one expert said will be as difficult as landing a man on the moon.
"The government is whipping Brazil into a euphoria that this is going to be a solution for all our societal problems," said Sergio Leitao, director of public policies for Greenpeace Brasil. "Brazil is no longer seriously looking at alternatives."
Home to the bulk of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil for decades has developed alternative energy as an issue of national security following severe energy shortages in the 1970s. It uses hydroelectric power for more than 80 percent of its energy needs, is the world's largest exporter of ethanol, and nine out of every 10 cars sold in the nation can run on ethanol or a combination of ethanol and gasoline.
A U.N. study found that in 2008, Brazil accounted for almost all of Latin America's renewable energy investment, to the tune of $10.8 billion.
But since the national oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, discovered the massive Tupi field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro two years ago -- estimated to hold 5 to 8 billion barrels -- it is the development of oil fields that has gone into overdrive.
Thirty years ago, more than 85 percent of Brazil's oil came from foreign sources.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
global warming ping
It’s ironic. Coffee and oil has turned once socialist Lula into a “capitalist tool”. 20 years ago when he ran for President of Brasil and lost, he would have been the next Castro had he won.
George Soros is a major, major investor in Brazilian oil drilling (Petrobras).
He pays the US democrat party millions to shut down US oil drilling (Soros' competition).
THEN THIS WEEK GETS THE DEMOCRATS TO GIVE HIM A HUGE CHEAP LOAN TO DRILL FOR OFF SHORE BRAZILIAN OIL!
DBD
As Gomer Pile would say, Surpraaaz surpraaaz.
There are already several energy sources that could be tapped into, that mimic the action of the sun, a technology called "Plasma arc trash reduction", a process by which ALL forms of trash are reduced to their constituent atomic structure, then the heat generated by this process is used to drive electric power generation. The primary products of this process are "syngas", a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, both of which are excellent fuels that may be used to drive the generation of electric power, and a silica slag which contains practically all other components of whatever went into the trash stream.
The volume of the slag that comes off is about a quarter to a tenth of the volume of the original trash, and it may be mined for various metallic content, as it is a higher grade of ore than is most of the material that is hauled up out of the ground by various mining operations all over the world. It may be hot-formed into building blocks, and depending on how it is cooled (rapid quench or slow radiant cooling), it forms various grades of igneous stone. Or it may be crushed as aggregate for concrete or for road building purposes.
Once up and running, the operating temperature of the plasma torch is about 33,000˚ F., about three times the temperature of the sun's surface. The syngas generated is about 2,200˚ F., and is passed over a heat exchanger to generate superheated steam, in the process of cooling it. Once cooled, the stream of hydrogen and carbon monoxide may be separated, yielding up pure hydrogen which may be used to power a fuel cell, or burned directly in the presence of oxygen to yield a very hot flame, which may be used to further produce power through the medium of superheated steam. Carbon monoxide itself is an excellent fuel which when combined with oxygen, forms carbon dioxide, a safe, NON-POLLUTING fraction of our atmosphere, and one that is vital for the photosynthesis of oxygen and carbohydrates in green growing plants. The carbon dioxide may also be captured, cooled and compressed into either liquid CO2, or allowed to become "dry ice", an intensely cold and solid form of CO2, and an important industrial product.
The hydrogen, of course, when combined with oxygen, becomes water vapor.
Empty out our land fills and turn those blighted acres back into "greenfields", divert all the existing and continuing waste stream into electric power, reduce need for and dependence on fossil fuels, assure a continuous supply of building materials that will prove to be the equal of our current supplies, and provide a way of reclaiming metallic elements otherwise lost when merely dumped in a hole in the ground. And not only the land fills, the sewage sludge that is now dumped there could go through this plasma arc, with the decomposed fecal matter adding its bit to the "syngas", and simultaneously extracting all the dreaded metals like cadmium and mercury from circulation in the soil and groundwater.
I don't see a downside. Most elegant solution.
It has been estimated that perhaps fewer than a dozen of these processing units could both clean up all the existing waste dumps, and the current waste stream, for a municipality the size of New York City, and generate enough electricity to keep it lit and industry-capable, without tapping into outside sources.
There is a place to spend the funds for infrastructure that does NOT have to be only for the roads and bridges. This is infrastructure that actually IMPROVES our environment. And generates a number of useful by-products, not the least of which is relatively cheap electric power.
And carbon-neutral to boot. NO fossil fuels are used once the cycle is started.
Can't get greener than that.
Wouldn't think they need the two billion chump change tht Obama just gave them to expedite off shore drilling would you?
What percentage of Brazil's population have electricity?
is the world's largest exporter of ethanol
What percentage of Brazil's population go hungry while the government sends ethanol made from food overseas?
and nine out of every 10 cars sold in the nation can run on ethanol or a combination of ethanol and gasoline.
What percentage of Brazil's population have cars?
Why do enviro-Marxist have so much power? They are not elected, nor have they ever stood up to debate. They are Luddites who want to take the world backward, and put all energy under their control. Economic growth goes with use of oil and other carbon power sources. They should be ridiculed, tared and feathered, and run out of town.
AP ignores US Export-Import Bank’s financing of this project.
SHAZAM, Andy! Hoping to get in on the boom.
Amazing that $oro$ got in just in time to make huge profits in a low tax Country.
PRay for America and Our troops
So do I have it right ?.
Obama loans 2 billion US dollars to Brazil to drill for oil. The 2 billion we don’t have so it’s borrowed from the chinese to be repaid by US taxpayer dollars. And, the oil if and when it is pumped will be sold to the chinese by Brazil.
Makes sense to me. /sarc/
You missed one point: Soros keeps the profits. The main purpose of the modern government-industrial complex is to socialize the downside (costs and risks), and privatize the upside, keeping all the insiders healthy, wealthy, and smarter than y’all.
The project will cost 174 billion.
It can all traced to a little country in the Middle East.
The outlook for the Greenback is dire and Brazilian stocks are looking more and more attractive.
You missed one biggie. The syngas can be used as a feedstock for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of hydrocarbons (like gasoline and diesel).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.