Posted on 01/03/2005 11:39:46 AM PST by ddtorque
a group of national security experts and representatives of prominent Washington think tanks and public policy organizations including the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS,) Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD,) Center for Security Policy, Hudson Institute, National Defense Council Foundation (NDCF), and the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE,) released an open letter to Americans and an accompanying blueprint for energy security called "Set America Free," calling for immediate action toward reduction of America's demand for oil. The document spells out practical steps which can be undertaken over the next four years and beyond to dramatically improve America's energy security. Members of the group called upon America's leaders to adopt the plan, with a view to rapidly expanding fuel choice in the U.S. transportation sector beyond petroleum while exploiting currently available technologies and infrastructures. If the plan is carried out in full, U.S. oil imports would drop by as much as 50 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at iags.org ...
Gee, somehow I did not read anything about the amont of oil that we export. It would seem that a first step in reducing our dependence on foreign oil was to reduce our export of oil.
I'm down with it... start with ANWR.
First Step Drill ANWAR and tell the Environutties to go to ****
Second Step Build and put multiple Nuclear Power Plants on line to shut down all Oil, Coal power plants shifting all electical power generation to NUKE or HYDRO and tell the Environutties to go to ****
Third Step Drill California Coast and tell the Environutties to go to ****
Fourth Step Drill Florida Coast and tell the Environutties to go to ****
only 2% of our power is generated from oil -- your suggestion re diversifying power sources was put in effect after the 1973 Arab oil embargo. At this point changing electricity sources won't reduce our oil demand.
The building of more NUKE power plants and drilling where I stated are still sound. As well as telling the Environutties to go to **** and mean it.
The way you acheive energy independence is not by abandoning oil, which isn't going to happen any time soon, but by simply having a variety of sources.
It helps if we get over our superstitious fear of OPEC, too.
Their power is pretty much restricted to the news desks of this world. In the actual oil markets, they have much less power.
First, its good to remember that we, for example, get no more than 15% of our oil from any one country, whereas the typical OPEC country gets 100% of its national income from oil. This means that they, not we, are hostage to oil.
OPEC threats to manipulate oil prices have to be kept in perspective as well. OPEC countries are all centralized economies, which means stagnant and bankrupt in many cases. For them, production cuts mean budget cuts which mean riots, blood in the streets, and coup attempts. Its useful to notice the social unrest in these countries that accompanies drops in oil prices.
All the new oil is located in non-OPEC countries. Any production cuts by OPEC will be replaced by a non-OPEC source, which means that any attempts to manipulate the price of oil means loss of market share.
"Look, up in the sky,
It's a bird,
No, it's plane,
No, it's THERMAL DEPOLYMERIZATION!!!!!"
Faster than mother nature's process (but very similar in approach)!
More powerful than a bunch of yammering eco-weenies,
Able to convert a wide array of feed-stocks from turkey guts to land fills into light sweet crude (fuel oil, refinable into gasoline), purified minerals, and water.
And who, disguised as a mild mannered offal(carcass waste) recovery operation for the Carthage, Missouri Butterball Turkey plant, fights the never ending battle for truth justice, freedom from foreign oil, the American way, and a tidy profit to boot!
"Changing World Technologies" Look it up. Great way to tell the oil producing nations to pound sand....of course full drilling in the ANWR and the Gulf would go a long way toward doing that also!
Happy New Year!
Top sends
Including all fields (ANWR, everything) we have about 3% of world oil reserves. We consume 25% of world supply. (both stats can be found at the DOE site here http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/petroleu.html) So unless we look at other domestic energy sources beyond oil (coal, biomass, etc) to make transporation fuel, we won't solve this problem.
"Following 9/11 and in light of the rise of radical Islam many have called for reduction of the dependency on Middle East oil. To offset the growing influence of Middle East producers, non-OPEC countries in Africa and Former Soviet Union have increased their production considerably. Many have even suggested that Russia could take on OPEC and help shift global oil supply away from the Middle East. The Washington Post even claimed that Moscow is "on its way to becoming the next Houston—the global capital of energy." And indeed, Russia’s oil production increased to the point that it became the second largest exporter behind Saudi Arabia. But Russia’s prospects of being a key player in the oil market in the long run are dim. Russia ranks seventh in proven oil reserves, holding only 5%. Its oil production peaked around 1999 and its reserves have been steadily declining since. That means that at current production rates, Russia will be out of the running by 2020.
Washington's search for reliable oil suppliers outside the Middle East has brought about an oil boom in many African countries like Angola, Nigeria, Guinea and Chad. But like Russia, Africa is hardly a bonanza. Its total reserves amount to 7% and its largest producer, Nigeria, will peak by the end of the decade. Africa will be out of the running by 2025...If production continues at today's rate, many of the largest producers in 2002, such as Russia, Mexico, U.S., Norway, China and Brazil will cease to be relevant players in the oil market in less than two decades. At that point, the Middle East will be the only major reservoir of abundant crude oil. In fact, Middle Eastern producers will have a much bigger piece of the pie than ever before. "
http://www.iags.org/futureofoil.html
I can think of no more important policy issue than our dependence on foriegn oil. I'd like to see more vigor applied to this than to social security reform, tax reform, or any other initiative that now has priority in our government.
Until we stop sending billions of dollars to terrorists, we aren't going to win the war on terror.
We tried that once. It made the Japanese mad enough to attack us.
And yet the best estimates with regard to ANWR is that it would take ten years or so to begin production, and that the amount we'd get out of it would barely make a dent in our imports (plus the federal government would have to heavily subsidize ANWR since the cost of getting oil out of the ground will be far more expensive than it is to import it).
ANWR is often touted as the panacea to our energy needs, it isn't much more than a drop in the bucket (pardon the pun).
Where do you put the waste and how do you guard it from terrorists? As of now, most nuclear waste is stored near the plants that generate it, where security is questionable. The plan to send it to Nevada is ripe with security risks (not to mention that the residents of Nevada don't want it and there are risks to ground water).
IMHO, the long term plan has got to revolve around hydrogen (as the President has noted time and time again).
We are limited by the envirofascists in what we can do regarding fuels. The oil in Alaska has too much sulpher and of course coal and other items used for heating are not accepted by them Nuclear power is also on their list. Wind power kills the birds and solar energy is a personal decision at this point.
As of about 2000 the U.S. exported about 7% of Alaska crude, mostly to Korea. The reason being was that there was a glut of oil on the west coast, and it was cheaper to sell that glut than to ship it east (which meant a trip through the Panama canal.
So the economics of the issue are that it was cheaper for the U.S. to sell the west coast glut and buy oil for the east coast from the Middle East than it would have been to bring the surplus from the west coast to the east.
I have to strongly disagree with you on that one. You ought to look at what places like Israel have done with solar energy.
Hey the reason we have not lessened our reliance on Arab oil is we don't want to. Their oil is our rationale to be involved in that area of the world.
Nevertheless, it's foolish to be dependent on foreign sources for our energy. Our transportation sector, for instance, is almost wholly dependent upon petroleum.
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