Shale coal... the future!

http://www.westgov.org/ ^ | Today | Me

[Number57]

One trillion barrels.

Well, its a new game, isn't it?

[Number57]

Why do you ask?

I must be careful here.

Why are you asking?

[Number57]

I'm offended, dang it

[Number57]

It is absolutely viable.

[dwntmpo]

Why are you asking?

Because you don't appear to be actually reading.. just reflexively arguing..

[dwntmpo]

It's not just a matter of if it's economically viable.. it's a matter of the amount of energy returned, on the energy that's invested in it..

If it takes more energy to make it, than we get from it.. then all the energy it produces simply goes back in to getting more.. and none of the energy makes it to market..

[Number57]

Drag your limp noodle to the top of the thread. I started this discussion. Doesn't make me right, but you're wrong.

[dwntmpo]

At this point, I'd expect a more coherent argument from Ted..

[Number57]

Okay.

Economic viability doesn't matter.

Hybrid vehicles are not the end-all, beat all. In fact, I predict Hybrids will be ridiculed in a few years.

[Number57]

He can spell. But who is Ted?

[spokeshave]

"Burning 5 million tons of coal produces 10 million tons of greenhouse gases? Methinks your doobies must be producing a prodigious amount too.

When something is burned carbon is released which binds with the oxygen in the atmosphere. The weight of the oxygen (like in CO2) is in addition to the mass of carbon released from the initial material.

The CO2 can be pumped underground to re-pressurize and re-activate old oil wells and gas supplies.

[zarf]

How much energy does it cost to extract this stuff?

It's probably not cost effective or it would be done.

[Eastbound]

Okay, thanks.

[Number57]

http://www.obleek.com/iraq/index.html

[coldoc]

The briefing has a time line for this program. The availability date is 2009! This is DoD program, and is probably pricey. I wouldn't bet on this being available at your local gas pump very soon though...

[Hank Rearden]

How can we possibly go wrong - this is from an "Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of Defense!" I bet we're also paying for a couple thousand Deputy Assistant Undersecretaries, too.

And they say there's no fat to cut in the budget . . . . . .

These goons can't even work up the testosterone to drill ANWR.

[Number57]

Anwar, you mean

[dandelion]

I run Linux (Fedora 4.0) and Firefox - and the PDFs pop up speedy and spiffy. It is a recent version, and does almost everything except cost a bunch. However, on my husband's bloated Microsoft machine, this doc took forever to load, compared to my swift lean little Linux-converted HP laptop. I programmed it myself, so it's my baby!

Just the facts from lil' ol' me...

As for shale/oil, and interesting aside: in my 1927 World Book Encyclopedia (my father was a book collector) there is an article about extracting oil from shale. My father first pointed this out to me during the oil crisis of 1973... at the time, it was not economically feasible, but the article noted that the techinique for this particular process would be developed "soon". I'm actually excited to see them finally taking it seriously. Thank you for posting this!

[Hank Rearden]

PDF is the worst damn reader ever invented. It's slow, cumbersome, and I hate it. I don't know why everyone uses it, but oh well.

Popped up and opened instantly on my wireless WinXP LAN. PDFs are wonderful; I create 'em, I use 'em, I read 'em without any problems at all.

[Hank Rearden]

Yes, ANWR is what I meant - and Congress is still dicking around with it, year after year, accomplishing zilch while our dependency on foreign oil supplies grows.

Morons. And they expect to be reelected. Yeah, that'll happen.

[backhoe]

Allow me to drop out of Lurk and Link Mode for a rare bit of commentary- we need to get serious about our dependency on foreign sources of energy, and use our own resources.

Our consumer-based economy is driven by readily-available, reliable energy-- choke that off, and we'll be back to using one rotary dial phone in the dining room and driving one car per family-- probably a Hudson Hornet...

We need to

1) end the nonsensical ban on offshore drilling off California and Florida

2) build a lot of next-generation nuclear power plants, not just for electricity, but for any process requiring heat, power, or steam.

3) end Jimmy Carter's idiotic ban on recycling nuclear waste, and reprocess the stuff rather than fighting over where to bury it. Europe has done it for decades.

4) use the 300-500 years worth of coal we have on our own land, using the new clean-coal technology.

5) and finally, there's nothing wrong with conservation- but you can't conserve your way out of a shortage- we need to get serious about this before we get strangled by a bunch of petty thieves and dictators who don't like us much.

My tongue-in-cheek collection of energy-related links:

Sticker Shock-$3 a gallon gas? Click the picture:

And note, and note well-- the first reply to this post ( when gas was less than $1.50 a gallon ) was derisive... who's laughing now?