I think ethanol is the equivalent of $1.30 - $1.50 gasoline. Ethanol is a good short term substitute, because many cars made in the last couple of years can use E85, (85% ethanol/ 15% gasoline) as well as gasoline, with no modification.
We can increase our use of ethanol, but it can't replace gasoline entirely, because we can't grow enough to make ethanol. Methanol can be made from natural gas, and is also competitive with gasoline. We can make M85 cars too.
While we're talking about nuclear reactors and other long term things, don't forget about simple things like bicycles, and walking.
Eliminating traffic jams around cities and getting the northeast to switch from heating oil to natural gas would likely eliminate another big chunk of our import requirements.
Of course the crispy critters in the heating oil business had enough money for x42's release from the SPR last year. And the solution to eliminating traffic jams is relocating office jobs to flyover country. The crooks in the big city real estate business would rather see the traffic jams..........or more tax money redistributed from flyover country to widen the beltways.
HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2001--Foster Wheeler Ltd. (NYSE: FWC) announced that its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Nigeria have been awarded a $20 million, front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract, by Chevron Nigeria Ltd (CNL) for a gas-to-liquids (GTL) project.
Chevron Nigeria Ltd is a joint venture of Chevron and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.
Foster Wheeler will be responsible for the FEED and the preparation of the invitation to tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. The scope of work also includes the issue of inquiry for long-lead equipment items, preparation of project estimates and assistance for early works activities.
The GTL plant is a major natural gas initiative by project asset owners CNL and will be built in Escravos, Nigeria. It provides significant environmental benefits by eliminating the flaring of natural gas and instead converting it to produce ultraclean GTL fuel.
The plant will produce 34,000 bpd of premium quality GTL fuel (synthetic fuel suitable for diesel engines) and naphtha products.
The plant is the first of its kind to utilize the Sasol Slurry Phase Distillate process, a new technology for a gas-to-liquids plant. The technology optimally integrates three state-of-the-art GTL technologies from Haldor Topsoe, Sasol and Chevron to produce GTL fuel and chemical naphtha for export. This process is a commercially proven proprietary Sasol technology for converting natural gas into liquid hydrocarbon in three steps.
Ian Bill, chairman and chief executive, Foster Wheeler Energy Limited, said, "This project will use the leading application of GTL technology. It has global significance because the eradication of gas flaring will produce significant benefits for the environment and local community."
Foster Wheeler Awarded Contract for Gas-To-Liquids Project in Qatar
SYNTROLEUM, ADVANTAGE AND ENAP TO PURSUE GAS-TO-LIQUIDS PROJECT IN CHILE
...Santiago, Chili ¾ Syntroleum Corporation (Nasdaq: SYNM) announced today that it has signed an agreement with Empresa Nacionál del Petroleo (ENAP), the national oil company of Chile, and Advantage Resources International, headquartered in Denver, Colorado to conduct a project assessment study for a 10,000 barrel per day synthetic fuels plant to be located at the ENAP-owned Cabo Negro Industrial Park near Punta Arenas, Chile. The proposed project would utilize currently available natural gas delivered by pipeline from fields in Argentina and Chile..... Deal to put one in Alaska