I’ve got SO much other stuff to do but just cannot pass this by. Today, Gore made a call for a Moon landing type project to get rid of fossil fuels for US power in 10 years. OK we do have to do something and we have millions of acres full of nothing that could have solar panels and windmills. BUT he did not mention at all Fusion power! The fusion reaction, which does not intrinsically make radioactive waste, is the ultimate dream for power on this earth and if the engineering problems of containment could be solved, it would produce all the power we need for as long as we need it. It is not such a pie in the sky dream that no one is interested because research is going on now in France by the International Thermonuclear Energy Research consortium (ITER) supported by EU, India, Russia, China, Japan, even South Korea, and the US. I should reiterate this is for non-polluting power plants, not Hydrogen Bombs (please settle down, Green Peace).
You know what is ironic? The US support for this research was eliminated from our 2008 budget! Why? – Too expensive! Excuse me while I scream!
8 comments on Another inconvenient, and incredibly stupid, truth
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I hear ya
Hi Ana, thanks for coming by
I think a 10 yr. program to get Hydrogen Cell cars on the road would be more practical. Speaking about energy, watch the Video on my Blog, 'Oil In Alaska'. I think that you'll find it interesting.
Well, the H2 cars would not make CO2 anyway - they make water. But the problem is where to get the hydrogen. Almost all of it for industrial use comes from the petroleum refining process, but it is more expensive to make and handle than gasolene. The energy consumption to make it from water is more than you get back out of it - entropy being what it is. Thanks, I will try to watch, but my DSL does not do well on movies. I do think we have a lot more oil in the US than we have been using, because it cost more to drill it than to buy it from the Arabs, but I don't see that as a long term solution. We will have to get off hydrocarbons eventually. Thanks for coming by.
The Video I mentioned reports that At Prudho, where they are pumping oil; natural gas comes up with the oil. They are using 48 airplane engines to pump the natural gas back into the ground. Another point made is that if congress would get out of the way, gas at the pumps in California could be down to $1.15 per gal. in 1 yrs. time. Hope you can see that video.
Cool! Pumping natural gas back in the ground is a good way to keep pressure up and maximize oil production. When I worked in an oil field in Elk City, OK in 1953 they were doing that so the technology is well known. I don't know about 1.15 per gallon though - most recovery or new wells require qt least $60/bbl to break even.
BTW, re H2, it would be very good for jets in a future where cars are electric, powerplants are solar, geo, wind, hydro, and oil is used for constructional materials with byproduct H2 used for jets, which cannot use electricity.
You know more about the oil fields than I do. I was thinking that the natural gas should be on the market to reduce prices. But, in the Video, that was a small point. There is much more. The Video is at least a 1/2 hour long. They said that with recent discoveries, we have twice the available oil as does Saudi Arabia.
I will go and take a look today - thanks.