Let's be brutally honest here, it is only a matter of time before the entire Middle East explodes into ethnic and religious war. Our troops in Iraq are the only thing that keep adding length to the fuze and thus delay the inevitable! When the final blow-up does take place, this country and other western nations will have two choices, Socio-economic collapse or entering even deeper into a fifty year war over the resources that fuel our petroleum addiction.
We need leadership that instills the American people with the sense of urgency this situation requires. There also need to be funds made available for the effort to coordinate our immense intellectual and natural resources to make our energy self-reliance a reality.
Energy self-reliance needs to be more than just something that gets bounced around by electioneering politicians. Otherwise, we'll be sending our great-grandchildren to bleed and die in a war that started under our watch!
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Tar Sands
By 2024, oil sands production is expected to represent 50% of Canada's total ... The deposits of oil sands (oil shale) in the United States are massive. ...
The vast extent of U.S. oil shale resources, amounting to more than 2 trillion barrels, has been known for a century
Commercializing the vast oil shale resources would complement the mission of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, by measurably adding to the country's energy resource base. Addition of shale oil to the country's proved oil reserves could occur in a manner similar to the addition of 175 billion barrels of oil from Alberta tar sands to Canada's proved oil reserves. As a result of the commercial success, oil from tar sand production now exceeds one million barrels per day. Oil shale in the United States, which is as rich as tar sand, could similarly be developed and become a vital component in America's future energy security.
I also think that with our current technology we could make good clean gas from coal. Half of Utah's power is from clean coal power plants. We have enough coal to outlast oil, oil tar, and oil shale. I think our technology supercomputers, space stations, nasa, rocket ships we could come up with a solution.
The pros of using gasoline from coal:
We have more coal in reserves than we do oil.
These reserves are spread more evenly around the world.
The fuel that could be obtained from turning solid coal to a liquid energy source could be used to power vehicles, heat homes and run factories with very mild modification to existing systems.
Road trials in over-congested European capitals have found that coal-powered vehicles also result in a better air quality, because coal/gas produces less tailpipe emissions. U.S. studies have shown that particulate emissions can actually be reduced up to 75 percent (as opposed to traditional diesel) and nitrogen oxide emissions can be reduced by as much as 60 percent (source: U.S. Department of Energy research).
Coal gasification can be used as a way to reclaim decades of old coal waste piles and secondary sources that are not really profitable for conventional uses.
While the fuel source and the means to create it are still carbon-base and do still produce greenhouse gases and other polluting emissions, we do know how to take them out of the process before they do any damage.
Hitler used gas from coal in the 1930's Patton got it in the 1940's and helped win the war with it. It's the processing of it cleanly that's going to be the trick. If Germany can do it, if Canada can do it surely we can.
Where to start on whats wrong with using fuel....
First, where did every fuel source we have come from?
It has all through the millenniums come from the byproduct of the earths organisms, which all received energy from the sun to produce their own energetic molecules (with the exception of thermophilic bacteria, which are not only rare, but would die without the temperature regulation provided by our cycle of off/on sunlight known as a day). Many of us understand this already, and are awaiting the depletion of these resources to raise our voices to a fearful, more receptive public. But why not voice it now? Its all going to run out. At best only one more generation will enjoy the luxury of the incredible waste America has come to consider as so common.
The earth has and will receive all of its energy through the harnessed energy of the sun. Weather, warming, climate, and biological growth, all from the sun.
Petroleum: organic matter that died millions of years ago and compressed into petroleum.
Coal: Organic matter that either burned or slowly deteriorated through time and solidified.
Methane: gas byproduct of many modern and ancient organisms.
Uranium: unstable atomic leftovers from high energy occurrences of the past. They are slowly degrading simply because they are an unstable element and will not last forever without volcanic eruptions or catastrophes caused by cosmic origin.
Hydrogen: it can only be produced by using another fuel source to break it out of water molecules (although recently it has been discovered that certain types of algae release hydrogen).
If I missed a significant fuel source, let me know so I can add it to my list
The true energy resources we should pursue are not the ones that we need to burn. Rather, we need to start harnessing the energy that hits us every day whether we want it to or not. The energy of moving wind, shifting water or the glowing sun.
I could present many figures as to the significance of certain energy sources, but i will only present those pertaining to solar energy.
FACT: IN THE YEAR 2024, IT WAS SAID THAT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD CONSUMED ABOUT 8,900 KILO-WATT HOURS IN A YEAR.
FACT: COMMERCIAL SOLAR PANELS AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE HAVE REACHED ALMOST 12 WATTS PER SQUARE FOOT, WHICH AMOUNTS TO AN AVERAGE OF 4.7 WATTS THROUGHOUT A CLOUDLESS DAY AMOUNTING TO AS MUCH AS AN ANNUAL 41 KILO-WATT HOURS PER SQUARE FOOT OF SOLAR PANELING WE CHOOSE TO ROOF OUR HOMES WITH. (200SQ.FT.= AS MUCH AS 8,234 KILO-WATT HOURS)
FACT: HUMANITY HAS ALREADY LOST SOME OF ITS POTENTIAL TO USE SUN ENERGY. THE AMOUNT OF SUN ENERGY THAT HITS THE GROUND TODAY IS ONLY 80% OF WHAT IT WAS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. THIS IS A GLOBALLY ACKNOWLEDGED FIGURE TAKEN AND MATCHED THROUGH COUNTLESS TESTS OF THE PAN EVAPORATION RATE.
FACT: IF WE ALLOW THE EARTHS POLLUTION TO SETTLE BY ONLY USING CLEAN ENERGY, WE COULD POTENTIALLY RESTORE OUR LOST 20% OF SUN ENERGY, RAISING THE OUTPUT OF SOLAR PANELS 25% OF WHAT THEY CURRENTLY PROVIDE. IN OTHER WORDS, THAT 12 WATTS PER SQUARE FOOT WILL BECOME 15 WATTS PER SQUARE FOOT.
Think about it, thats all I ask