SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW OIL: Maybe not

[Michael Meier]

Here we are with a new week and another round of posturing, politicking, and punditry regarding the price of petroleum. As happens when folks do a lot of talking, very little is said.



I hang around educated and talented people. Each individual has at least one university degree. Most read, watch, or listen to more than one news source every day. They span generations with ages ranging from the 20s to the 70s.



Yet, not a single person among them knew the answers to some basic questions pertinent to the growing discourse regarding the rising price of oil. A few knew some of the answers, and some knew a few of the answers. To be fair, I had to look up the answers, or else I would have been among the shoulder shruggers.



For instance, how big is a barrel? Answer: 42 gallons. So, now you know that when the price for a barrel of crude oil hits $140, that
http://www.etherzone.com/2008/powe062508.shtml

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Thanks Michael!



Uncle Billy

 

[Mark Jaworski]

Great Read Mike,



Thanks,



Mark

 

[Greg Meyer]

Finally.... some real information....



Now, how about a round of discussions on solutions... I said solutions... PLURAL... Nope, we can't drill our way out of this, but then that does not mean we should not do everything possible to produce as much as possible domestically.



Drilling here makes sense because it will do two things in the near term... It will dampen some part of the "speculation" that prices will automatically rise (somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy if everybody believes it will...it will). And, keeping the dollars here means a stronger dollar... That is two good reasons.



Next, we should do everything rational to encourage the free market to branch out into non-petroleum alternatives. "Rational", because we don't want to pay more for less... Right now hybrid gas/electric cars are not "economically" sound. But, maybe a plug-in hybrid... say 40 miles round trip range (then a gas engine when the batteries are depleted). That would cover 90% of the driving in my household. Think of it... 90% (I kept notes this week). And, if I had an available plug-in at my client's site (used in return for a re3duced travle/trip charge for service calls or a reduced service call rate) it would be even more. My wife's job as a teacher is at a school 10 miles from home. Most of my service calls are less than 20 miles one way. McCain has a great idea, let the free market innovate batteries (or fuel cells, or whatever). By the way, there are after market add on plug in hybrids avaialable. Heck, I could even see a little 1500 watt gas generator. A recharge of the batteries to get another 40 miles might use up a half of a gallon of gas. In a word, "innovation".



They are planning to build anotyher 2200 - 3500 windmills near Chicago. That will be an "add" to the electric grid. Buils those wherever appropriate... build a couple of nice new nuclear plants. ANd, for thoise of you worried about the spent fuel... I understand there are processes being developed to "rejuvenate" the fuel and reduce the "waste" by 50-80% in the process of recycling. Bury it in some mountain somewhere... Is that really so grotesque as to warrant it's outright rejection.



Then,let's innovate some more. Let's finally develop a "clean" coal solution. Illinois alone has enough coal to provide the projected US energy needs by coal alone... YUP EVERYTHING for 200 years... Let's continue to develop ways to extract oil from shale... there are maybe several hundred BILLION (yup BILLIONS) barrels of oil that might be reachable.



If we did everything possible... it's possible in ten short years we could have a very different energy profile. Oh, and there are some possibilities with ethanol... bio diesel... higher efficiency engines... who knows...



If we spent the time and effort on innovation that is spent on arguing about what "solution" is or is not "right", we could have solutions. Right now we have more argument than effort.

 

[TrepMan]

Great read and ideas. Greg you are right on the hybrids NOT bveing "economically" sound, beka ran the numbers every which way at $4/gallon plus the price of say a Prius and the up-tick dealers are charging ($5k) over sticker, and not gonna pay back in my lifetime!! LOL



Also agree with multiple solutions, yup drill-drill-drill, if we had 30 years ago we'd not be in this position, also agree on other options. Only question on fully plug in or plug in hybrids, whats the costs for coal/fossil fuels to the electrical plants, I know paying today for electricity would be cheaper then gas, but if that market goes hot, do we A) have enough available coal/electrical plant fuels and B) would the same speculation markets hit that industry? Just asking, no answers here.



I'm back off over the water to Shanghai, had implant surgery last Mon, still sore as heck and swollen like a lopsided chipmunk, hope it gets better soon. I'll be back in the states in Sept to take the family to Disney, then hopefully back for good in Oct.



Trep