Posted on 01/14/2009 5:37:22 PM PST by Lorianne
If oil supplies to the U.S. are cut, for example by the mining of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, America will face a crisis. Energy independence, and technological change in the automotive industry, will be crucial says Edwin Black - author of "The Plan." ___ Investigative journalist Edwin Black is the bestselling author of the award-winning IBM and the Holocaust, which documented for the first time IBM’s indispensable 12-year relationship with the Hitler regime, and Internal Combustion which chronicled how governments and corrupt corporations needlessly addicted the world to oil. His new book is The Plan--How to Rescue Society the Day the Oil Stops--or the Day Before. He was interviewed by Jamie Glanov, managing editor of Frontpage.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at speroforum.com ...
I have been inspired to write about our addiction to oil based on the same values, fears and concern that I felt while working on my other books. In those books, I spotlighted a terrible past hoping for a precious future. Now I am chronicling a precious past and trying to avoid a terrible future. Oil today is the feedstock of radical Islam’s war against the west. We are financing it and doing so on a per-mile program.
What’s more, Iran is using this money to accelerate its nuclear program which is aimed at destroying Israel. Indeed, Iran wants to achieve in 12 minutes with nuclear missiles what Hitler could not achieve in 12 years with tanks, trucks and gas chambers. If I was concerned about the first Holocaust, why would I not be concerned about a threatened second Holocaust? And remember in Hitler’s war against humanity, the Jews were the first victims but not the last. It will be the same if radical Islam triumphs—Israel will be the first victim but they will try to finish the job in Europe and North America.
>>What if the Oil stops? <<
Well, us states with Nuclear Plants and those with lots of coal burning facilities will be happier than those states who refused such facilities.
The Strait might be blocked for one or two days. I suspect we have planety of measures to reopen it. Crude would bounce to $250, then crater.
It won’t because the Arab world hasn’t developed its economy. It needs the oil revenue. U.S. weanig itself off their oil is the Arab world’s worst nightmare. Israel, on the other hand, has actual factories, can grow things, irrigate things, doesn’t have to buy everything.....
The United States should be energy independent. This implies nuclear, coal, fusion, drilling for oil, etc. Renewable is fine if we can make it practical. The only energy project which I was involved with worked fine. It was not applied because it cost 10X conventional systems.
no crisis.
in time of war, the u.s. would pull into venzuela and take some.
We’ll just have to see what Bambi does in a circumstance like the Strait. I suspect the freshman will ask if we have a plan, and then go ahead an approve it. The man has had no original thoughts that I know of...
Well my bet is that just like in the Carter administration we will be held hostage by Iran...only this time it will be oil instead of people.....
Oil at $35/barrel and the price of gas is rising fast, up to $1.79 from $1.55 just three weeks ago. The middle man/distributer is getting worried about that Biden promised ‘test’ for the affirmative action fraud. Somebody put Rockefeller and Schumer under house arrest and take away all phones so they cannot coordinate with the enemies of this nation. Hey America, we got trouble right here in Obamacity ...
Then the collapse of the US economy will land on Bambi’s desk. I don’t think his handlers will allow that. he might not understand why, but more experienced folks will.
The author has bought into all the major “fuelish” fallacies, hook, line, and especially sinker.
Hydrogen? Barely 1/4th the energy density by volume and orders of magnitude more hazardous due to the extreme condition required for storage and transport. As an example of its folly, GASOLINE (or even better, the lighter molecules in the mixture) actually contains more that 50% more hydrogen than pure liquid hydrogen. NONE of the hydrogen storage methods being considered come close to that volume density, leaving aside the ease of handling and storage, convenience, and safety versus hydrogen.
Ethanol? Now that it is legally mandated, the true cost of “food based” ethanol is finally being realized - NOT that we will actually receive an apology from the ethanol flacks, but ethanol is a POOR gasoline substitute. Although it can power a car - as it powered all of the cars at the last Indy 500 - but those engines were built for pure ethanol, and could not run on gasoline. The “flex-fuel” vehicles are a compromise - timing and mixture are adjusted to match the fuel mix, but IC engines have other characteristics, such as compression ratio, that are selected to suffice for the operating ranges, but not optimized.
Also, ethanol’s volumetric energy density (about 2/3 of gasoline) and combustion characteristics prevent it from being a substitute for either diesel or jet fuel. So even if we develop new ethanol sources, such as cellulose, or even algae, its value is questionable.
Electricity? Not for airplanes, certainly. Nor for long haul trucks, either, although it might be OK for city deliveries or similar service. Trains are a special case - all modern trains run on electricity, but most of them generate it on board, from diesel-powered generators. Some - particularly the commuter trains - do run from the grid, using a trolley or third rail. But the cost, safety issues, and losses make electrifying the long-distance rails unlikely.
Electric cars are possible for limited applications, with shopping and commuting at the top of the list based on daily distance. But many of us have unpredictable travel patterns, and frequently would not get back home without refueling. Thus the “plug-in” hybrid, which will use electricity as primary but carry a backup, fuel-powered generator to supplement and replenish its initial battery charge. But first, it will need better batteries at MUCH better prices.
And while hybrids can save money (fuel) in city driving, the advantage almost disappears on the highway.
Personally, I think that the transportation fuels of the future - decades to centuries - will continue to be diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline. Only the feedstock will change.
We import most of our crude oil, and of our total consumption, 2/3 becomes transportation fuel. And more than 95% of our transportation fuel comes from that crude oil. The crude oil we consume comes from all over the world, but ALL of it - all that we have found and extracted - comes from prehistoric algae beds that were buried, converted to kerogen by subterranean heat and pressure, and subsequently found and extracted. Other origins might be found in the future, but that is all we know about now.
I think we will develop a shortcut, using bio-engineered algae that can produce the necessary hydrocarbon molecules directly from water, as a medium and hydrogen source; waste carbon dioxide, as a carbon source; and sunlight as the energy source. Other nutrients will be needed in small quantities. This “green crude” can be fed directly into the current refining and distribution infrastructure without modification, and produce all of the fuel products that we use today. And this is where the research needs to focus, instead if the false promises of the exotic fuels.
The oil producing arab countries’ economies will suffer as they need the revenues from the sale of oil. They need us to buy it to support their dark age civilizations. The flow would be restored fairly quickly (by us probably). Gas prices will surge until after the flow starts again and then will decrease (but not as much as they rose). More calls to halt our dependance on oil will spur more “research” into alternate fuels. Same crap different decade.
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