Will new oil drilling save us?

One way or another we are all feeling the pain because of high prices at the pump. Costs for goods are up, wages down, people aren’t able to buy all the stuff they could last year at this time, sales are down, jobs are being lost. So now that everyone is fixated on the price of gas, a “perfect” solution is being offered: drill everywhere for more oil. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.

Let’s look at a few facts that the oil companies don’t want you to hear about (after all, an informed public is NOT in their best interest):

• On average, of all the land currently under lease for oil production less than 1/3 of that land is being utilized.
• In 2007 there were 7,124 drilling permits approved on public lands, but only 5,343 wells were actually drilled. Did you know that Democrats in the House of Representatives tried to pass legislation to require oil companies to develop their existing leases? Guess what, the Republicans and our current administration (rife with oil men) prevented passage of the bill.
• Everyone has heard of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Have you ever heard of the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA)? This land was originally set aside in 1923 as an oil reserve for the U.S. Navy. Congress transferred management of the land to the Department of the Interior in 1976. Why aren’t we drilling there?
• Still want to drill in ANWR like the oil companies do? After all, how much space could a few oil wells take up? Check out this site for some facts and a great map showing what the true impact on that fragile wilderness would be. Or check out this documentary about ANWR that won an international award.
  
• The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources produced a report in June, 2008, entitled: “The Truth About America’s Energy: Big Oil Stockpiles Supplies and Pockets Profits.” This report starts out by stating: “While the oil industry and some Members of Congress argue that opening more federal lands and waters would lead to lower gasoline prices, the facts prove otherwise. The fact is that the Nation simply cannot drill its way to lower prices at the pump. Other options, from greater energy efficiencies to the development of alternative fuels, are essential to reducing dependency on petroleum fuels and lowering fuel costs.” It is a ten page document in Adobe PDF format. It should be mandatory reading in my opinion. Read it, the facts there are not what you hear on the nightly news shows or read in the papers.

There is an organization called The Apollo Alliance which promotes clean energy, good jobs, and freedom from foreign oil. Here is what they have to say: “Every day, Americans pay more and more at the pump, while oil companies bring in record profits. Now, those same oil companies and their congressional allies are proposing more drilling - even though nearly every energy expert agrees this is one problem America can't drill its way out of. The oil companies say they're doing it to help lower the cost of gas. But scratch the surface, and you'll find it's the oil companies that truly benefit from new offshore drilling. America needs a real, comprehensive solution to America's energy crisis. Let's invest in clean, renewable energy and homegrown fuels, that will create millions of high-quality, green-collar jobs and reduce our dependence on oil.”

And it’s not just ‘green’ organizations like The Apollo Alliance that are promoting a change, even oil men are starting to come out in favor of a change. Have you seen T. Boone Pickens advertisement on TV? Check out his site. I even managed to find a newspaper article from August 2, 2008, in the Star Tribune in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota entitled “Drilling has only tenuous link to lower energy prices.”

During the Cold War the United States and Russia had a space race. That race brought about many advances in science that improved the lives of everyone. Lots of high-paying jobs were created and many new technologies were developed. We need a new race, a race for alternative forms of energy, to spur development, technology, and jobs. We need to get started working on a better future for our children and their children NOW!

Biofuels: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Just about everyone realizes that oil is not a renewable resource, at least not at the rate that we are consuming it. The industrialized nations are sucking oil back at incredible rates. One estimate by the International Energy Agency printed here in April 2004 shows a consumption of 75 million barrels a day. A more recent estimate extracted here from the CIA World Factbook in June 2007 shows a consumption of 82,234,918 barrels per day. There is also quite a bit of debate on how much oil is really left that we can get to. Check out this post here and this interesting analysis of production vs. consumption. No matter what, the world needs to go on an oil diet and find another way to generate power.

Worldwide many nations are using some form of biofuel already. Here in America the talk is all about ethanol from corn. However, corn is a negative return for energy; in other words, it takes more energy to make ethanol from corn that what you get out of it. Here’s a report from the Washington Post and another blog here which outline some of the problems. Wikipedia has an excellent article on biofuels which goes into much great detail that I have room for here.

There are many possible sources for biofuels: corn (a poor choice), sugar cane (used by Brazil), switchgrass (I saw a show on the History Channel that showed excellent returns from this source), and even algae (some tout this as the perfect solution). Personally, I don’t think we should use a source for biofuel that is also a food crop because there are too many people on this planet without enough to eat or without affordable food available to them.

Perhaps one of the best solutions for our fuel problem was patented in 1892 by Rudolf Diesel. The original diesel engine was designed to run on vegetable oil (peanut oil). Today you can purchase a kit to convert your diesel engine vehicle to run on vegetable oil. You may even be able to get your vegetable oil for free. Most restaurants that fry food have to pay to dispose of their used oil. They are usually more than glad to have someone take it away for free. Not sure, check out this article on using vegetable oil as fuel.

Next car I buy may just have a diesel engine. Now, where is the nearest hamburger stand?