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Home Front: Tech
A workable plan to replace Mid-East Oil with Oil from Algae
2004-05-26
Posted by:3dc

#7  OK, that should have read I think we can assume that US oil is pumped at rate to maximize the economic value of the output. The point being the only way to get significantly more domestic production (short of major changes in how the USA works) would be for oil to get really expensive, say $200 pb.
Posted by: Phil B   2004-05-26 9:28:22 PM  

#6  I think we can assume that US oil is pumped at rate to maximize the output.

I'm not sure about that. A lot of US wells are capped right now, because the cost of running them (think labor, insurance, and lawsuits) is higher than the value of the oil you'd get. We could probably add quite a bit to our supply, if we tried, but either the price of oil would have to be sky-high or the pumpers would have to get a lot of special protection.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-05-26 9:15:59 PM  

#5  No War For Algae!
Posted by: tu3031   2004-05-26 8:42:56 PM  

#4  Doesn't the USA have enough oil to run our country at it's current oil consumption rate for 100 years? No! The USA imports about half of the oil it consumes (from memory). I think we can assume that US oil is pumped at rate to maximize the output.

Are the tree huggers the ones who are preventing us from harvesting our own supply of oil? Were the tree huggers to go away completely, I would be surprised if oil production could be increased by 10%, i.e. one twentieth of whats required to replace oil imports.

Do you think for an instant the Tree Huggers would let you use "fragile" desert to move your capitalist idea's forward? The problem is not imported oil per se. The problem is importing (and transfering $$) to assorted unstable and islamic nutball countries. Nobody is concerned about importing oil from Norway for example. If the idea works then there are places where there are deserts that the governments would be delighted to find an economic use for. Western Australia, which has an awful lot of desert, comes to mind.

Oil, it is or is it not the cheapest form of energy on the planet? At the wellhead in the ME the answer is yes.
Posted by: Phil B   2004-05-26 8:10:21 PM  

#3  Doesn't the USA have enough oil to run our country at it's current oil consumption rate for 100 years?
Are the tree huggers the ones who are preventing us from harvesting our own supply of oil? Do you think for an instant the Tree Huggers would let you use "fragile" desert to move your capitalist idea's forward?
Oil, it is or is it not the cheapest form of energy on the planet?
Can I get answers to these questions?
Posted by: Long Hair Republican   2004-05-26 7:50:02 PM  

#2  This is just a right wing plot to steal the world's algae reserves.
Posted by: Mercutio   2004-05-26 7:05:43 PM  

#1  I don't know whether oil from Algae is feasible on a large scale, but it sounds like its worth a try. The article is right about one thing, which is hydrogen powered vehicles will make the USA more dependent on imported energy.
Posted by: Phil B   2004-05-26 7:00:24 PM  

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