Energy: Where do we go from here?
posted by Liberal Beagle at 7:46 AM
An old teacher of mine had a joke about a friend who would say, "What do you mean, my account is overdrawn? I've still got checks in my checkbook."
What isn't widely known among the American public is that we may have reached Peak Oil production a year or more ago. The Peak Oil definition goes something like this: the minute we have mined 50% of Earth's oil reserves, production declines, oil becomes more scarce, and since global population has been rising, civilization "gets knocked about somewhat."
Of course, there are people who believe there are other sources of oil to be found, in the ANWR, Colorado, Mexico, your face, etcetera, but it doesn't mitigate the current oil reserves' depletion. New oil production plants and refineries take a lot of R&D to actually get started, and considering what kind of a devastating effect we're having on the environment already, we may have to be even more careful than we were before.
So where do we stand with other solutions? According to this article, other solutions such as hydrogen and solar power don't have quite the strength to take on the energy demands that we as a society have put on it. Nuclear power, ironically enough, may be the safest alternative and may have what it takes to level off increasing carbon emissions.
Without putting too many of my 2004 hopes into play and jinxing things, I do feel very optimistic that once this worthless lump is out of the White House, we'll see an administration and a Congress who will put forward ideas for energy alternatives that could be rushed into development. Yes, optimistically, it would be ten years before the American public sees any real benefit from it. But that may be for the best.
Because, adding my own dash of cynicism, I think societal change only happens as a reaction to massive crises. Right now, Americans are still steeped heavily in a sense of entitlement, though the "greening" of society is beginning to catch on. One energy crisis after another may have to happen before alternative energy solutions become a primal survival mechanism for Americans and others around the globe. Eventually, you have to abandon the sinking ship in order to save your life.
What isn't widely known among the American public is that we may have reached Peak Oil production a year or more ago. The Peak Oil definition goes something like this: the minute we have mined 50% of Earth's oil reserves, production declines, oil becomes more scarce, and since global population has been rising, civilization "gets knocked about somewhat."
Of course, there are people who believe there are other sources of oil to be found, in the ANWR, Colorado, Mexico, your face, etcetera, but it doesn't mitigate the current oil reserves' depletion. New oil production plants and refineries take a lot of R&D to actually get started, and considering what kind of a devastating effect we're having on the environment already, we may have to be even more careful than we were before.
So where do we stand with other solutions? According to this article, other solutions such as hydrogen and solar power don't have quite the strength to take on the energy demands that we as a society have put on it. Nuclear power, ironically enough, may be the safest alternative and may have what it takes to level off increasing carbon emissions.
Without putting too many of my 2004 hopes into play and jinxing things, I do feel very optimistic that once this worthless lump is out of the White House, we'll see an administration and a Congress who will put forward ideas for energy alternatives that could be rushed into development. Yes, optimistically, it would be ten years before the American public sees any real benefit from it. But that may be for the best.
Because, adding my own dash of cynicism, I think societal change only happens as a reaction to massive crises. Right now, Americans are still steeped heavily in a sense of entitlement, though the "greening" of society is beginning to catch on. One energy crisis after another may have to happen before alternative energy solutions become a primal survival mechanism for Americans and others around the globe. Eventually, you have to abandon the sinking ship in order to save your life.
<< Home