DukeNuke wrote:
Well, there's only a limited ammount of oil in the earth, and it won't last forever. Besides, oil is not the only source of energy there is. Hydropower, anyone?
Hydro works pretty well, but it's one of those "supplement" sources. It can't provide all of the power, but it can sure provide a pretty good chunk. I'd like to see more nuclear. I know that, in North Alabama, the TVA is looking to add 3 more reactors (bringing Brown's Ferry 1 back online and actually finishing Bellefonte
*).
In Kentucky (for electricity), Coal is still king (as it is in most of the US). The plants aren't as bad for the environment as one might think (they're not great, by any stretch of the imagination, but they aren't the evil giants they were in the 70's or 80's).
As for the solution to "oil" which is, I'm assuming, referring to gasoline, there's a lot that can be done. I'm one of those evil, money-hungry conservatives you've heard about, but it's pretty obvious that the oil companies are taking us to the cleaners. They say that the price of oil from OPEC is up. It is. However, their profits are also record-high. At first I thought "well, if you adjust their profits from EVERY year, to dollars of a common year (eliminates effects of inflation), you'd find that they're not THAT much higher". I was wrong. However, nobody's going to do anything about it until it's politically convenient
** (also, I'm not entirely sure that politicians should have too much control over oil, as I believe the government should, more or less, let an individual run their company as they see fit). I don't think more refineries would be the answer (as oil companies are making record profits, which means their prices are higher than they "need" to be). More refineries WOULD, however, make it a lot harder for the oil companies to blame someone with a hangnail in a refinery for a 2-week, 15 cent/gallon price hike.
Finally, there's the idea of Ethanol. However, when you look at it, it's not as environmentally friendly as some might think (it creates a larger ground-level ozone problem). It's also a bit of a problem as the price of the primary feedstock for the easiest ethanol production, corn, will go through the roof. While your fuel prices might be lower, you'll pay more for things like beef, pork, chicken, and corn, so you won't notice much of a difference in your overall cash flow. With that said, it WOULD help ween us from the teat of foreign oil. Also, they're working on ways to make ethanol from other feedstocks (certain grasses and pulp-mill waste are beginning to look promising)
*Bellefonte was started but never finished. There are 2 reactors on-site, but they were never brought into operation (very long, funny story). Now, they have to be dismantled, and part of the "plant" has to be demolished so that the new reactors (way safer, more efficient) and supporting stuff can be built.
** On Thursday, Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo filed suit against Ashland-Marathon alleging price gouging after Hurricane Katrina. (It should be noted that Stumbo is running for Lieutenant Governor in about 9 days from now). The suit would fine Marathon something like $20,000 for price gouging (which is about .1% of the profits he's alleging they made from the gouging). Stumbo's keeping quiet about THIS part of the suit (which, added to the timing, makes me think it's politically convenient, at best).