Comments on: There is Plenty of Oil http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/ Ed Ring's EcoWorld Posts Sun, 5 Jul 2009 01:04:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Off the Cuff - Wake Up, Americans, It’s Your Country « Lighthouse Patriot Journal http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/comment-page-1/#comment-93499 Off the Cuff - Wake Up, Americans, It’s Your Country « Lighthouse Patriot Journal Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:29:55 +0000 http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/#comment-93499 [...] can do that, and not just by pumping oil out of some tundra reserve in Alaska. There has been found plenty of oil in the American western states, to include shale oil. We use far less of our coastal waters in oil rigs, than say the United [...] [...] can do that, and not just by pumping oil out of some tundra reserve in Alaska. There has been found plenty of oil in the American western states, to include shale oil. We use far less of our coastal waters in oil rigs, than say the United [...]

]]> By: Wayne S. http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/comment-page-1/#comment-37855 Wayne S. Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:57:06 +0000 http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/#comment-37855 Mark, Oil from shale is extracted by heating it, not with water. Water and a deturgent are used to break the sand and oil apart in the Canadian tar sand prodution facilitys, Oil shale exists in vast, Vast quantiies in a huge geological area in the midwestern US. Mark,
Oil from shale is extracted by heating it, not with water. Water and a deturgent are used to break the sand and oil apart in the Canadian tar sand prodution facilitys,
Oil shale exists in vast, Vast quantiies in a huge geological area in the midwestern US.

]]> By: Mark O'Malley http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/comment-page-1/#comment-1018 Mark O'Malley Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:55:46 +0000 http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/#comment-1018 The World Energy Council is a membership organization dominated by energy-industry firms. In terms of its funding, oil companies almost certainly predominate. Therefore its claims need to be considered oil industry PR and critically examined. Its estimate of a 30-year supply of conventional oil at current rates of consumption is actually quite alarming, as a graph of supply tends to follow a bell-curve with steeply sloping sides. We have been consuming oil for about 100 years. Instead of a 30-year supply at current rates of consumption, we most likely in fact have a 60-100 year supply with sharply falling rates of consumption at a time when projected demand, especially in Asia, is expected to rise steeply. This will sharply increase prices for oil. Presumably, this would increase the economic feasibiility of extracting sources of "heavy oil" such as tar sands and oil shale. However, these sources require almost as much energy to extract as they yield, so the net energy gain from these sources would be minimal and would do little to address the energy shortages resulting from the sharp dropoff in conventional oil supplies. The larger of these unconventional sources is "oil shale," most of which lies in the arid Colorado Plateau of the western United States. Extracting oil from oil shale requires vast quantities of water. However, there is no adequate water source within 1,000 miles of these deposits. Even if water were piped in from great distances, the runoff would devastate the environment and ruin the water supply of millions of people downstream. It would make much of the southwestern US uninhabitable. So the costs of extracting oil from oil shale would be high, both in economic and environmental terms, with economic costs probably much higher than the current price of heavy oil. It is doubtful that an economy in decline due to energy shortages and the aftermath of the current debt bubble could bear those costs. Even if it could, the net energy yield of these unconventional sources would be nowhere near sufficient to address the energy shortages that would result from the decline in conventional oil supplies. There are convincing arguments that not even a combination of sources (coal, nuclear, renewables, heavy oil) could begin to replace the abundance of cheap energy that conventional oil has provided for the past century. The World Energy Council is a membership organization dominated by energy-industry firms. In terms of its funding, oil companies almost certainly predominate. Therefore its claims need to be considered oil industry PR and critically examined. Its estimate of a 30-year supply of conventional oil at current rates of consumption is actually quite alarming, as a graph of supply tends to follow a bell-curve with steeply sloping sides. We have been consuming oil for about 100 years. Instead of a 30-year supply at current rates of consumption, we most likely in fact have a 60-100 year supply with sharply falling rates of consumption at a time when projected demand, especially in Asia, is expected to rise steeply.

This will sharply increase prices for oil. Presumably, this would increase the economic feasibiility of extracting sources of “heavy oil” such as tar sands and oil shale. However, these sources require almost as much energy to extract as they yield, so the net energy gain from these sources would be minimal and would do little to address the energy shortages resulting from the sharp dropoff in conventional oil supplies. The larger of these unconventional sources is “oil shale,” most of which lies in the arid Colorado Plateau of the western United States. Extracting oil from oil shale requires vast quantities of water. However, there is no adequate water source within 1,000 miles of these deposits. Even if water were piped in from great distances, the runoff would devastate the environment and ruin the water supply of millions of people downstream. It would make much of the southwestern US uninhabitable. So the costs of extracting oil from oil shale would be high, both in economic and environmental terms, with economic costs probably much higher than the current price of heavy oil. It is doubtful that an economy in decline due to energy shortages and the aftermath of the current debt bubble could bear those costs.

Even if it could, the net energy yield of these unconventional sources would be nowhere near sufficient to address the energy shortages that would result from the decline in conventional oil supplies. There are convincing arguments that not even a combination of sources (coal, nuclear, renewables, heavy oil) could begin to replace the abundance of cheap energy that conventional oil has provided for the past century.

]]> By: Ed Ring http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/comment-page-1/#comment-1010 Ed Ring Mon, 31 Jul 2006 18:02:10 +0000 http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/#comment-1010 Barry, Over 50% of the total energy consumed each year worldwide comes from crude oil. Meanwhile the Chinese and Indian economies - both with over 1 billion citizens - are growing rapidly. Our point isn't that oil is a great thing for the environment, only that we shouldn't act like it's going to run out, because it isn't. The challenge we face is offering alternative clean sources of energy that can replace oil at a price everyone can afford. Ed Ring Editor - EcoWorld Barry,

Over 50% of the total energy consumed each year worldwide comes from crude oil. Meanwhile the Chinese and Indian economies - both with over 1 billion citizens - are growing rapidly. Our point isn’t that oil is a great thing for the environment, only that we shouldn’t act like it’s going to run out, because it isn’t.

The challenge we face is offering alternative clean sources of energy that can replace oil at a price everyone can afford.

Ed Ring
Editor - EcoWorld

]]> By: Barry Brooks http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/comment-page-1/#comment-1007 Barry Brooks Mon, 31 Jul 2006 14:31:11 +0000 http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/#comment-1007 Maybe there is plently of oil, but should we burn it as fast as possible? Due to climate change we would be better off if we didn't have more oil. Anyway, we don't really need it except to fuel our folly. Barry http://home.earthlink.net/~durable Maybe there is plently of oil, but
should we burn it as fast as possible?

Due to climate change we would be
better off if we didn’t have more oil.

Anyway, we don’t really need it except
to fuel our folly.

Barry
http://home.earthlink.net/~durable

]]> By: Harold Pierce, Jr. http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/comment-page-1/#comment-937 Harold Pierce, Jr. Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:11:10 +0000 http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/07/12/there-is-plenty-of-oil/#comment-937 We will always require and use fuels from oil because these fuels have high energy density. For boats. planes, trains, buses, freight trucks, heavy construction, minning.and agricultural machines, Diesel-electrical generating systems, cars with guts and muscle, etc., there are no alternatives. Hydrogen has a low energy density which renders it unuseable for transportation. The hydrogen promoters never mention that the hydrogen storage tank will have to be removed from the vehicle and tested every five years for defects and mechanical integrety. This is such an inconvenice that no car owner would ever want to own such a vehicle. Alternate fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel cannot be produced in amounts required for transportation. For the crop year 2004/2005, 147 million metric tons of surgur was produced which upon fementation would yield about 650 million barrels of ethanol with an energy equivalent of about 500 million barrels of gasoline. We will always require and use fuels from oil because these fuels have high energy density. For boats. planes, trains, buses, freight trucks, heavy construction, minning.and agricultural machines, Diesel-electrical generating systems, cars with guts and muscle, etc., there are no alternatives.

Hydrogen has a low energy density which renders it unuseable for transportation. The hydrogen promoters never mention that the hydrogen storage tank will have to be removed from the vehicle and tested every five years for defects and mechanical integrety. This is such an inconvenice that no car owner would ever want to own such a vehicle.

Alternate fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel cannot be produced in amounts required for transportation. For the crop year 2004/2005, 147 million metric tons of surgur was produced which upon fementation would yield about 650 million barrels of ethanol with an energy equivalent of about 500 million barrels of gasoline.

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