Energy in the 21st century

High fuel prices are highlighting an inescapable truth: a sustainable future world energy supply is a must. If we plan ahead and begin making changes now, we can avert a looming energy supply crisis some analysts believe could occur as early as 2010.

It's been 20 years since the last giant oil field was discovered, and today most oil companies are enjoying record profits without making big investments in exploration and development of new resources. To meet projected world energy demand by 2030, the industry would need to invest more than $100 billion annually in exploration and infrastructure, according to some estimates.

Some experts believe as many as 2 trillion barrels of oil could be produced from oil shale deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming - possibly more than exists in the Middle East. Investments in deposits in western U.S. oil shales, Canadian tar sands and Venezuelan heavy oil already have begun.

Demand is outstripping supply in all aspects of the energy industry. Fossil fuels - oil, coal and natural gas - supply 85 percent of global energy. Oil, the single largest fuel used today, provides 40 percent of the world's energy demand.


http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_3270269

and it is truly a daunting task to replace petroleum and its many applications. I don't think most Americans really have a clue as to how much they depend on this liquid solar energy reserve. I don't know how our economy and mindsets will handle the imminent change from readily available oil to highly expensive, precious and low supply black gold.

We are currently in an energy crisis that is not going to go away. The latest Energy Bill signed into law does little to address our dependence on fossil fuels and commits the Government to funding directly or through tax abatements projects which really do not reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. So far, another viable alternative energy source has been almost entirely ignored. This unrecognized energy source is abundant, domestically sourced, renewable, cleaner than gasoline and CHEAPER THAN GASOLINE. This energy source could reduce our dependence on foreign oil, strengthen our economy immeasurably and enhance our national security. This energy source can be grown right here in the U.S. by American farmers. This ‘mysterious’, miracle fuel is called ethanol.

Ethanol fuel (E85 and E15) is now priced about $2.00 per gallon (April 2005), is less polluting than gasoline, cheaper than gasoline and DOES NOT REQUIRE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF INVESTMENT IN R&D TO MAKE IT COMMERCIALLY VIABLE. Fuel cell cars are a long ways off and will require Billions of investment in R&D to make them practical. The only solution (other than fuel cell vehicles ) I hear spoken of is HYBRID vehicles. This is a poor solution. Hybrid vehicles still require additional billions in investment to make them practical and they currently cost the buyer quite a bit more than a standard engine car. AND THEY STILL BURN GASOLINE. THE AMOUNT SAVED IN GASOLINE IS REDICULOUSLY LOW COMPARED TO THE HUGE INVESTMENT REQUIRED TO GET THIS MEAGER SAVINGS. And they really are no solution to the dependence on fossil fuels.

Ethanol fuel is renewable resource made from corn or plant waste (e.g. one company is currently building a facility in Louisiana to make ethanol from sugar cane waste). Areas not suitable for food crops would be viable producers of plant products that could be used for ethanol production, bringing an income to many areas which now have none. By using Ethanol 85 in autos we would be reducing our imports of crude oil and thus improving our balance of payments (significantly), strengthening our economy and improving our national security (for every 100 gallons of E 85 used you would be reducing the demand for gasoline and oil by 85 gallons!). AS THE PRICE OF OIL KEEPS GOING UP AND UP IT IS CUTTING INTO OUR ECONOMIC GROWTH. LESS MONEY IS AVAILABLE FOR INVESTMENTS IN PRODUCTIVITY ENHANCEMENTS. REDUCED ECONOMIC GROWTH MEANS REDUCED JOB GROWTH AND A REDUCED STANDARD OF LIVING IN THE U.S. Switching to Ethanol 85 in our cars would help strengthen our economy by reducing or virtually eliminating this draining away of capital which could be better invested in the U.S. If we significantly reduced our imports of oil I think our relationship with OPEC nations would be put on a different footing. This change would certainly be for the good.

ETHANOL 15 CAN BE BURNED IN ANY ENGINE THAT BURNS GASOLINE - WITH NO RETROFITTING REQUIRED. ALL THE MAJOR AUTO MANUFACTURERS ARE SELLING, RIGHT NOW, FLEXIBLE FUEL VEHICLES WHICH RUN ON ETHANOL 85. And they sell them at little OR NO price differential to the buyer!! (compare that to hybrid vehicles!) GM sells two models of the Impala that are Flexible Fuel Vehicles at NO price differential! (actually, Flexible Fuel Vehicles can run on regular gasoline or any mixture of ethanol with gasoline. So if someone bought a Flexible Fuel Vehicle and couldn’t find E85 he can still run regular gas in his car!) If the oil companies were required to make ALL gasoline include 15% ethanol that act in itself would reduce demand for gasoline and oil by about 15%. This would have a significant impact on gasoline price spikes. I think the Government ought to threaten Big Oil with excess profits taxes and then offer them this as an alternative: if they agree to make all gasoline 15% Ethanol – then no excess profits tax will be levied!

Ethanol doesn’t deliver quite as good miles per gallon as gasoline does but at about 20% cheaper than gasoline the cost advantage clearly goes to ethanol(and how long do you think it will be till we see $3.00 gas again?)! There is some disinformation out there to the effect that it takes more energy to make ethanol than it delivers to the consumer. This is NOT TRUE. A study done by the Argonne National Laboratory (a U.S.Depeartment of Energy Laboratory) found that there is a 38% GAIN in the overall energy input/output equation for the corn-to-ethanol process. That is, if 100 BTUs of energy is used to plant corn, harvest the crop, transport it , etc. 138 BTUs of energy is available in the fuel ethanol. OF COURSE IF YOU USED ETHANOL FUEL, INSTEAD OF GASOLINE, TO PRODUCE THE ETHANOL THEN HOW MUCH ENERGY (IN TERMS OF FOSSIL FUEL) DOES IT TAKE, ZERO?? Well, actually if you used Ethanol 85 you would be using 1/7th as much gasoline. This points out the beauty of a renewable fuel resource as opposed to fossil fuels. Once you use a gallon of fossil fuel, it's gone forever, until you drill for more. But a given amount of ground producing an Ethanol crop can produce one (or more ) crops per year, year after year. Ethanol 85 will extend the limited supply of fossil fuels seven times!

Note that ethanol is BIO-DEGRADABLE, so you don’t have the pollution concerns you have with oil. At every stage of the process of taking oil from the ground, transporting it, refining it and then delivering it to the final consumer and then burning it in cars you have pollution issues to be dealt with (remember the EXXON-Valdez?). You don’t have this with ethanol. Producers of ethanol are capturing CO2 generated in the manufacturing process and selling it for commercial uses! This is not a technically difficult thing to do.

The Government needs to get behind an aggressive program to enhance the availability of Ethanol 85. Right now few people even know of it existence let alone it’s benefits. I think if people knew that it was cheaper, less polluting and could reduce our dependence on foreign oil they would embrace ethanol with a passion. But who is going to buy a Flexible Fuel Vehicle when there are almost no stations supplying ethanol 85? This is why we need a coordinated campaign to promote the availability of Ethanol 85 (as well as 15% ethanol content in ALL gasoline). First of all every car that uses gasoline can run on gas with 15% ethanol. All gasoline should be required to be 15% ethanol to reduce the demand for oil and gas by 15%. This would have a healthy affect of gas prices right away. (if Big Oil isn’t interested in incorporating E85, tha’s okay we will just help out the independent refiners and stations to supply it to America. Somehow I think this would “help” Big Oil to find a way to keep gasoline from spiking in price so much. Surprise. Surprise!!) Further, it would reduce the demand for imported oil. IF necessary, we should incentivise making Ethanol 85 available with tax breaks to help station owners during the transition to Ethanol 85. This investment would be worth it in terms of reduced demand for gasoline and for the energy independence it would produce in time.

Once we build up the demand for Ethanol this country could become not only the breadbasket to the world we could become a major supplier of this “Freedom Fuel” to the rest of the world.

So what do you think, abundant, renewable, domestically sourced, less pollution, bio-degradable, cheaper and cleaner than gasoline, will reduce dependence on foreign oil, improve our balance of payments and strengthen our economy. It’s time we started a national commitment to dramatically expand the use ethanol fuel, our “Freedom Fuel”. Using Freedom Fuel will be the patriotic thing to do. I think people would love to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. This could be a campaign issue for the Democrats. It helps people in the pocket book while it strengthens our country economically and in terms of national security (greatly strengthened position vis-à-vis the Arab states). And who knows, it just might save a lot of lives in the future. How’s that for an unassailable initiative!

Relief from soaring prices at the gas pump could come in the form of corncobs, cornstalks, switchgrass and other types of biomass, according to a joint feasibility study for the U.S. departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Energy (DOE).

According to an April 21 press release from the DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the report outlines a national strategy in which 1 billion dry tons of biomass – any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis – would displace 30 percent of the nation's petroleum consumption for transportation.
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Agricultural residues, such as corn stalks, wheat straw, and rice stalks, are normally left on the field, plowed under, or burned. Collecting just a third of these for biofuel production would allow farmers to reap a sort of second harvest, increasing farm income while leaving enough organic matter to maintain soil health and prevent erosion. The agricultural residues that could be harvested sustainably in the United States today, for example, could yield 14.5 billion gallons of ethanol—four times the current output—with no additional land demands.

“Energy crops,” such as hardy grasses and fast-growing trees, have higher ethanol yields and better energy balances than conventional starch crops. One likely candidate is switchgrass, a tall perennial grass used by farmers to protect land from erosion. It requires minimal irrigation, fertilizer, or herbicides but yields 2-3 times more ethanol per acre than corn does. Such crops could potentially be harvested on marginal land, avoiding the conversion of healthy cropland or forests to energy-crop production.

And then there is the huge benefit related to replacing gasoline of reducing our imports of foreign oil. this would improve our balance of Payments and strengthen our economy not to mention improve our national security.
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A study done by the Argonne National Laboratory determined that while comparing fossil fuel energy inputs to produce gasoline yielded a 19% energy loss (1.23 Million BTUs input - yielded only 1 Million BTUs of gasloline output) ethanol production yielded 38% more energy in the form of ethanol fuel than was consumed to produce that fuel (0.74 Million BTUs of fosssil fuel input yielded 1 Million BTUs of ethanol fuel). A later study by the Michigan State University documented a 56% energy gain for ethanol production.

Argonne National Laboratory Study

Re GreenHouse Gas reduction, Corn ethanol reduces GHG from 17% (Wet Milled) to 23% (Dry Milled). Cellulosic ethanol (plant waste) yields an astounding 85% reduction!

more stuff could move by coal powered electric railroad,
farm tractors and other machinery could be powered by coal.

I believe that in the future, it will be possible to
propel ships by coal power, or maybe even the wind

short range electric cars, powered by coal-derived electricity,
are entirely feasible today

do you think the US military really NEEDS twelve aircraft carriers?

do you think the US really NEEDS to burn 2 million barrels
of jet aircraft fuel per day?

edit, spelling

should temporarily solve our energy problems.