Is oil a renewable resource?

[arsevader]

Canadia is sitting on one of the largest reserves in the world, the catch is its in sand instead of pockets in bedrock.

Which when oil was $15 a barrel they siad it was too costly to collect. Now with oil at $70 a barrel it's looking more and more tempting.

[uflnuceng]

The bi products of nuclear power can be contained and stored... maybe one day there will be a better way... this would allow for more electric cars, etc...

Electric cars... that makes me laugh. Nuclear power is the hotness. You can either make power with it or make a bomb with it. What would you prefer? When uranium is "burned" (industry term for fissioned in a nuclear reactor) you get a whole slew of by-products. Only 3% of a spent nuclear assembly (that which has been burned for about 54-72 months depending on the reactor) cannot be reused. Of that 3% waste there is some seriously leathal by-products, such as cesium-137, but no ooze or anything that glows green. That cesium-137 will be around for hundreds of thousands of years because of its half-life. However, it becomes no more radioactive than the ground that the uranium ore came out of in less than 500 years, which is a drop in the bucket in geoligical time. Yuca Mountain is a phenominal waste of tax payer money as there is plenty of room on site to store the spent assemblies for the entire life of the reactors.

Nuclear is not the solution

Yes it is. It is a part of any healthy energy policy. Unfortunately America only gets close to having one but never follows through. :roll:

Now that oil is at about $70/barrel the oil companies are going to find the cost incentive to start drilling and finding more oil deposits. Open up Canada and Alaska I say!

I love jumping in on this reoccuring R3V topic... so many people just have no idea about how energy is produced and why electricity is one of our cheapest resources. Here in PA it only costs about $0.07/kWhr. I hear in CA its closer to $0.25/kWhr, but that's because (among other stupid things) CA spent no money building power plants and hardly any money building infastructure to bring power into the state. And lets not forget taxes... anyone know when CA is going to sink into the Pacific? I'm hoping for sooner rather than later.

[rwh11385]

Alaska won't and shouldn't be drilled. It's called stragetic reserve for a reason.

[arsevader]

thing is, most people dont depend on soda pop to make a living.

And I don't need to drink like 200 cans of pop a week.

[uflnuceng]

Alaska won't and shouldn't be drilled. It's called stragetic reserve for a reason.

Alaska isn't the strategic reserve... our current reserve is 688.6 million barrells held in Salt deposits on the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. Watched a "Modern Marvels" show on it not to long ago. Pretty damn cool.

Alaska can't be a reserve until we... guess what... set up the drills to get it out. Which doesn't happen over night. Prepping the drills and setting everything up to have a minimal impact on the environment would take years so I would suggest we start now.

[rwh11385]

A military friend, not just one with internet access, stated the United States should not be drilling in Alaska simply to appease citizens upset about gas prices. But whatever you saw on Discovery....

"According to the World Factbook, the United States consumes about 20M barrels of oil a day; therefore, at maximum capacity, the SPR holds the equivalent of about 36 days of consumption." - wikipedia or whatever the site is called.

whatever you don't want to call it, the oil in alaska is oil the US owns and can claim if in need later.

[RobertK]

I was planning on a CPO Lexus or similar anyway. Just choosing among products for the hybrids.

Hell, Chevy has a hybrid TRUCK. It's the new game. Hopefully most cars will be hybrids, and maybe E85 if that shit is good as it seems, then we'll cut use and waste a little bit.

Best bet is to buy a used Hybrid like 3-4 years used.. let someone take the ass kick for the depreciation. That's what my mom is trying to do wait another year or two and buy a used Toyota Prius.

[rwh11385]

I had NO intentions of buying a new car. That's just silly.... But a CPO car with plush warranty and free maintence sure beats an old bucket when busy with the 40 hour corporate work week.

Yes. The 2006 Lexus 400h should be depreciated some by the time I'm out and employed.

[hamann318is]

Hybrids are about the worst ideas ever. Europe's got it right, we should be using Diesels. They get better gas mileage and always will.

[DanThe]

gas is still one of the cheepest things you can buy... bottled water is more expensive...

Not here :(

Near enough £1 per Litre = $8.35 per Gallon

You can get cheaper deals on beer FFS!

[uflnuceng]

Hybrids are about the worst ideas ever. Europe's got it right, we should be using Diesels. They get better gas mileage and always will.

44% thermal efficeincy vs. 33-36% thermal efficiency for the win!

A military friend, not just one with internet access, stated the United States should not be drilling in Alaska simply to appease citizens upset about gas prices. But whatever you saw on Discovery....

In my defense I was in the Energy industry for awhile (Nuclear), but don't care if we get power from oil, natural gas, hydro, nuclear, coal or other biomass. I just don't dig wind or solar technologies enmass for scientific and economic reasons, although in certain areas the technology can be viable. I didn't know there was so little oil in Alaska, but I never meant to imply it would be our only source of oil. We have a good long while before our oil runs out. People who say we have 20 yrs or even 100yrs are hitting the pipe too hard.

EDIT: I just can't let myself be proven wrong. The Department of Energy estimates there is about 30 Billion barrels of heavy oil in the two major sites of interest in Alaska. If we only used that oil it would be about 4 years worth of oil for the US. However, that would bring down the international demand for oil a good bit and would then bring down the price of oil on average meaning we would use both our own and internationally available oil.

[uflnuceng]

Not here :(

Near enough £1 per Litre = $8.35 per Gallon

You can get cheaper deals on beer FFS!

Petrol in the UK was atleast 99 pence per litre last time I was out there, I have to believe its more than that now. Europe gets the royal anal rape for gas and taxes, but thats socialism for ya...

[Ryan Stewart]

Which when oil was $15 a barrel they siad it was too costly to collect. Now with oil at $70 a barrel it's looking more and more tempting.

That means we are invading you next.

[dirty30]

wait 'til OPEC finds this....you boys will be in big trouble

[chuckybob]

Nuclear power is the hotness.

yeah, but good luck getting a nuclear reactor to fit in the engine bay.

any idea when well see those "apple core" nuclear reactors that can break down anything?