[johnfarr]

I probably disagree with most citizens and just about every politician on how to resolve the “energy crisis.”


Energy for the long haul

Oil is precious. We use oil for so many things, when other energy sources could easily replace oil. Generation of electricity should be done with nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar, geothermal and coal power.

Save our oil for future generations to use for the production of a myriad of polymer-based products.

• Propane is a product of petroleum distillation and should be phased out.
• Natural gas is another finite resource that has been embraced by the utilities as a clean way to generate power. Demand and cost for natural gas has soared in recent years, while coal generation equipment sits idle. Natural gas should be considered a stop-gap source of energy for power generation and should be phased out quickly to save it for the future and better uses. For example, in its compressed or liquefied form it will propel vehicles until a better alternative is developed.
• On the other hand, the U.S. has a tremendous amount of coal available that we should be using it now for power generation.

Hydrogen requires much energy for production. Current fossil fuel power generation methods make hydrogen an unrealistic alternative fuel. Nuclear and other alternative power outputs mentioned above can supply peak demands - and during off-peak periods (8 pm – 5 am) the enormous generation power of nuclear energy can be used to produce hydrogen inexpensively for vehicle propulsion.

From now on, the only permissible time for the U.S. to drill for domestic oil is when another entity tries to take what is ours (e.g. Cuba permitting China to drill for our offshore oil). Otherwise, leave it in the ground until the rest of the World runs out.

It will be a big sacrifice for the next ten to twenty years as all of us buy foreign oil at inflated prices, but in the long run our great grandchildren will hold the necessary marbles to ensure that we remain the superpower we are today.

If we continue the status quo we are doomed. In the next few years the first priority of the U.S. must be to spend a large part of our GNP on construction of alternative power generation sources.

It is that important, in my opinion.

[travelstiles]

we need to focus on Alternative Energy Sources - please see the other threads on Energy Independence and Wind as a resource as well.