Abundant Oil
- Thread starter kratz
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If you strip away the politics of the article, the science itself is pretty interesting stuff. Still, I'm not sure why we wouldn't explore our options in terms of "renewable" energy since much of those models lend themselves well to small scale implementation. I'd rather have a cheap alternative to "fossil" fuel that I can produce in my backyard than have to rely on someone else to provide it for me at their cost.
I dabbled with the bio-diesel stuff a couple of years ago but was overwhelmed with the mess and hassle of finding used cooking oil, but my lawnmower ran pretty good on the stuff. Give me access to some affordable solar panels and I'd be off the grid in a heartbeat. It's always nice to have options.
I dabbled with the bio-diesel stuff a couple of years ago but was overwhelmed with the mess and hassle of finding used cooking oil, but my lawnmower ran pretty good on the stuff. Give me access to some affordable solar panels and I'd be off the grid in a heartbeat. It's always nice to have options.
feedstock is everything in biofuels http://www.renewableenergyworld.com.../02/coal-plants-switch-to-bioenergy-in-the-uk
UK and Europe are currently short over 15 million tonnes per annum of say wood chips... yet there is abundant cheap coal. These are the very real trade offs facing this industry, as these new technologies come along. That is why money is chasing projects that clean coal for example and the world has realized that feedstocks for biofuels are a HUGE constraint.
http://www.bioxcorp.com/about/ is an industrial scale version of your home experiment ... its been going for 10 years and the feedstock has been a HUGE issue
UK and Europe are currently short over 15 million tonnes per annum of say wood chips... yet there is abundant cheap coal. These are the very real trade offs facing this industry, as these new technologies come along. That is why money is chasing projects that clean coal for example and the world has realized that feedstocks for biofuels are a HUGE constraint.
http://www.bioxcorp.com/about/ is an industrial scale version of your home experiment ... its been going for 10 years and the feedstock has been a HUGE issue
That article is bunk.
There is no such thing as abiotic oil.
Recent studies say that biofuels now take more energy to produce then fossil fuels, once you add in fertilizers and all inputs.
As the king of saudi said, 'the oil boom is dead, we need to find alternate ways of living'.
There is no such thing as abiotic oil.
Recent studies say that biofuels now take more energy to produce then fossil fuels, once you add in fertilizers and all inputs.
As the king of saudi said, 'the oil boom is dead, we need to find alternate ways of living'.
Biodiesel is but one example of alternate fuel sources. Solar, wind and geothermal may be better options. You also have to consider that the production of resources required to support these alternate fuel sources would become more cost effective as demand drives supply. 20 years ago, a solar panel was priced out of the reach of most private citizens...today, not so much.
The article begins appropriately with the words "what if", it's a long-shot claim. National oil policy should not be based on "what if" science, but rather on established science. Certainly if this were to turn out to be true that would be the magic rabbit pulled from the hat to save us all from future oil shortages--and that would be great!
But until there's some actual proof of it, until it's confirmed established fact, it would be recklessly irresponsible to base any sort of national policy on it. That's like gambling away your mortgage at vegas!! Dumb.
But until there's some actual proof of it, until it's confirmed established fact, it would be recklessly irresponsible to base any sort of national policy on it. That's like gambling away your mortgage at vegas!! Dumb.
Exactly. Everyone knows that the odds are better in Atlantic City....That's like gambling away your mortgage at vegas!! Dumb.
If you strip away the politics of the article, the science itself is pretty interesting stuff. Still, I'm not sure why we wouldn't explore our options in terms of "renewable" energy since much of those models lend themselves well to small scale implementation. I'd rather have a cheap alternative to "fossil" fuel that I can produce in my backyard than have to rely on someone else to provide it for me at their cost.
I dabbled with the bio-diesel stuff a couple of years ago but was overwhelmed with the mess and hassle of finding used cooking oil, but my lawnmower ran pretty good on the stuff. Give me access to some affordable solar panels and I'd be off the grid in a heartbeat. It's always nice to have options.
I didn't know you could run spark ignition engines on biodiesel, how does this work?
palm oil goes right into a lot of engines
Diesel riding mower....now I understand. I had pictured, in my mind trying to pull start a standard mower filled with refined vegie oil.
Thank mrsix
How many million bbl/day of palm oil can we produce, and how many million bbl/day of crude oil does that replace? Hard data please.palm oil goes right into a lot of engines
It's nice to throw these ideas around but if you want to convince me that there's no problem, and that we can afford to be a little less prudent, you have to show me the money.
Question? what is the downside to a very robust, aggressive EXPLORATION program across North America.
Answer? they find a bunch more oil , price goes down, and all of these fairy tale alternative schemes are not even close to being economic.
Politics? Obama and Chu want higher prices ... but only at a rate that they can sell to us dupes.
Answer? they find a bunch more oil , price goes down, and all of these fairy tale alternative schemes are not even close to being economic.
Politics? Obama and Chu want higher prices ... but only at a rate that they can sell to us dupes.
can't use it for fuel because it is a major food source. greenies won't allow it. rightfully so.
How many million bbl/day of palm oil can we produce, and how many million bbl/day of crude oil does that replace? Hard data please.
It's nice to throw these ideas around but if you want to convince me that there's no problem, and that we can afford to be a little less prudent, you have to show me the money.
The downside is they don't find a bunch of oil and a lot of money is wasted in a wild goose chase, worse a wild goose chase motivated by ideological rage rather than sound business practice or real economics.Question? what is the downside to a very robust, aggressive EXPLORATION program across North America.
Answer? they find a bunch more oil , price goes down, and all of these fairy tale alternative schemes are not even close to being economic.
Politics? Obama and Chu want higher prices ... but only at a rate that they can sell to us dupes.
their business is oil exploration, lets let them decide how much of their shareholders capital they want to invest on the opportunity to discover oil.
The downside is they don't find a bunch of oil and a lot of money is wasted in a wild goose chase, worse a wild goose chase motivated by ideological rage rather than sound business practice or real economics.
So, they haven't been falling all over themselves to do this....their business is oil exploration, lets let them decide how much of their shareholders capital they want to invest on the opportunity to discover oil.
now we are getting somewhere... why haven't they been falling all over themselves to do this?
So, they haven't been falling all over themselves to do this....
Because it costs six million bucks to survey a site, with generally little hope of recovering the money???now we are getting somewhere... why haven't they been falling all over themselves to do this?
and how much does it cost to explore off the coast of equatorial guinea? hundreds of millions
as explained elsewhere they get permits from government (unless its on private land- then they get fucked around by the epa and other agencies) and they have to fulfill certain terms and conditions to maintain that permit and move on to production
oil companies also have an incentive to maintain the perception that there is a much smaller reserve than there actually is... scarcity value? to keep prices high
what is the marginal cost to produce a barrel of oil? ranging from 5 bucks in iraq/ saudi to what 70 bucks in the oil sands ( Im just guessing) , so there is tremendous margin for the low cost producers and they will just keep the pipeline going (ok had to know so here is a link http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/28/oil-cost-factbox-idUSLS12407420090728 )
and http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/03/the-truth-about-the-worlds-oil-reserves-in-depth-look/
and http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...-target-as-fracking-costs-slide-real-m-a.html
as explained elsewhere they get permits from government (unless its on private land- then they get fucked around by the epa and other agencies) and they have to fulfill certain terms and conditions to maintain that permit and move on to production
oil companies also have an incentive to maintain the perception that there is a much smaller reserve than there actually is... scarcity value? to keep prices high
what is the marginal cost to produce a barrel of oil? ranging from 5 bucks in iraq/ saudi to what 70 bucks in the oil sands ( Im just guessing) , so there is tremendous margin for the low cost producers and they will just keep the pipeline going (ok had to know so here is a link http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/28/oil-cost-factbox-idUSLS12407420090728 )
and http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/03/the-truth-about-the-worlds-oil-reserves-in-depth-look/
and http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...-target-as-fracking-costs-slide-real-m-a.html
