Onkel Buck: david_gaithersburg: My truck has this sticker on it, because I care.

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Care twice as hard because I'm not going to at all

So am I having a total science fail, or am I the only one who gets the joke?

Petroleum (like gasoline & diesel) is a hydrocarbon...so hes saying his truck burns gas or diesel...the "eco-vehicle" part being the joke.

Lando Lincoln: "Yeah, that's just what we farking need."

Without ramping up US production, the growth of global demand will outstrip global production long before we could have feasibly shifted enough of our economy to natural gas and renewables. And then you get price shocks. And the economy goes to shiat.

This smooths the price curve on the way up and buys time for research, engineering, new power plant construction and the continued modernization of the US vehicle fleet (with commensurate increases in fuel efficiency).

If our economy is addicted to oil like a high-functioning heroin addict, think of this as buying another 8-ball to keep things moving forward until we've banked enough paid time off to take a week to detox. Is it a great plan? Nope. Is it the least-worst plan? So far.

Unlikely.

U.S. energy policies initiated by the George W. Bush administration and implemented by President Barack Obama have moved the U.S. toward energy independence and away from Middle East energy sources. U.S. oil production has risen rapidly since 2008 and oil imports are at their lowest level in two decades


Link

Give the dumb bastard some credit

I'd like to thank President Halliburton for exempting the fracing industry from the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, allowing them to pump anything into the ground they want save diesel fuel, and allowing them to not disclose the agents they employ so that they can hold their 'trade secrets.'

DerekHoge: oil isnt going anywhere.

Yeah. Yeah it is. Well, not that we will run out or anything -- more precisely, supply will become increasingly unable to meet demand, especially with China and India's constantly increasing energy needs.

If we're smart we'll switch to new fuels because 1) they'll be much cheaper in the long run and 2) oil can be sold as a source of revenue instead of consuming it. Also, that energy independence thing is a crock of shiat. It will insulate us against the whims of the MidEast as far as supply goes, but oil is still a fungible commodity. We have to buy it off the market (or not sell it, which costs the same) no matter who produces it or where, and if the MidEast cuts off its supply prices will still skyrocket. The only real way to be energy independent is to not use oil.


mark12A: Hydrocarbon fuel is going to be around for hundreds of years to come. After shale gas comes shale oil, after that we make gasoline from coal, after that methane hydrates....

I bet we get algae biodiesel before any of that needs to be used.


mark12A: Wind will always be a bit player, and solar will only happen when we have a cheap way of storing it

I don't believe that about wind, especially not when we get high altitude wind power rolling. As for solar, there are ways to store energy. Solar thermal plants can use molten salt, packed rock, or perhaps a new method. The possibilities are endless, really.


mark12A: ECONOMICAL solar production of hydrogen. Could happen, but the physics say it ain't easy.

Nah, ittl happen. This is an issue of figuring out the physical chemistry, there is no inherent reason why it can't work. A prototype cell has just been invented that will convert sunlight directly into hydrogen using very cheap materials. It's crude at this point but that only makes it more likely that efficiency will go up significantly as they refine it.


namatad: Everyone knows that the US hit peak production in the 70s and the world hit peak production in the 00s.
So why have ANY of the numbers gone up??

They haven't -- none of the important ones anyway. U.S. production has only gone up compared to the early 2000s, it is still much lower than it was back in the 70's and 80's and the stuff we're extracting now is more difficult and energy intensive to get at. World production has basically flatlined for the past 6 or 7 years, which is what you'd expect near / at the top of a Gaussian curve. Even our newfound production doesn't help because the MidEast is dropping off significantly. We're walking along the summit, and when we step up on a random rock you take it as proof that we're not at the top yet. By all means, put your fingers in your ears, chant la la la and clutch desperately to the status quo, but like it or not, we're going to have to transition. Just be glad that in the future you'll be able to take advantage of the work of people with more foresight.

The only thing he'll take credit for is something that Bush did and he has tried to stop. What a leader.

JackieRabbit: We may become a net exporter again, but I call BS on the huge increase in domestic production. Rather, demand is going to start falling in the US and Europe, while vastly overstated reserves in Saudi Arabia will result in a decline of output there.

Demand in the US has fallen every year for the last five while supply has increased over the same time.

Gas should be as cheap as it's ever been right now except we don't sell American oil to Americans, we sell it on global markets.

Did anyone look at the article? This is a joke right?

If there are only two glasses of milk left on the planet I will gladly pay any price to buy and drink yours first.

Amusement: Gas won't go down to $2 cause taxes. Propane might, and wouldn't that make summer grilling a bit more funnier?

No, because you don't grill on propane flames you savage.

Charcoal ftw.

I think a better analysis of the situation would be "US to become biggest producer of oil DESPITE obama"

When did we go from "peak oil has passed and climate change will ruin the world" to "Obama has made gasoline the new economy and it is good"?

/I thought we were supposed to be a leader in exporting renewable energy technology.

Bastard! I thought the idea was to deplete the natural resources of all other countries before tapping our own.

GORDON: The Keystone Pipeline has been going in in direct defiance of orders from Obama's EPA. I have been waiting to see what becomes of that.

To suggest Obama has been championing fossil fuels is beyond ludicrous. Resource recovery technology has been outpacing the regulations to slow it down, and renewable energy production is actually going nowhere in spite of the billions thrown at it.

But... I am now embracing all liberal policies in order to get the country to implode faster, so I think Obama needs to get the actual ARMY into the midwest to destroy whatever illegal pipeline they have laid, and then seize the entire petroleum industry so we can have a sane government running it with America's best interests in mind.

Your blog sucks.

FTA: The Obama administration's push to develop and grow domestic natural gas capabilities has led to a natural gas drilling boom.
Can someone provide a citation that the Administration is behind the push to extract more natural gas? Are we drilling more on federal lands for natural gas? I think not. Did Obama make it easier for energy companies to get state drilling permits? I don't think so. So what exactly did the Obama Administration do?

ShawnDoc: I'd rather we continue to import relatively cheap foreign oil, and save what reserves we have for when the cheap stuff runs out.

Why sell for $2 today, when you can sell for $10 in a few years?

I see you've played Age of Empires.