Forums → WEPR → Should we use OIL?

Technically there is. We consume roughly one-quarter of the worlds produced oil. So, If we withheld imports from one of our main suppliers, we could "convince" them to sell it for cheaper or potentially ruin their economy. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that this plan would be a collaboration of the U.S. and E.U.

I'd think that curtailing trade from a main supplier would hurt your economy more than theirs. They have no shortage of potential buyers and OPEC would simply re-adjust their exportation quotas to compensate.

Well, actually, should the EU and U.S. (the two largest oil consumers) curtail trade from a certain OPEC member, we would probably be fine as the largest oil producers would still trade with us (That being Canada and Mexico).

That doesn't sound right to me... I'm going to need some numbers if I'm to make sense of that.

I've heard that America has a ton of oil in Alaska, Texas, and other states, but it does not mine it. Is there any truth behind this? If there is, we can just use the American oil. It is not worth hoarding. This being said, if the rumor were true, we would be mining the oil.

chiliad, the continental US reached its peak in oil production several decades ago. This means that the amount of oil extracted in the US has been steadily declining while the demand for oil within the US has been steadily rising. While there could some potential left untapped, pretty much everything that can feasibly or economically be drilled already has been. Remember that the deeper you have the drill, the more money and energy it requires to get at the oil, and eventually you reach a threshold level where it's just not worth it.

I heard that there is a TON of oil in Canada, is this true?

steevo, the people who believe this usually refer to the hypothetically large amount of oil that could be extracted and refined from the tar sands, especially in Alberta. While this is expected is contribute something to the world oil supply, there a bunch of realistic constraints that need to be considered before people get excited. Because this is not a conventional form of oil, the extraction process a lot more like mining a mineral than it is to like simply pumping it out a well. It has to be dug up, processed, heated, and refined and this means that the process is more labor-intensive, much more costly, and also extremely slow.

It will take some time before the facilities are in place assuming that the proposed developments go ahead (some oil companies are becoming increasingly reluctant because lots and lots of natural gas is required to fuel the heating the process, and the price of natural gas had rapidly shot up due to its increased scarcity), but even when it does come online, even if they can extract it as fast as they possibly can, it's not expected to supply more than 4% of the global demand for oil by that time.

There was a debate several years ago about mining oil out of Alaska. Besides the fact that it would kill millions of acres of wild life, there is also the fact that oil is not an efficient way to produce energy.

Yeah, Lilboi, I didn't mention that the more unconventional oil mining operations are much more environmentally destructive compared to the conventional oil extractions. For example, in Albert, this could entail totally wrecking the breathtaking Athabasca wilderness area, which -should- be protected as it is within a national park. Then there's also the greenhouse gas emissions from the production, let alone the consumption of that kind of oil.

Eventually there are going to be no more sources of oil left; it's not a matter of if we should use an alternative source of energy, it's a matter of when. Unfortunately, all the big wigs in the U.S. (probably elsewhere, too) don't seem to recognize that.

clipmaster,

Yes, but more accurately, there will always be oil left in the earth - just that the economics of scarcity (as supply increasingly slips way below demand) will have a crippling effect on society if we do not have the alternatives ready and in place before that type of crisis begins to take hold.

I'd say no but I'm lazy and want to drive a car in the near future.
Might even help the obesity problem without oil.

lol ethanol what a joke and let us look at the reliability of scientists and cold fusion


The day was march 3 1957
the scientist says we are only 10 years away from developing cold fusion

10 years later
still ten years away

1970's
still ten years away

1980's

maybe we can do it in just 10 more years


this has been going on since then until now you cannot depend on scientists

OK. Let's take this one at a time.
Oil: Pretty expensive for the moment, but hasn't failed us yet. Also, all of you people out there who think that we are running out, we aren't. There plenty of oil until our grandchildren die.

Ethanol: Isn't a whole lot more efficient than oil, being that it takes almost as much oil to make it as it's replacing.

Solar and Wind: Good ideas, but honestly, solar power can only be harnessed half of the time and doesn't provide a whole lot of power. Wind provides a little more than solar does and there's wind day and night, but wind energy cannot be stored and has to be used immediately, making it not nearly as useful.

Hydrogen: My personal favorite, yet it has it's problems too. We have abundant supply of hydrogen, it is efficient, and doesn't pollute. Although, the problem with hydrogen is that it is very explosive. More so than oil. If a hydrogen filled car collided with another one, they would both burst into flames and if the flames engulfed other cars, they might also. It could be catastrophic. It's possible to create engines and fuel tanks that would protect the hydrogen from those forces, but it is very expensive. Hence, with our technology, it isn't a good idea.

Nuclear power: I like this also, but it does create nuclear waste and such. It's by far the most efficient though, and produces the most power. Unfortunately, it is very dangerous, and if some idiot is hired to run a power plant, then the employees will probably die in a meltdown.

Hydroelectric: Same as Solar and Wind, it doesn't really produce a significant amount of power.

That's most of the sources I could think of off the top of my head.