February 28, 200818 yr Unfortunately, the term global warming has been reduced to "pop-culture-lingo". So, now that it has taken on the status of a "fad issue", those who want to ridicule the premise are completely dismissing a much larger issue. There is no greater destroyer of the Earth's resources than human beings. No other genus invents cars, drills for oil, builds factories to spew toxins into the air, ravages forests, eliminates land, crowds thousands (or millions) of people into a few square miles. Like it or not, we control the environment. Maybe we don't control the temperture like we would a thermostat, but our habits and behaviors definitely contribute to the depletion of the Earth's resources.
February 28, 200818 yr The oil is going to be all gone in a few decades anyway. A few dozen decades... I really think hydrogen is exremely far away, maybe not feasible at all because it has to be stored under such pressure. Biodiesel is the best current alternative IMO because ethanol takes to much energy to create.
February 28, 200818 yr The oil is going to be all gone in a few decades anyway. Summary of Reserve Data as of 2007 Country Reserves 1 Production 2 Reserve life 3 (109bbl) (106bpd) (years) Saudi Arabia 260 8.8 81 Canada 179 2.7 182 Iran 136 3.7 101 Iraq 115 2.2 143 Kuwait 99 2.5 108 United Arab Emirates 97 2.5 107 Venezuela 80 2.4 91 Russia 60 9.5 17 Libya 41.5 1.8 63 Nigeria 36.2 2.3 43 United States 21 4.9 12 Mexico 12 3.2 10
February 28, 200818 yr A few dozen decades... I really think hydrogen is exremely far away, maybe not feasible at all because it has to be stored under such pressure. Biodiesel is the best current alternative IMO because ethanol takes to much energy to create. If GM wants to pursue hydrogen they may be able to get it done. They have a prototype car Bio-mass ethanol is probably the best way to go. You don't use food for fuel and farmers in places like KY can switch from tobacco to switch grass or soy to produce it.
February 28, 200818 yr Summary of Reserve Data as of 2007 Country Reserves 1 Production 2 Reserve life 3 (109bbl) (106bpd) (years) Saudi Arabia 260 8.8 81 Canada 179 2.7 182 Iran 136 3.7 101 Iraq 115 2.2 143 Kuwait 99 2.5 108 United Arab Emirates 97 2.5 107 Venezuela 80 2.4 91 Russia 60 9.5 17 Libya 41.5 1.8 63 Nigeria 36.2 2.3 43 United States 21 4.9 12 Mexico 12 3.2 10 Isn't the oil in Canada locked up in soil or something? I saw a documentary about it a while back. It's difficult and expensive to process. It's just now starting to be economically viable because of the the ever-increasing price of oil. Another issue with oil supplies (and many other resources) is the industrialization of China. Soon they will be using up a very large percentage of the world's resources.
February 28, 200818 yr If GM wants to pursue hydrogen they may be able to get it done. They have a prototype car Bio-mass ethanol is probably the best way to go. You don't use food for fuel and farmers in places like KY can switch from tobacco to switch grass or soy to produce it. The car in your photo is not a hydrogen fueled vehicle. It is the GM-Volt concept car. It's basically an extended range electric engine car. It still has a small gas engine which is needed for drives of over 40 miles.
February 28, 200818 yr If GM wants to pursue hydrogen they may be able to get it done. They have a prototype car Bio-mass ethanol is probably the best way to go. You don't use food for fuel and farmers in places like KY can switch from tobacco to switch grass or soy to produce it. There is no doubt that it is possible to create a hydrogen car, but at what cost (financially and potentially hazardous in an accident). Not to mention the complete overhaul to the current distribution method (completely new filling stations). Biodiesel can work within the current distribution channel and current engine technology with little or no modification and offers a much better energy in vs. out ratio than ethanol. It is also more biodegradeable than sugar (you can actually drink the stuff, not tasty but possible).
February 28, 200818 yr Isn't the oil in Canada locked up in soil or something? I saw a documentary about it a while back. It's difficult and expensive to process. It's just now starting to be economically viable because of the the ever-increasing price of oil. Those numbers are for proven reserves. They don't include probable or possible reserves. The only thing locking them up might be the treehuggers.
February 28, 200818 yr There is no doubt that it is possible to create a hydrogen car, but at what cost (financially and potentially hazardous in an accident). Not to mention the complete overhaul to the current distribution method (completely new filling stations). Biodiesel can work within the current distribution channel and current engine technology with little or no modification and offers a much better energy in vs. out ratio than ethanol. It is also more biodegradeable than sugar (you can actually drink the stuff, not tasty but possible). I agree with you. Bio-diesel could be used to help us kick the foreign oil habit. What I like about bio-diesel is that you can make it out of anything that is organic. A whole recycling industry can be made to support it. We need some sort of short-term fix as we move towards hydrogen.
February 28, 200818 yr Those numbers are for proven reserves. They don't include probable or possible reserves. The only thing locking them up might be the treehuggers.No, it's a different kind of oil. They said they have more oil than Saudi Arabia. But it's a matter of getting to it.
February 28, 200818 yr Those numbers are for proven reserves. They don't include probable or possible reserves. The only thing locking them up might be the treehuggers.No, it looks like it does include the oil I'm referring to. It's called "oil sand." 1 Proved reserves are estimated quantities that analysis of geologic and engineering data demonstrates with reasonable certainty are recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions. 3 PennWell Corporation, Oil & Gas Journal, Vol. 104.47 (December 18, 2006). Oil includes crude oil and condensate. Data for the United States are from the Energy Information Administration, U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids Reserves, 2005 Annual Report, DOE/EIA-0216(2005) (November 2006). Oil & Gas Journal's oil reserve estimate for Canada includes 5.2 billion barrels of conventional crude oil and condensate reserves and 174.0 billion barrels of oil sands reserves. 4 Gulf Publishing Company, World Oil, Vol. 227, No.9 (September 2006), except United States. Oil includes crude oil and condensate but excludes natural gas liquids. Data for the United States are from the Energy Information Administration, U.S. Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Natural Gas Liquids Reserves, 2005 Annual Report, DOE/EIA-0216(2005)(November 2006). World Oil states that its Canadian oil reserves estimate "Includes reserves that are recoverable with current technology and under present economic conditions. Includes 7.58 billion bbl [barrels] of oil sands and bitumen."
February 28, 200818 yr BF, after further research, it appears that you are correct and as much as 95% of Canada's proven oil reserves are made up of oil sand.
February 28, 200818 yr I notice that some people are arguing with each other when they're both obviously right and it's pretty funny. I'm going to paraphrase Ian Malcolm from Michael Crichton's novel, Jurassic Park (Crichton also covers Global Warming much more directly in his novel, State of Fear): We cannot destroy this planet. We are so very egotistical to think that we can. Even if we fired off all nuclear weapons at once in a strategic fashion, there'd still be plenty of life, small bacteriums surviving on the surface as well as the diveristy in the bottom of the ocean. Life will go on. "Life finds a way". However, we are VERY capable of destroying OURSELVES. I don't know much about how much smog effects our lungs, but I can think of a time when environmental issues and carelessness on man's part destroyed a significant portion of the populations, like the bubonic plague for example. Yes, comparing plagues and global warming is comparing apples and a big bright orange, but the concept of us not taking care of our environment and keeping things clean for future generations is pretty similar, I like too think. I'm no human thermometer... the weather has seemed pretty consistently crazy in my lifetime, and if global warming is happening it's happening at an amusingly slow pace. But sitting at a bus compound is enough proof for me that confined areas and cities where lots of pollution is taking place is BAD for our health.
February 28, 200818 yr Amen to that! :ylsuper:This country does a lot to take better care of our environment and resources. This country, as HHSDad has pointed out, is not the problem. Again I say, there is NOTHING we can do to control the temperatures.
February 28, 200818 yr Again I say, there is NOTHING we can do to control the temperatures.Well...if that makes you feel better. :thumb:
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