Oil & Fuel Dire fuel predictions

DaveNay · May 17, 2004

In my opinion there is only one long term solution.

Long term....not short term. There still plenty of problems to be solved.

Dave

texbaylea · May 17, 2004

Dave
I agree wholeheartedly! I am a biophysicist retired from NASA so I understand the biological processes as well as the physical. If we did not have all the econuts sounding out about something they do not have the smarts to understand, we might have a sustainable economy in nuclear/hydrogen power. I know of some gas fired electric generating plants that put out substantially more radioactive gasses the nuclear power plants.

The econuts and Hollywood grade D moves have planted the idea of weird mutations and mushroom clouds.

jpm · May 17, 2004

Biodiesel is starting to look good now the price is very close

DaveNay · May 17, 2004

( Biodiesel is starting to look good now the price is very close )

True! I saw a show on PBS recently that had some absolutely staggering statistics regarding the amount of corn produced in the United States. I'm not going to try to quote a production number, but it was literaly jaw dropping. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Dave

California · May 18, 2004

( they do not have the smarts to understand )

I was one of many, a majority, who voted to close Rancho Seco nuclear plant, the only one shut down by a vote of its customers so far as I know.

The last straw for this econut was when it was revealed that radioactivity leaving the premises via a small seasonal creek was about 20 times larger than publically stated. The biophysicists responsible for monitoring runoff were cynically reporting their one-hour observation as the 24 hour quantity because what they saw in an hour nearly exceeded the 24 hour federal standard.

My concern was partly biology but more important, a lack of belief overall that anyone there knew what they were doing. While another 3 Mile Island was unlikely, that was caused by ignorant operators and Rancho Seco seemed to be full of them.

The ongoing controversy that led to the referendum was Rancho Seco's poor uptime. I don't think it ever ran during peak demand season. It had overhaul after overhaul without solving some fundamental reliability flaws. Nuclear-powered electricity, including the waste disposal costs that continue today years after the shutdown, cost far more than other sources.

At the time it felt like riding the Titantic all the way down - there was no good news in sight, just more plans to spend far more money before it could meet licensing standards and get back on line. No one was optomistic it would run very long this time before some new unexpected failure like it always did.

I don't think it was the ratepayers who lacked smarts, rather the nuclear energy engineers who sold this turkey to us revealed themselves to be incompetent fools.

Not in my back yard, thanks.

kensfarm · May 18, 2004

Has anyone seen what Changing World Technology is doing...

http://www.changingworldtech.com/techfr.htm

"CONVERTING TURKEY OFFAL INTO BIO-DERIVED HYDROCARBON OIL WITH THE CWT THERMAL PROCESS"

"The CWT Thermal Process (CWT-TP) converts organic materials into clean fuels, fertilizers,
and specialty chemicals. Waste, by-products, or low-grade organic material go into the CWT-TP
process and three or more separate streams come out: a clean fuel-gas, light organic liquid, and
solid products that can be used as fuel, fertilizer, or adsorbent carbon."

KiotiJohn · May 19, 2004

I saw the CEO and Chairman of Exxon Mobile on television last week. He stated that there is no real justification for the prices being so high. He also stated that his company could get all the oil they might desire, billions and billons of barrels. As to supply and demand, he stated that the current pricing is not justified under that theory. When asked why the prices are so high then, he stated, "I don't know." John

fivestring · May 19, 2004

"So really the tax money is just going to the state to fund who knows what and the education budget still stays the same. I was pretty shocked when I found this out." 

You are kidding about not knowing, right???

Here in NC:
Court costs from citations goes to the school systems.
Proceeds from police auctions goes to the school systems.
Proceeds from seized and auctioned vehicles goes to the .... you guessed it.

I guess this is why NC doesn't have a lottery yet. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
They can't justify more money going into a mediocre system. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

varmint · May 21, 2004

Some additional rants on fuel costs: has anyone considered the fact that China is starting to consume a larger percentage of the worlds oil? Since it's a limited commodity, you can expect the price to be going up (and up). I don't know just how much, but I can report that I've read that China consumed about 30% or all the raw steel produced last year, and appears to be headed close to 40% for this year. No wonder that structural steel costs about $1.40 a pound now- it was 50 cents not that long ago. As for bio-fuels, you have to remember that it takes a lot of fertilizer and fuel to make corn, and a lot of federal subsidies are paid to producers... so the net output isn't so good. Maybe if we started using less per person we'd have less to complain about. Anyway, when I think that gas was 25 cents a gallon, I was earning about $1 and hour. Lets see.... one hour=four gallons. About the same today, for entry level jobs?