Solar, wind and even nuclear all suffer from the fact that they rely heavily on fossil fuels for their production and operation. In other words, if all we had was electricity it would be difficult to extract and process the raw materials, build the required machines and clean up when finished. Cars, trucks, machinery and materials needed to build and operate alternative fuel technologies require fossil fuels and oil stocks.
this is only valid in an oil based society. All what you mention here could rather easily use energy derived from alternative energy sources.
to the best of my knowledge, bio diesel is the only plant based oil that is really a positive energy/cost effective way to "grow" energy per se.
basically it doesn't have the refinement requirements that other plant based fuels do, so it works out ok.
the real problem is that the soybeans are worth more money as other products rather than as fuel.
From what I read, hemp was more efficient than soybeans, but this was 15 years ago so processing might have advanced. I can google, but if someone has any good sources please share.
I read about a new type of solar power technology using some new processing that enables you to literally PRINT solar panels out of a (more or less) run of the mill printing press.
Not only is this process way way way cheaper, but it's way more efficient than conventional solar power.
Ali Bakhtiari, head of strategic planning at the Iranian National Oil Company (NIOC): "Cheap oil is dead. You are never going to see oil priced at $25 a barrel again. These high prices, yes, they are exacerbated by Yukos, Iraq and so on, but more importantly they are a sign that we have major structural problems with supply.
"They are a sign that there is now no spare capacity for the fluctuations of the markets."
Then we can add some other major determinants. That the North Sea oilfields, long a cash cow for the British and Norwegian governments, have peaked and are declining at a faster rate than analysts expected.
Then factor in the millions of "lost" barrels of oil that were misrepresented by Royal Dutch Shell, to the tune of 23% of their total reserves. Mix up the fact that no major oilfields were discovered in the last 18 months, despite increased technological innovation.
And round it all off with the OPEC statement that producer countries have "no more supply" according to spokesman, Indonesian oil minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro. This just weeks after OPEC assured markets production was "no problem".
China:
Quote:
As an example, in the same year as China's consumption rose by a crushing 26% its main oilfield, Daqing, started to decline.
The Chinese state, not known for releasing accurate figures on anything, said the decline would be abour 7% a year. It may well be faster.
As Daqing produced about 50% of China's total oil needs, one does not need to be a mathematician to see the problem. China will need to import large quantities of oil to satisfy its astronomical growth in consumption - growth which shows little sign of slowing.
OPEC member importing oil:
Quote:
Indonesia became the first OPEC country to admit, in June, that it had become a net importer...
Saudi Arabia:
Quote:
Then there is the Saudi Arabian angle. Another major oil figure, the recently retired executive vice president of Saudi Aramco, Sadad al-Husayni, has frightened the markets with recent articles in Oil & Gas Journal.
In them he cites "proven developed reserves" of Saudi Arabia at only "130bn barrels", half of what Saudi Arabia normally claims to have underground.
A lack of transparency over reserve figures, many of which are thought to be groundless, has further undermined confidence in oil producers to match demand.
Add to this that Russia's oil minister has claimed that Russian output will fall in 2005...
Comments
Originally posted by neutrino23
Solar, wind and even nuclear all suffer from the fact that they rely heavily on fossil fuels for their production and operation. In other words, if all we had was electricity it would be difficult to extract and process the raw materials, build the required machines and clean up when finished. Cars, trucks, machinery and materials needed to build and operate alternative fuel technologies require fossil fuels and oil stocks.
this is only valid in an oil based society. All what you mention here could rather easily use energy derived from alternative energy sources.
basically it doesn't have the refinement requirements that other plant based fuels do, so it works out ok.
the real problem is that the soybeans are worth more money as other products rather than as fuel.
Originally posted by alcimedes
to the best of my knowledge, bio diesel is the only plant based oil that is really a positive energy/cost effective way to "grow" energy per se.
basically it doesn't have the refinement requirements that other plant based fuels do, so it works out ok.
the real problem is that the soybeans are worth more money as other products rather than as fuel.
From what I read, hemp was more efficient than soybeans, but this was 15 years ago so processing might have advanced. I can google, but if someone has any good sources please share.
Not only is this process way way way cheaper, but it's way more efficient than conventional solar power.
Ali Bakhtiari, head of strategic planning at the Iranian National Oil Company (NIOC): "Cheap oil is dead. You are never going to see oil priced at $25 a barrel again. These high prices, yes, they are exacerbated by Yukos, Iraq and so on, but more importantly they are a sign that we have major structural problems with supply.
"They are a sign that there is now no spare capacity for the fluctuations of the markets."
Then we can add some other major determinants. That the North Sea oilfields, long a cash cow for the British and Norwegian governments, have peaked and are declining at a faster rate than analysts expected.
Then factor in the millions of "lost" barrels of oil that were misrepresented by Royal Dutch Shell, to the tune of 23% of their total reserves. Mix up the fact that no major oilfields were discovered in the last 18 months, despite increased technological innovation.
And round it all off with the OPEC statement that producer countries have "no more supply" according to spokesman, Indonesian oil minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro. This just weeks after OPEC assured markets production was "no problem".
China:
As an example, in the same year as China's consumption rose by a crushing 26% its main oilfield, Daqing, started to decline.
The Chinese state, not known for releasing accurate figures on anything, said the decline would be abour 7% a year. It may well be faster.
As Daqing produced about 50% of China's total oil needs, one does not need to be a mathematician to see the problem. China will need to import large quantities of oil to satisfy its astronomical growth in consumption - growth which shows little sign of slowing.
OPEC member importing oil:
Indonesia became the first OPEC country to admit, in June, that it had become a net importer...
Saudi Arabia:
Then there is the Saudi Arabian angle. Another major oil figure, the recently retired executive vice president of Saudi Aramco, Sadad al-Husayni, has frightened the markets with recent articles in Oil & Gas Journal.
In them he cites "proven developed reserves" of Saudi Arabia at only "130bn barrels", half of what Saudi Arabia normally claims to have underground.
A lack of transparency over reserve figures, many of which are thought to be groundless, has further undermined confidence in oil producers to match demand.
Add to this that Russia's oil minister has claimed that Russian output will fall in 2005...