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Forums - General Discussion - Fact check - McCain/Obama's support for offshore drilling

rocketpig on 09 October 2008
Soleron said:
The best thing for oil prices to do are go up, drastically, until research into alternative energy is not just an option but necessary. This would be more efficient solar panels as a stopgap and then nuclear fusion as a long term solution. This would be supplemented by hydrogen as a portable fuel for cars, with the energy for that coming from the two mentioned. Drilling is just prolonging the problem.

You managed to list two technologies (fusion & hydrogen) that are years away from being an effective solution and one that is not effective in several parts of the country (solar)... What do you suggest we do in the meantime?




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Words Of Wisdom on 09 October 2008
rocketpig said:
Soleron said:
The best thing for oil prices to do are go up, drastically, until research into alternative energy is not just an option but necessary. This would be more efficient solar panels as a stopgap and then nuclear fusion as a long term solution. This would be supplemented by hydrogen as a portable fuel for cars, with the energy for that coming from the two mentioned. Drilling is just prolonging the problem.

You managed to list two technologies (fusion & hydrogen) that are years away from being an effective solution and one that is not effective in several parts of the country (solar)... What do you suggest we do in the meantime?

Ride dinosaurs.

 

And develop something a bit better in the meantime.



Soleron on 09 October 2008
rocketpig said:
Soleron said:
The best thing for oil prices to do are go up, drastically, until research into alternative energy is not just an option but necessary. This would be more efficient solar panels as a stopgap and then nuclear fusion as a long term solution. This would be supplemented by hydrogen as a portable fuel for cars, with the energy for that coming from the two mentioned. Drilling is just prolonging the problem.

You managed to list two technologies (fusion & hydrogen) that are years away from being an effective solution and one that is not effective in several parts of the country (solar)... What do you suggest we do in the meantime?

 

 

Solar isn't currently effective. If we actually managed to capture the energy of every photon (of every part of the spectrum) that hits the detector, it would be plenty. It is possible, and withe enough economic incentive with very high oil prices it would be done in only a few years.



rocketpig on 09 October 2008
Soleron said:
rocketpig said:
Soleron said:
The best thing for oil prices to do are go up, drastically, until research into alternative energy is not just an option but necessary. This would be more efficient solar panels as a stopgap and then nuclear fusion as a long term solution. This would be supplemented by hydrogen as a portable fuel for cars, with the energy for that coming from the two mentioned. Drilling is just prolonging the problem.

You managed to list two technologies (fusion & hydrogen) that are years away from being an effective solution and one that is not effective in several parts of the country (solar)... What do you suggest we do in the meantime?

 

Solar isn't currently effective. If we actually managed to capture the energy of every photon (of every part of the spectrum) that hits the detector, it would be plenty. It is possible, and withe enough economic incentive with very high oil prices it would be done in only a few years.

Even under the mightiest of solar generation schemes, powering a vertical city like New York will be nearly impossible once you add in weather. That's a lot of people. Between 5-10% of the country lives in that one area.

Again, your ideas sound great in 2040 (as do many others), but what should we do now? Even if someone develops a super-solar generator tomorrow (which is far from a given no matter how much money is thrown at the problem), it will be well over ten years before it's widely implemented.

That's the problem with some of these theories... They take too long to implement and/or they rely entirely on magical technology that doesn't exist yet. Instead of hoping for a cure-all technology that hasn't been invented, why don't we try to use some of the things available to us currently (nuclear fission, domestic drilling, geothermal, solar, etc.)?




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MrBubbles on 09 October 2008

buy more of Canadas oil. there is plenty still.



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NJ5 on 09 October 2008
MrBubbles said:
buy more of Canadas oil. there is plenty still.

You mean the unconventional oil resource (oil sands)?

That's very polluting, expensive, water-intensive and energy-intensive (consuming a lot of gas to produce oil, thereby reducing gas exports).

 



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MrBubbles on 09 October 2008

its none of those



"I like my steaks how i like my women.  Bloody and all over my face"

"Its like sex, but with a winner!"

MrBubbles Review Threads: Bill Gates, Jak II, Kingdom Hearts II, The Strangers, Sly 2, Crackdown, Zohan, Quarantine, Klungo Sssavesss Teh World, MS@E3'08, WATCHMEN(movie), Shadow of the Colossus, The Saboteur

NJ5 on 09 October 2008
MrBubbles said:
its none of those

Funny that every article about the oil sands disagrees. You can start on wikipedia and go from there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_Oil_Sands

Feel free to post your proof though.

 



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957

Soleron on 09 October 2008
rocketpig said:
Soleron said:
rocketpig said:
Soleron said:
The best thing for oil prices to do are go up, drastically, until research into alternative energy is not just an option but necessary. This would be more efficient solar panels as a stopgap and then nuclear fusion as a long term solution. This would be supplemented by hydrogen as a portable fuel for cars, with the energy for that coming from the two mentioned. Drilling is just prolonging the problem.

You managed to list two technologies (fusion & hydrogen) that are years away from being an effective solution and one that is not effective in several parts of the country (solar)... What do you suggest we do in the meantime?

 

Solar isn't currently effective. If we actually managed to capture the energy of every photon (of every part of the spectrum) that hits the detector, it would be plenty. It is possible, and withe enough economic incentive with very high oil prices it would be done in only a few years.

Even under the mightiest of solar generation schemes, powering a vertical city like New York will be nearly impossible once you add in weather. That's a lot of people. Between 5-10% of the country lives in that one area.

Again, your ideas sound great in 2040 (as do many others), but what should we do now? Even if someone develops a super-solar generator tomorrow (which is far from a given no matter how much money is thrown at the problem), it will be well over ten years before it's widely implemented.

That's the problem with some of these theories... They take too long to implement and/or they rely entirely on magical technology that doesn't exist yet. Instead of hoping for a cure-all technology that hasn't been invented, why don't we try to use some of the things available to us currently (nuclear fission, domestic drilling, geothermal, solar, etc.)?

Yes... we should do those things too (assuming domestic drilling has a benefit before 2030 as the OP's article states). I just meant that the best thing in the long term for our energy/environmental crisis would be higher oil prices, not lower, because it would encourage research.

 



rocketpig on 09 October 2008

Oh, absolutely... Lower oil prices right now will only exacerbate the problem and when the real crunch finally does it, it will hurt much worse than it will if we cut back consumption, research alternatives aggressively, and begin domestic drilling now.




Or check out my new webcomic: http://selfcentent.com/