The real way to defeat terrorism

[OldJeff]

http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-04/feat...thing-into-oil/ (http://www.discover.com/issues/jul-04/features/anything-into-oil/)

Make Oil as valuable as sea water and they could not finance a rowboat across the ocean

[Rolo]

The EROI is still many times better on oil, however if politicians directed massive resources to the renewable energy sector, then the different technologies behind could take off... creating local jobs in areas, which are currently loosing jobs to 3rd world countries, making the environment cleaner, and securing economy against a trouble world.

I wonder why politicians are stalling - if this was a weapon race or a race to the moon, then they would not wait for some private enterprise to build the first nuke or spaceship... :blink:

[RawAlex]

Most of the time, the "renewable energy" people forget to mention how much energy was required to make their product.

Gasahol is one of the better ones. Turning corn into fuel sounds like such a good idea. Problem is, the end resulting fuel has less BTUs of energy in it than it takes to make.

Electric cars are the same. Where do you think that electricity comes from? Unless you are in one of the few places in the US served by hydro electric power (a true renewable resource, because mother nature does the renewing) you are burning some kind of fossil fuel (or worse nuke power) to make the electricity to power the car. Worse, you are sending that power from the plant to the car over really long wires, which creates even more loss.

I am still waiting to see a green system - and nobody has done it yet.

Alex

[Rolo]

The table shows that in nine months, a V80-2.0 MW offshore wind turbine has generated just as much electricity as is used on the turbine throughout its life cycle – from the extraction of the raw materials to final disposal.
http://www.vestas.com/miljoe_ny/uk/vindmoe...ibalance_uk.htm (http://www.vestas.com/miljoe_ny/uk/vindmoeller_uk/energibalance_uk.htm)

I would say 9 months is a pretty good EROI, when the average wind turbine has a lifetime of 20+ years - thats 19 years and 3 months of FREE energy.

The technology is there - true it needs to get better, but that will only come with a demand, and politicians could create the demand.

[Sharpie]

Too many politicians are highly vested in oil, it is not in their best interest to push for alternatives.