Gasoline prices up; more imported oil from volatile countries around the world; more greenhouse gases contributing to global warming; another oil spill somewhere; and the news keeps getting worse, or so it seems. You have to wonder how it ever came to this. Are we simply greedy Americans who use too much energy for ourselves and we should all switch to energy saver bulbs and windmills? Are the oil companies ripping us off because they can, or is it the fault of the auto makers that we use so much gasoline? Is the growing global economy headed by China and India driving up the price of oil and polluting the air? Everyone seems to have a theory about the cause of our energy crisis, and to one degree or another, all of the above factors are playing a part. So, you might be asking at this point, what can our nation do to fix the this problem?
I will show you how we got here and what we can do to get out of this mess, but first we need some facts! So here's a quick-look breakdown of the main points about energy use in our nation today.
1. America uses 20 million barrels per day of oil, and we import 11 million of those barrels, about 65%
2. About 55% (round numbers) of those imports come from: Saudi Arabia - 13 % Canada - 18 % Mexico - 12 % Venezuela - 10%
3. Our total energy use can be broken down as follows: Oil - 42% Coal - 24% Natural Gas - 20% Nuclear - 8% Other - 8%
4. Gasoline prices today are actually lower in an inflation adjusted look back to 1981, when the comparative price would've been $3.11 gal.
5. Total taxes on gasoline is about 50 cents per gallon
6. In 1973 the OPEC nations instituted an oil embargo. The price of oil at that time was under $5 bbl. By 1981 the price was $35 bbl. We
are all aware of the prices today which have been vacilating between $60 and $90 bbl.
7. Nearly 80% of our electricity is produced from plants using coal.
(You can find this information on the internet. I found this source, gravmag.com compiled by Gibson Consulting, no link available)
The first thing you need to be aware of as you look at the numbers above is that we are, as the President said in his State of the Union address, addicted to oil. We flat out use a lot of the stuff, and import more than half of our need. That is a big problem, even though those sources are fairly reliable (with the exception of our newest American hater Hugo Chavez of Venezuela). We use a tremendous amount of gasoline and home heating oil, and we cannot readily substitute something else.
Secondly, the President's proposal to increase the use of bio-fuels such as ethanol to replace gasoline is not going to get it done. Ethanol is actually less efficient than gasoline, and its transportation and storage requirements are costly. Although we can add that into the mix of efforts, we will need to produce bio-fuels from plant mass other than corn. The extensive use of corn will drive up food prices in all sorts of ways. Remember too, that plant mass from whatever source is also a carbon based fuel and will not contribute as much to air quality as we might think. The production and distribution of such products require an increased investment by the oil companies that will take time to put into place and not really solve the problem. Nonetheless, the developement of flex-fuel and hybrid vehicles is a good idea.
Thirdly, other alternative energy sources are limited in overall value. Solar energy is promising to a certain degree, as is wind energy, but here is a classic case of NIMBYism. Recently, a proposal was put forth to set up windmills 100 miles off the shore of Nantucket Island. The Kennedy family quickly put the brakes on that idea. The rich elites who inhabit these lovely places didn' want their view potentially spoiled by seeing windmills 100 miles away. Of course, they said their opposition was because they wanted to protect the seagulls who might accidentally fly into the blades. However, windmills are used in some places and do produce electricity. We already use hydro-power in places where it is feasible. Overall, even with the combination of alternative energy sources, personal conservation efforts, recycling, etc., there is still a long way to go to energy independence.
At this point you might be wondering how we are going to get out of this mess. In order to understand that, you need to know how we got here. Once again, as you will see, it is our politicians who failed us, although this time I can't say it was entirely due to partisanship. Both parties bear responsiblity for this fiasco, but I can certainly say that had we a choice other than the Democrats or Republicans, we could have had a chance to stop the problem before it became a crisis!
Of the points I mentioned above, it is time we looked at points 3 & 6. A careful observation demonstrates two important facts. One, that we were amply warned in the 1970's by the OPEC oil embargo that we were susceptible to the whims of foreign powers as to the price we would pay for oil. This dependence upon others not only had an affect on gasoline, heating oil, and electricity prices, but it also put us into a position of having to placate dictators inorder to ensure cheap oil. This became a huge factor in our international diplomacy and we can only guess at how it may have contributed to the rise of Islamic terrorism which began with the 1979 Iranian hostage taking. So, the main point here is, we are in an energy crisis because our politicians failed to take action when it was most advantageous. The question now is, what should we have done, and what can we now do, to get out of the hole in which we find ourselves?
It is my belief that at the time of the OPEC embargo, our leaders did just the opposite of what they should have done; and what they should have done then is what we should do now. There are two things we should do. First, we need to re-invigorate our nuclear power industry. Nuclear energy is pollution free and safe, safer even than it was 30 years ago. Today our Navy operates nuclear powered ships and there are no cases of anyone being in danger from those power plants. Although there was one potential problem with the 3 Mile Island plant, it was handled and there were no deaths or injuries. The only nuclear power plant failure in the world occurred at Chernobyl, an acknowledged failure on the part of Russian design and maintenance protocols. Today, the entire country of France generates all its electricity from nuclear energy, even exporting electricity to Germany and London. Numerous nuclear power plants operate safely in France, a country the size of Texas (how's that for coincidence?). We have for too long hobbled the nuclear power industry with absurd regulations. Our technical knowledge and ability are more than sufficient to handle the challenges. New technology is being created that will virtually eliminate the potential for meltdown, and other technologies are becoming available to enable us to re-use spent nuclear material.
Secondly, we need to step up our own production of oil. Our continental shelf contains huge supplies of oil that we could and should be pumping. It is one of the best ways to get more oil production on-line that is not dependent upon any foreign sources. The technology to do this safely and cleanly exists. We have done so in various parts of the gulf without any major problems. We should also relax prohibitions on the ANWAR reserves in Alaska. Studies done on the existing Alaskan pipelines have demonstarted that the ecological damages anticipated never occurred. In fact, there have even been benefits to various wildlife in Alaska as the pipeline has become a source of heat for some species.
In conjunction with additional drilling for new supplies, we need to build more refineries. The shortage of gasoline and greater imports of it are due primarily to overly restrictive environmental regulations that have discouraged the oil companies from building more refineries. They certainly have enough money to do so, and they can do it safely and in an environmentally friendly way. We have a great technological base in America that can allow us to do more and we should make use of it. The nation cannot afford to be dependent upon the volatile world oil supply. Any severe disruption will cause all kinds of problems, not just economic, and not just here in America!
Many of our current senators and congressman have been in power since those embargo days of the seventies. What have they done in all that time to secure our energy independence? Absolutely nothing! These "do nothing, let's get re-elected" fools have been in charge much too long. It is time for us to change the power structure in congress and this upcoming presidential election is the place to start!
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