Alternative fuels

Seriously if you know of one that is cheaper than oil, and is available for mass consumption I will gladly join the ranks of stop drilling.

I guess you haven't realized that oil is the most expensive fuel in terms of power generation at power plants. That is why the US only has 1% of its power generation infrastructure still running on oil. If you don't believe me go to the energy departments website and see for yourself.

Almost every other major source of energy is cheaper.

Because production is barely meeting demand and production is forecast to peak and start dropping. When demand equals production the global economy will not grow. Prices for goods that are transported like FOOD and clothing will skyrocket and economies will contract. And they will contract very severely. Oil is used for transportation because it is convenient and it requires an infrastructure for refueling. The longer you sit on your ass and preach something that is not true by any stretch of the imagination the longer others will sit on their ass not realizing there is a problem just around the corner.

Airplanes don't use wind, solar, and or water for obvious reasons. But the longer we delay changing the fuel sources of ground transportation the higher the price will be for air and water transportation and the more you will pay for goods that are transported this way. Do you want to wait until you can longer afford to put yourself on a plane and travel somewhere, or wait even longer until your grocery bill is so expensive that you cannot afford anything other than eating and riding a bicycle to work.....If you are lucky enough to still have a job.

If you don't think the energy costs of a  hybrid or electric car are cheaper than a gas guzzler than maybe you should ask someone who owns one.

We are drilling our asses off and are still having problems meeting demand. Do you not know about the drilling in North Dakota? It is expected to surpass Alaskan oil production. You can whine all you want about political issues like ANWR (And trust me ANWR is all about politics) but there is no plan to build another oil pipeline up there so it doesn't significantly increase production out of Alaska.

I still ask what is cheaper, name one that will replace oil.

politics keeps us from getting the oil we need and just for the record, The USA has about 200 years worth of oil reserves, we are not going to run out any time soon.

Grocery bills are high because we have that crappy corn based fuel additive mandated by the government. Just that alone caused the troubles this summer in the Middle East. Since I work for homeland security air travel is not my favorite mode of travel. You still have not offered a substitute for oil. 60 years ago we produced a car that runs on coal, coal oil, crude oil, gas, wood, paper or anything else that will burn. You can still buy one for about 3 grand but its not a big seller. What is there than will replace oil? Hybrid cars burn coal for the most part and are very expensive to run. Most homes are powered by coal fired power plants; you hook up your hybrid to your house to charge it and you are burning coal. The expense of having your house wired to charge your hybrid is about 6 grand, your power bill will go up but you buy less gas wow! When you get into the nuts and bolts of building a hybrid you will find that you pollute more than with a gas powered car. Every time the price of oil goes up, the price of food goes up. drilling for more oil will bring the price of everything down.

Its mandated to ease demand in the gasoline market. If we weren't mixing it in we would need all that much more gasoline and the price would rise significantly.

Wow. I can't even imagine how somebody comes to that conclusion.

44% of the power infrastructure is currently coal. So even if a hybrid was being used in such a way that the fuel cells were providing all the fuel than it would still only be 44% on average. Depends on the local power generation source where you charge up. Same goes for homes.

Unfortunately we have more than a pollution problem. We have a market problem. World supply vs. demand cannot currently provide for adequate global economic growth.

Unfortunately we cannot drill fast enough (no matter how hard we tried) to keep up with demand if we want anything other than recessions (which become depressions), We have known that for over 40 years. Which part of "drilling alone will not solve the problem" do you not understand?

If we weren’t mixing it the cost of corn would be lower and corn is in everything so the price of food goes down. If the cost of food goes down then most prices go down.

When the price of corn went up it went up all over the world because we are a major producer of corn. The riots in Egypt, remember the Arab spring crap? That was started because the price of food went up. So wasting food products by putting it in your gas tank saves you a few cents has resulted in deaths, lots of deaths. Have you read a news paper, or listened to the news on the radio, or television? Did you not bother to find out why the riots started and how they affect you because now we are in danger of another war?

This is partially true. The world refining capacity is the choke point not the availability of crude oil. The United States refines oil for a host of nations including Saudi Arabia. There is plenty of oil but few refineries.

IF!!!!??? Electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles have to be charged. The hybrids charge while burning gas or plug into the house. if you plug into a house you are either burning oil of some form, coal, or nuclear power, in rare instances wind and or solar power.

Drilling is not the problem, there is plenty of oil, we just can’t get to it. Then you have to refine the oil and we are already at 110% capacity but we can’t build new refineries for the same reason we don’t have nuclear power plants. It takes 30 years to get approvals to start to build. To reduce the pressure on the refineries we could only make two grades of gas that are used nationwide instead of 40 different types of regular midrange, and premium.

I can buy corn today for about 12 cents a bushel in the commodities market. It's cheap....really cheap. Unfortunately it is not as cheap in the grocery store because there are middlemen. Some of those middlemen transport the corn to your local market fueling their fleet of trucks with diesel and to a lesser extent natural gas. And the tug and barge units on the waterways use mostly diesel as well.

Look above for the accurate answer. Take the above answer and then add in the price of the bunker fuel a ship uses to transport grain overseas. As far as wheat Russia had a drought. Did you miss that one?

There is actually adequate refining capability. Much of our refinery capability is actually dormant. It is a big issue though because it has to do with a balance between clean air and water standards vs. localizing capacity for economic reasons. If you want them in your backyard go for it. Your risk of cancer and leukemia will rise drastically though so be prepared. When your blood chemistry starts to be pre-leukemic don't blame me when they find a reason to get rid of you and you end up with medical bills, no health insurance, and want to feed your family. this is mostly a not in my backyard issue. And I choose to put in your backyard.

Like I said 44% of the US power generating capacity is coal which is the only fuel dirtier than oil. So you do the math. Hint: Since 1% is oil the others that are cleaner add up to 55%. Then add in how much more efficient electric motors are over the combustion engine.

Really? Since when can you exceed total capacity? Here is an excerpt and link from an oil and gas journal from two days ago.

HOUSTON, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Major refining capacity expansion projects scheduled for completion within three-to-five years, totaling 9 million barrels per day, will add to the global refining distillation capacity surplus, according to a new report by Hart Energy.  This growth will occur despite recession-related drops in demand for finished fuels and closure of some existing capacity.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-hart-energy-study-world-refinery-capacity-to-grow-despite-recession-135166918.html

That is correct. Which is why the problem is called peak oil production not supply. If current technology cannot get it out of the ground safely,fast enough or at all should we twiddle our thumbs while the economy collapses or start to find alternatives? We are fortunate that we started to find and use power plant alternatives 40 years ago and now it is time again. We are also lucky that technology advanced enough to support the transportation sector this long. At some point luck runs dry and the facts take over. You can learn from history or ignore it. You can choose to be entertained by FOX or informed by Bloomberg. Nobody is stopping you from free choice except yourself.

There isn't any single alternative that will replace it. We will use several different options in varying amounts to make up for shortages as demand outpaces supply. And that will further change over time. Otherwise we will keep killing each other to decrease demand.  Your "either or" mentality is a serious handicap.

Much of what you see in the media are the various energy sectors fighting for your hard earned dollars. The oil companies want more of it so they make you think they are the way forward even though their own industries data supports something very different. Then they head to K street to lobby for their subsidies to get your tax dollars as well. The coal companies,agribusiness, GE, NatGas cos., etc are all doing much of the same. The truth is every energy sector is currently being subsidized whether it be through research grants, direct subsidy, corporate tax credits, or consumer tax credits. They are all fighting for a bigger piece of the pie and will tell you anything to get it. Your best bet is to look at the same data each industries own experts use because it is often very different from what their advertisers and paid-for politicians are telling you.