Worldwide demand for petroleum is increasing. Crude oil prices have topped $135 per barrel. Oil prices have been on a steady climb for a long time. Dwindling OPEC oil reserves and a weak dollar are driving petroleum prices to new heights.

The US government has made no serious efforts to develop effective countermeasures. Instead, energy conservation, ethanol production from corn, and a failing "Cap and Trade" permit system are hyped by politicians.

Exploding grain prices have exposed the ethanol hoax and made poor people across the world scramble for food. Coal and oil sands are used to produce petroleum substitutes and increase greenhouse gas emissions. The "Cap and Trade" concept was tried in Europe. The concept is deeply flawed. It does not provide lasting relief. It merely delays the day of reckoning for a few years.

Electricity and liquid transportation fuels are the lifeblood of our economies. Economic growth is impossible without plentiful, affordable, and secure energy supplies. Economies will collapse when supplies of petroleum begin to shrink, when global warming keeps causing damages, and when energy prices continue skyrocketing. Will our grandkids witness such disasters?

We are facing a problem that is too large to be solved by industrial entities. The financial risks of introducing new technologies are too large. Government agencies and industry cooperatives must find technical solutions to our problems, must install a few of any new energy producing installations, and must make the advanced technologies economically competitive.

Are there any solutions that can be developed before petroleum is depleted and before global warming exceeds the 3 to 4 degree Celsius global warming threshold?

The world community must solve these two threatening disasters very quickly. Petroleum reserves will last only a few more decades considering the accelerating, worldwide demand. Greenhouse gases from coal and petroleum combustion will continue to accumulate in our air at ever faster rates and will accelerate global warming and ice melting. Any of these disasters may strike within less than five decades.

Increased use of nuclear power can generate large amounts of electricity and can replace the use of coal. Increased use of solar power, hydropower, wind power, marine power, and geothermal heat can provide additional electricity.

Surprisingly, only one single concept seems to have the potential to produce sufficient amounts of liquid transportation fuels. This concept is the conversion of biomass into liquid petroleum substitutes.

The concept of biomass conversion has just suffered a major public relations debacle. The ill conceived process of converting corn by fermentation into ethanol has led to a temporary tripling of US corn prices. This huge increase caused the destabilization of worldwide food prices. This effect was entirely predictable. Nevertheless, this concept was considered worthy to receive large governmental subsidies.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next