Good News about Oil

It is way too late but better then never. That is the way I saw it when I read the following article. We need to do so much more.

New Drilling Method Opens Vast U.S. Oil Fields
Published February 10, 2011


A new drilling technique is opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States, helping reverse a two-decade decline in domestic production of crude.
Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California. By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day -- more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now.
This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.
"That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse.
Oil engineers are applying what critics say is an environmentally questionable method developed in recent years to tap natural gas trapped in underground shale. They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up.

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Because oil molecules are sticky and larger than gas molecules, engineers thought the process wouldn't work to squeeze oil out fast enough to make it economical. But drillers learned how to increase the number of cracks in the rock and use different chemicals to free up oil at low cost. "We've completely transformed the natural gas industry, and I wouldn't be surprised if we transform the oil business in the next few years too," says Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, which is using the technique.
Petroleum engineers first used the method in 2007 to unlock oil from a 25,000-square-mile formation under North Dakota and Montana known as the Bakken. Production there rose 50 percent in just the past year, to 458,000 barrels a day, according to Bentek Energy, an energy analysis firm.
It was first thought that the Bakken was unique. Then drillers tapped oil in a shale formation under South Texas called the Eagle Ford. Drilling permits in the region grew 11-fold last year.
Now newer fields are showing promise, including the Niobrara, which stretches under Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas; the Leonard, in New Mexico and Texas; and the Monterey, in California.
"It's only been fleshed out over the last 12 months just how consequential this can be," says Mark Papa, chief executive of EOG Resources, the company that first used horizontal drilling to tap shale oil. "And there will be several additional plays that will come about in the next 12 to 18 months. We're not done yet."
Environmentalists fear that fluids or wastewater from the process, called hydraulic fracturing, could pollute drinking water supplies. The Environmental Protection Agency is now studying its safety in shale drilling. The agency studied use of the process in shallower drilling operations in 2004 and found that it was safe.
In the Bakken formation, production is rising so fast there is no space in pipelines to bring the oil to market. Instead, it is being transported to refineries by rail and truck. Drilling companies have had to erect camps to house workers.
Unemployment in North Dakota has fallen to the lowest level in the nation, 3.8 percent -- less than half the national rate of 9 percent. The influx of mostly male workers to the region has left local men lamenting a lack of women. Convenience stores are struggling to keep shelves stocked with food.
The Bakken and the Eagle Ford are each expected to ultimately produce 4 billion barrels of oil. That would make them the fifth- and sixth-biggest oil fields ever discovered in the United States. The top four are Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, Spraberry Trend in West Texas, the East Texas Oilfield and the Kuparuk Field in Alaska.
The fields are attracting billions of dollars of investment from foreign oil giants like Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Norway's Statoil, and also from the smaller U.S. drillers who developed the new techniques like Chesapeake, EOG Resources and Occidental Petroleum.
Last month China's state-owned oil company CNOOC agreed to pay Chesapeake $570 million for a one-third stake in a drilling project in the Niobrara. This followed a $1 billion deal in October between the two companies on a project in the Eagle Ford.
With oil prices high and natural-gas prices low, profit margins from producing oil from shale are much higher than for gas. Also, drilling for shale oil is not dependent on high oil prices. Papa says this oil is cheaper to tap than the oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or in Canada's oil sands.
The country's shale oil resources aren't nearly as big as the country's shale gas resources. Drillers have unlocked decades' worth of natural gas, an abundance of supply that may keep prices low for years. U.S. shale oil on the other hand will only supply one to two percent of world consumption by 2015, not nearly enough to affect prices.
Still, a surge in production last year from the Bakken helped U.S. oil production grow for the second year in a row, after 23 years of decline. This during a year when drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation's biggest oil-producing region, was halted after the BP oil spill.
U.S. oil production climbed steadily through most of the last century and reached a peak of 9.6 million barrels per day in 1970. The decline since was slowed by new production in Alaska in the 1980s and in the Gulf of Mexico more recently. But by 2008, production had fallen to 5 million barrels per day.
Within five years, analysts and executives predict, the newly unlocked fields are expected to produce 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil per day, enough to boost U.S. production 20 percent to 40 percent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates production will grow a more modest 500,000 barrels per day.
By 2020, oil imports could be slashed by as much as 60 percent, according to Credit Suisse's Morse, who is counting on Gulf oil production to rise and on U.S. gasoline demand to fall.
At today's oil prices of roughly $90 per barrel, slashing imports that much would save the U.S. $175 billion a year. Last year, when oil averaged $78 per barrel, the U.S. sent $260 billion overseas for crude, accounting for nearly half the country's $500 billion trade deficit.
"We have redefined how to look for oil and gas," says Rehan Rashid, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "The implications are major for the nation."


Read more

Blown Away by Noise

The drive for clean and green energy has led to the construction of thousands of windmills all over the US. As I travel around I have passed windmill parts on the freeway. Passing one of the blades is a pretty incredible site.

Piece by piece, we see these giant structures hauled to some distant place. A couple of years ago, one of the generators rolled off a truck in an under pass. It took weeks for them to figure out how to pick it up and move it out. These things are big.

There has been a huge push all over the world to put these babies up and get the power flowing. And in classic liberal excitement and fashion, they forgot to fully test the idea. Just like the Compact Florescent Light bulb (CFL) was going to save the world, and now we realize far to late, that they may cause more environmental harm them the incandescent they replaced.

The windmills are doing their share of damage with noise pollution. They make this choppy noise that drives people crazy. Some scientists have even suggested that the waves coming off them may cause physical harm over the long haul. Then there is the many disasters where these things simply blow up from too great a rotation. Some have suggested that the tips break the sound barrier and unbalance and destroy the whole structure.

To combat the noise citizens have turned to the courts. In at least one case the turbines have been ordered off between 10pm and 7am. This greatly cuts into the output time of the turbines and increases there cost.

With all the potential harm that results from these huge structures, they are still building them at a record pace. Why are we so focused on such an archaic system when cheaper quieter and more efficient systems are readily available? In June of 2008, I pointed to the future of wind energy with Meglev generators. Here we are over two years later and every one pushing for greener and better and we are still stuck in the past. If we want real progress why aren't we promoting designs like this?

We are already working on overturning the CFL laws. The government has been proven to be poor pickers in the business winner and loser categories. In the case of CFLs, Americans are loosing jobs and increasing pollution with this once considered green product. The Chinese couldn't be happier with our new laws.

Cap and Tax - Here We Go

Back room deals and kickbacks are the standard operating proceedure of those in power. They will do anything to short change the American people and push their agenda.

In an effort to keep the bill in Reid's hands, the sponsors -- Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) won't officially introduce the bill in the Senate when they unveil it to the public next week.

"If we introduce it, it'll get referred to committees," Lieberman said. "We want him to be able to work with it and bring it out onto the floor as a leader whenever he's ready."

Once again transparency is tossed on the ash heap. We, the American people, will be short changed, robbed and beaten to satisfy the progressive and their march to socialism. If the possibility of recovery from this recession is ever going to happen then this is the last thing we should be doing.

Already, some senators also are raising red flags about the committee process, which they warn may be circumvented if the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman proposal moves directly into Reid’s office.

“These bills need to go through committee,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). “If you’re talking about making major deals on energy policy, it needs to go through the Energy Committee. If you’re making major deals on tax policy, it needs to go through the Finance Committee. I mean, if you want to get it done.”

Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), a possible swing vote, said he would prefer the committee process remain intact for the energy and climate bill — rather than shifting the debate into Reid’s office. “This concept of going through the leader’s office is a new concept in the legislative flow chart,” Gregg said.

Speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) repeated his call to move to floor debate on S. 1462, the “energy only” approach “There are not a lot of weeks left in this legislative session, and my fervent hope is, I would say to those who have been working on climate change and blocking our ability to bring an energy bill to the floor of the Senate, I hope perhaps we could find a way to work together to bring the energy bill to the floor,” Dorgan said. “That’s the way the Senate works. The Senate works by running things through a committee.”

Both sides of the isle are already reeling form Obamacare. The last thing they want is to do energy legislation wrong going into an election period. By wrong, they mean anything like the shady practices the health legislation used.

Reid needs this done and he needs it fast. Why? It is looking like he wont be around after the first of the year, due to a real challenger holding him down in the polls. Reid needs time and energy for the fight of his political life. He also is pushing a bill that is dead against what his constituency wants in Nevada. He needs this measure done and out of sight before the heart of the election campaign swings into full gear.

Well folks another bad bill is coming hard and fast. Maybe some of the Democrats have learned their lesson and will stand fast in hopes of redemption. Perhaps they all know the end is near and they will push it through. Once again we need to write our representatives and push them to make the correct decision.

Links to Quotes

Notice: Language Change Coming

If you can't get your ideas past the public, change their name. That's right find a name with no baggage and start building it up. Give it a feeling of improvement and significance. Use words that already have a positive perception. If people have a positive reaction you can move ideas and legislation forward.

How do you feel about "pollution reduction and investment"? Pretty flowery and very positive is the first reaction you may get. I mean who wouldn't want to reduce pollution? And, who wouldn't see the value in investing at a time like this to help move our economy forward? Sounds nice doesn't it?

This is the new name that will be replacing cap and trade. Cap and trade has taken such a beating that it currently needs a new name. They don't think it needs to be tossed or is not what Americans want. They instead think it needs a name lift. The bill and the ideas in it are still horrible but the new name sounds great doesn't it, Pollution Reduction and Investment.

Article of interest.

When Will It Happen?

Time after time we are told we have all the oil we need right here. If the Global Warming crowd want to reduce global emissions, encourage America to drill and produce their own oil products. What?

That's right. We are paying to move oil from one side of the planet to another. Tankers burn tons of fuel and risk huge environmental catastrophes every day. We do all the refining at coastal refineries, once again enhancing the risk and environmental hazards. Pushing the heat for the process into a fixed area, instead of spreading it out minimizing the heat exposure. Putting refineries all over the country minimizes the need to transport fuel and other oil based products reducing emissions. The crude we have in the US is a sweet grade being easier and cheaper to refine. Once again accomplishing the goal of reduced emissions and reduced global warming.

Why aren't they lobbying the government right now?

Here is a study that is two years old and I am still waiting for congress to put this in motion instead of using Cap and Trade.

3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate—
Released: 4/10/2008 2:25:36 PM

Reston, VA - North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.
A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.

Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.

New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and recent oil discoveries have resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes. About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken Formation by the end of 2007.

The USGS Bakken study was undertaken as part of a nationwide project assessing domestic petroleum basins using standardized methodology and protocol as required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000.

The Bakken Formation estimate is larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest "continuous" oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS. A "continuous" oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences. The next largest "continuous" oil accumulation in the U.S. is in the Austin Chalk of Texas and Louisiana, with an undiscovered estimate of 1.0 billions of barrels of technically recoverable oil.

"It is clear that the Bakken formation contains a significant amount of oil - the question is how much of that oil is recoverable using today's technology?" said Senator Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota. "To get an answer to this important question, I requested that the U.S. Geological Survey complete this study, which will provide an up-to-date estimate on the amount of technically recoverable oil resources in the Bakken Shale formation."

The USGS estimate of 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil has a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. Scientists conducted detailed studies in stratigraphy and structural geology and the modeling of petroleum geochemistry. They also combined their findings with historical exploration and production analyses to determine the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil estimates.

Read the rest if you dare.

What about the Natural Gas Report on areas in Oregon and Washington? This report was completed this year and WOW. Seems we have plenty of gas and oil here as well.

Maybe the Oil in Western Colorado would get noticed. This is a rather sizable find for surveying only a 35 square mile area.

Maybe a look at the USGS map or oil and natural gas surveys would help?

Since nobody is doing anything about this, perhaps you could write your elected officials and get the ball rolling. I did.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Battery Power Is the Problem

There is a constant push to develop various electric products. Many ideas have come and gone due to the fault of batteries. Generally, batteries are highly dangerous and corrosive concoctions of acids and volatile metals. They are very heavy but needed power sources. Most of the advances in electronics have come on the hardware side not the power side. We have continued to shrink and combine components saving power and reducing the size of the battery.
What is needed is a different kind of battery that frees us of weight and the many dangers that are trapped in this not so scary case. If we could cut the weight of batteries in half the electric car could actually be achieved. I know there are all these hybrids out there, but I am talking about pure electric. Our current technology is hamstrung by the weight of modern lead acid, deep cycle batteries.
There is a break through that is worth mentioning. It really isn't for cars but freeing our home from the grid would also be a welcomed change.

New battery could change world, one house at a time

The prize is the culmination of 10 years of research and testing -- a new generation of deep-storage battery that's small enough, and safe enough, to sit in your basement and power your home.
It promises to nudge the world to a paradigm shift as big as the switch from centralized mainframe computers in the 1980s to personal laptops. But this time the mainframe is America's antiquated electrical grid; and the switch is to personal power stations in millions of individual homes.
Former energy secretary Bill Richardson once disparaged the U.S. electrical grid as "third world," and he was painfully close to the mark. It's an inefficient, aging relic of a century-old approach to energy and a weak link in national security in an age of terrorism.
Taking a load off the grid through electricity production and storage at home would extend the life of the system and avoid the expenditure of tens, or even hundreds, of billions to make it "smart."
The battery breakthrough comes from a Salt Lake company called Ceramatec, the R&D arm of CoorsTek, a world leader in advanced materials and electrochemical devices. It promises to reduce dependence on the dinosaur by hooking up with the latest generation of personalized power plants that draw from the sun.
Solar energy has been around, of course, but it's been prohibitively expensive. Now the cost is tumbling, driven by new thin-film chemistry and manufacturing techniques. Leaders in the field include companies like Arizona-based First Solar, which can paint solar cells onto glass; and Konarka, an upstart that purchased a defunct Polaroid film factory in New Bedford, Mass., and now plans to print cells onto rolls of flexible plastic.
The convergence of these two key technologies -- solar power and deep-storage batteries -- has profound implications for oil-strapped America.

Read the rest of the story: Batteries of the Future

I had to take a break from the healthcare chaos in DC. We don't want to miss energy discoveries that may change our future. I have always had a deep love and apprieciation for photovoltaic solar energy. It has come a long ways in the 30 years I have been watching it. There is a place for this technology. It will be a little longer before it pencils out as a winner.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Idiots, Ethanol and Pushy Politics

You probably figured that this would happen. Now that the government owns the auto manufacturers they want to decide what kind of car we drive.

Now that the federal government has gained control over the nation's Auto Industry, one U.S. senator contends, it's time to make some changes in the kinds of cars Americans drive and the kinds of fuel they use.

According to a Des Moines Register report, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wants Congress to use "climate change" legislation to mandate that auto manufacturers fit all new cars to run on a blend of 85 percent ethanol.
"We own the automobile companies," Harkin said earlier this week. "Why not? I think that will be an easy one." ( Read: Will feds use new power to dictate what you drive?)

They think they are so smart and we so much lesser so need them to tell us what to buy. Perhaps, these ever so intellegent people, should read up on what they are pushing.

Want to Reduce Air Pollution? Don't Rely on Ethanol Necessarily

Fueling the automobile fleet primarily with ethanol rather than gasoline might increase air pollution, a new study finds.

Environmental engineer Mark Jacobson of Stanford University used a computer model to assess how the air pollution in the U.S. would react if vehicles remained primarily fueled by gasoline in 2020 or if the fleet transferred to a fuel that was a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, so-called E85. Under the latter scenario, levels of the cancer-causing agents benzene and butadiene dropped, whereas those of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde rose: In other words, it was a wash.

Because burning ethanol can potentially add more smog-forming pollution to the atmosphere, however, it can also exacerbate the ill effects of such air pollution. According to Jacobson, burning ethanol adds 22 percent more hydrocarbons to the atmosphere than does burning gasoline and this would lead to a nearly two parts per billion increase in tropospheric ozone. This surface ozone, which has been linked to inflamed lungs, impaired immune systems and heart disease by prior research, would in turn lead to a 4 percent increase in the number of ground level ozone-related deaths, or roughly 200 extra deaths a year. "Due to its ozone effects, future E85 may be a greater overall public health risk than gasoline," Jacobson writes in the study published in Environmental Science & Technology. "It can be concluded with confidence only that E85 is unlikely to improve air quality over future gasoline vehicles."

Or for a real twist in the environmental woes, how about this article:

'Green' Fuel May Damage The Bay

The study, whose sponsors included the U.S. government and an environmental group, predicted that farmers in the bay watershed will plant 500,000 or more new acres of corn in the next five years. Because fields of corn generally produce more polluted runoff than those of other crops, that's a problem.

"It's going in the opposite direction from where we want to go," said Jim Pease, a professor at Virginia Tech and one of the study's authors.

We can't expect Senator Harkin to actually read, can we? Seems he can pass a lot of other bills without reading them, why not one this dumb.

These people are as dumb as a box of rocks and yet we have put them in charge of our future. You better be ready to make those calls again. We are going to have to explain it to them, again.

Monday, July 06, 2009

It Is Still Stealing

Oh, they will paint a pretty picture or tell you a story of doom and gloom, but at the end of the day all they really did was take your money. That is what has been going on in DC for decades. They no longer do the job that we the people sent them there for. Our political system is all about power and wealth. It is about placing yourself in a position to gain more power and wealth. Cap and Tax, I mean, Trade, is all about doing nothing for the purpose claimed but reeling in a ton of doe. More money means more power and this is how they plan on doing it.

Here is a great article that will spell it out pretty clear for you.
H/T to HeavyHanded for pointing it out.

More tax oppression

Why did a bare majority (219-212) of the members of the U.S. Congress vote for the largest tax increase in American history this past Friday, under the claim it was a vote to save the climate?

Before you answer the question, consider the following facts. The proponents claim this tax bill will reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, which are purported to cause global warming. First, despite the claims of President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many in the media, there is no consensus in the scientific community about how much climate change, other than the normal cycles, is taking place, nor how severe it will be, and how much man-made CO2 is responsible. None of the climate models predicted the unexpected global cooling of the last decade.

It is known that the legislation will have a negligible effect on global CO2 emissions, particularly since the big polluters, such as China and India, are not playing ball. It is also known that the "cap and trade" system that the legislation calls for has been a failure in Europe, where it has been in operation for the last few years, in that it has proven to be far more costly than envisioned, has not met the CO2 reduction targets, and has been highly susceptible to corruption and abuse.

In addition, because the legislation requires Americans to use more inefficient energy (wind and solar) sources, it cannot help but raise costs for American businesses and citizens, and hence will kill jobs rather than create them (as contrasted to what Mr. Obama and Mrs. Pelosi have incorrectly claimed).

In sum, serious people understand the legislation will hurt the U.S. economy, reduce the standard of living and yet not accomplish its claimed intent; therefore, why were so many members of Congress willing to vote for it?

Are they idiots, or do they have another agenda?

You may want to read the rest.

Once again we are trying out things that don't work. Correction, things that have clearly been proven to not work. Our leadership is busy wasting time and money at our expense. I hope you are making yourself heard. I know I am writing regularly to my Representatives. I feel like I am pounding my head against a post, but it is high time that we as citizens step forward and make ourselves heard. Don't allow them to do business as usual politics. Take back our nation as our Constitution clearly lays before we the people.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Cap and TAX

Once again, We the People have been trampled on. Those we have elected to represent us have put on golf cleats and stomped on us hard. We are bleeding and suffering from a non-stop socialist take over of America. They have taken over our financial industries, our major manufacturing and now they have taken the energy that runs our nation. The US House has fully depleted us and they have only just begun.

While the economy continues to fall and the employment rate continues to rise, our leaders take steps to increase this trend. The whole time they are patting themselves on the back for saving the world.

CO2 is a post curser to global warming. If you look at the vast number of charts and graphs you will notice that CO2 rises after temperature. So our brain trust in DC are chasing the tail of global temperature. The interesting thing that no one wants to notice in the charts is the global cooling that follows the rise in CO2. (Chart)

The biggest player in the atmosphere game is water vapor and nobody will even report that it is out on the field. Water vapor makes up 95% of our atmosphere and nobody talks about it. Almost all climate models ignore clouds. (Charts and Info)

The biggest player by far, with out this player none of this is possible, the sun. No one in the Global Warming religious movement is willing to recognize the sun as the key player. It is the dominate player in the solar system and these crazy people ignore it. The sun has energy output variations that play a far greater roll in our global environment. (Sun effects)

Since congress never reads any of the bills it signs into law. You can bet that none of them have read any of the science that goes into it either. Let me offer you a few quotes to emphasis the religion and dogged determination of the Global Warming Industry.

"We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we may have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest."

Stephen Schneider (leading advocate of the global warming theory)
(in interview for Discover magazine, Oct 1989)

Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous (global warming) is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are...

former Vice President Al Gore
(now, chairman and co-founder of Generation Investment Management--
a London-based business that sells carbon credits)
(in interview with Grist Magazine May 9, 2006, concerning his book, An Inconvenient Truth)

"Researchers pound the global-warming drum because they know there is politics and, therefore, money behind it. . . I've been critical of global warming and am persona non grata."

Dr. William Gray
(Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado and leading expert of hurricane prediction )
(in an interview for the Denver Rocky Mountain News, November 28, 1999)

"Scientists who want to attract attention to themselves, who want to attract great funding to themselves, have to (find a) way to scare the public . . . and this you can achieve only by making things bigger and more dangerous than they really are."

Petr Chylek
(Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Commenting on reports by other researchers that Greenland's glaciers are melting.
(Halifax Chronicle-Herald, August 22, 2001) (8)

Do you like being lied to? You better start calling the senate and shaking this thing loose or we are all going to pay big for nothing.

If you would like to look at the list of those who voted for this killer of the American taxpayer and economy go Here.

Other Articles of interest:
Cap and Trade Vote Results Have Republicans Upset with Their Representatives
Pelosi Herds Caucus to Narrow Win on Climate

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

They Plan a Tax Increase

The last thing we need is another tax increase. The last thing our government needs is more access to our money. The last thing I want to give them is more power. They can't do what is required of them by the constitution. Help spread the word and write your leaders. They need to know how you feel about their theft of your hard work.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Mini Nuclear Plants

Would you be surprised to learn that there are companies right now preparing Nuclear Reactors to be delivered ready to run, anywhere in the world? I reported a few months ago about Russia looking to build nuclear barge platforms. I didn't see this as a safe and reliable advancement given the current state of the world with terrorism and all.

This, I am intrigued by. A fully self contained and sealed system with technology to limit reaction time and allowing no access to its inner workings. A small storage shed sized devise that can be used to heat water to 500 degrees. You supply the water and pipes it supplies the heat. You can use the steam for electric generation or water purification. It sounds like an idea whose time has come.

Go ahead read about it here and give me your opinion.
And Here --- Hyperion

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Geothermal is Under Used

World Geothermal Power Generation Nearing Eruption
Jonathan G. Dorn
With fossil fuel prices escalating and countries searching for ways to reduce oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions, capturing the earth’s heat for power generation is garnering new attention. First begun in Larderello, Italy, in 1904, electricity generation using geothermal energy is now taking place in 24 countries, 5 of which use it to produce 15 percent or more of their total electricity. In the first half of 2008, total world installed geothermal power capacity passed 10,000 megawatts and now produces enough electricity to meet the needs of 60 million people, roughly the population of the United Kingdom. In 2010, capacity could increase to 13,500 megawatts across 46 countries—equivalent to 27 coal-fired power plants. Originating from the earth’s core and from the decay of naturally occurring isotopes such as those of uranium, thorium, and potassium, the heat energy in the uppermost six miles of the planet’s crust is vast—50,000 times greater than the energy content of all oil and natural gas resources. Chile, Peru, Mexico, the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and other countries along the Ring of Fire (an area of high volcanic activity encircling the basin of the Pacific Ocean) are rich in geothermal energy. Another geothermal hot spot is the Great Rift Valley of Africa, which includes such countries as Kenya and Ethiopia. Worldwide, 39 countries with a cumulative population of over 750 million people have geothermal resources sufficient to meet all their electricity needs. (See data.) Typically, power generation using the earth’s heat required underground pockets of high-temperature water or steam to drive a steam turbine. Now, new technologies that use liquids with low boiling points in closed-loop heat exchange systems allow electricity to be generated at much lower temperatures. This breakthrough is making geothermal power generation viable in countries such as Germany that are not known for their geothermal resources and is one reason why the number of countries using the earth’s heat to generate electricity could almost double by 2010. One advantage of geothermal power plants, beyond the benefit of producing electricity from a low-carbon, indigenous energy source with no fuel costs, is that they provide baseload power 24 hours a day. Storage or backup-power is not required.

You should read the rest.

Data Tables of Interest

With all the potential we have here in the US we supply only 0.4% of our needs with Geothermal. We have tons capacity and vast needs for energy. We don't have to base our entire energy plan on oil. Alternatives do exist and we know how to use them. We just need to put it in practice.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Switching To Save Energy

I don't know how many of you have tried to do a minor renovation and needed or wanted a light switch to be somewhere else. It usually involves cutting more holes and moving wiring to the designated place. The additional wiring and installation runs up the cost as well as the damage it may leave behind.
What if you can put that switch where you want it with no wires? There are some great remote switches especially when it comes to ceiling fans, which are quite popular. The draw back is they need batteries and you aren't interested in filling the land fill with more dead batteries.
Well there is good news for everyone with the invention of the Self-Powered Light Switch. It allows the simple act of flipping the switch to generate all the power it needs to either turn off or on the light. No more dead batteries when you really needed light.
This would be fantastic for multiple applications. Historic homes, new construction and old as well as for safety. Historic homes can have the most minimal renewal footprint because they wont have to channel out walls for switch wires. They can literally peal and stick to existing walls.
New construction could save miles of copper wire by no longer running all those lengths for switches. This is environmentally friendly for the earth and my wallet.

The current cost of these may be high but new technology will eventually be price neutral.
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Intelligent Uses

Artificial Trees

The plant is the ultimate solar energy production facility on the planet. It uses its structure to capture sun light and reflective light to produce energy. Most of our planet is covered by these energy making marvels and it's about time we started noticing.

Artificial Trees to Produce Alternative Energy

A big problem with producing alternative energy is that it takes up lots of land, resources and money to produce little alternative energy. Vast acreage is needed if an alternative energy production plant wants to compete with conventional energy producing plant, let us say to produce, hundreds of megawatts of energy. This is a big hurdle in the way of constructing large-scale solar power plants. The production of solar energy is only feasible at places where the real estate is not costly, or the rooftops of buildings and houses can be used to lay down solar power generation equipment.
Man-made solar energy production technologies need direct sunlight to give optimal performance and this raises a need for lots of obstruction-free space. Solar energy plants don’t work properly if the surface has obstructions and shades. Fortunately this problem is restricted to man-made solar power generation facilities; the natural ways of producing solar energy are not shackled by such limitations. Take for instance, plants.
Although plants don’t convert sunlight into electricity they do use light from the sun to convert water and air into cellulose. This is a complicated process.
A typical tree is a prime example of a mechanism that optimally utilizes the solar energy. Even though not all leaves are directly exposed to the sun they all use the sunshine. How does it happen? It is simple as well as complex. The leaves of a tree are situated in such a manner that almost every leave one way or another gets its share of sunshine. The branches and the leaves grow in a strategic manner to create enough space between them. Leaves are translucent, that is, the sunshine can filter through them and they also reflect sunshine to other leaves.
Go Read The Rest

We need to recognize and utilize every form of alternative energy. This could be a major player in our future energy needs.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Yes They Can

I wrote about the group claiming to be able to make oil from anything organic a while ago. They had isolated the bacteria needed to break down organic matter and pump oil from waste products. The media didn't seem to care much about this fantastic development and buried the story. The US Army took note and is planning to have oil from anything plants on six of its bases here in the US.

These facilities will be smaller than what future production centers will need to be to supply the entire country but they will make a huge difference. Within a year the Army could be fully independent of foreign oil. You may want to go back and read that sentence again. Fully independent from foreign oil is the goal of the whole country and using this technology can make it happen. It won't make the greenies happy, who were looking at forcing us from our cars.

I expect a major environmental battle once these plants start in. The army bases have a lot of liberty when it comes to installations but the protesters will line up. These enviro nuts have been excited over the high oil prices and the sudden surge in public transportation. They have been going crazy over the drop in personal driving and the loss of freedom by the average American. That's right, Loss of Freedom. We have been forced to go only where the government thinks we should go based on public transportation administrators. Oil translates to personal freedom in America.

We are looking at about five years until we reach energy Independence in the oil category with the full implementation of this technology. There are those who don't want us to Drill Now. They have been pushing alternative energy as the solution but don't have any idea what that solution will look like. The solution is here. We really don't have to change much of anything. We make waste and this company turns it into fuel. This reduces landfill needs, cuts environmental hazards of mass drilling and provides us with a fuel that allows us to keep all our current vehicles. The bottom line is, it reduces all the standard complaints of enviro wackos so you know they will hate it.

U.S. green lights 'anything into oil'

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Obama Fails Basic Business Again

AWR Hawkins has written an article that clearly explains the error of Obama and his anti-business friends. Gauging Obama's Energy Policy is a master piece that tells it like it is. Set aside the emotional hype and open your mind to what is really being said.


Gauging Obama's Energy Policy
08/06/2008

Barack Obama recently announced that if elected President, he would implement a “windfall profits tax” on oil companies to force them to “contribute a reasonable share” of their profits to American families burdened by high energy costs. The money would come to families via rebates, or “stimulus checks,” from the federal government. And while he was obviously proud of his big idea, Obama did not bother mentioning that the Democrat practice of putting socialism first, the environment second, and the American people third, is what brought us to the brink we now face over energy costs in the first place. He also remains mute on the fact that the rebates really aren’t rebates at all, and will result in higher prices at the pump once they are issued.
Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Obama has remained aligned with the hard left because he is hard left. This is why he was so popular in Europe and why he drew much bigger crowds in Germany than he does in the United States; socialists love to hear another socialist stand up and verbally gouge out the eyes of the world’s “greediest” nation.
And now, he is talking to us as if we are European. He tells us about the unacceptable greed of “big oil” and tries to convince us to join him in his quest to take their profits and redistribute them among the people. But we are not quite European, Senator Obama, and those of us who live where we still see cowboys on horseback rounding up cattle are not overly impressed with what socialism has taken from Europeans in terms of personal liberty and national security. We actually treasure the rugged independence of the great men and traditions of this nation. Men like George Washington, Ronald Reagan, and the American soldier, and traditions such as limited government and the free market.

Go read the rest of Gauging Obama's Energy Policy

Monday, August 04, 2008

Why Not?

Everyday Americans are demanding that something gets done about energy prices. We hear from our elected leaders and the people on the street that we need energy independence. It doesn't matter what party you affiliate yourself the call is clear, America needs to be meeting its own energy needs. I can't count the number of times people have pointed to the fact that we are buying oil from those who seek our destruction. We are literally buying the bombs being used against us.
Incredible leaps and energies are being focused on finding alternatives to meet our needs. Currently almost 90% of our energy needs are being served by oil. Yet America only supplies a small percentage of what it uses.
We have so much more available but we are not allowed to access it. Why do we choose to buy what we have? Our elected leaders, in their infinite wisdom, have refused to bend to the will of their constituents. Americans are screaming "Drill Here, Drill Now", and congress refuses to bend. 76% of America recognizes that drilling our own oil is the first step to energy independence.
That's right the entire congress is to blame, but one person has the greatest portion of this blame. Nancy Pelosi has single handedly kept this issue from receiving an up or down vote. She flatly refuses to let Americans use what they own. She says crazy things like "You can't drill your way out of this."
Drilling for oil right here, right now will change the price of oil almost immediately. Within six months of congress passing a law that would allow us to drill, oil prices would fall like a rock. The world knows that viable energy and oil drilling costs money and that figure that makes doing our own thing not worth the cost is $80 dollars a barrel. Once oil falls below $95 a barrel various sources become unworthy of the cost to produce. Once we reach $80 a barrel the worlds oil becomes too cheap not to buy. The oil supplying nations will be only too happy to keep our money flowing to their sand box. They simply can't afford for America to stop buying their oil.
If we want Energy Independence we are going to have to resist this temptation and continue drilling and recovering our own oil. We might have to pay a little more at the pumps in order to put the infrastructure in place to make independence possible. The cost would still be less than what we are paying now. Prices would be around $3 a gallon for us to put the system in place and start supplying our own. The cost of independence will be about fifty cents a gallon. I'm willing to pay the extra to bring Independence to America. Are you willing to do what it takes? When the price falls will you continue to demand independence?
Alternative energies will still need support and development. We need to broaden our energy possibilities. Are Americans willing to do what it takes?

Friday, June 20, 2008

Democrats Threaten Big Oil

The democrats let the cat out of the bag. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., during a grilling of oil executives let the beans spill, "This liberal will be about socializing …Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies. …" That has got to be one of the scariest sentences uttered by a representative of the United States of America. Can you think of anything the government does well?

Social Security is such a great program that the congress has robbed it of every dollar and is now on the brink of failure.

Medicare is another program fleeced by the congress and failing fast.

Public education has put our children below world standards in almost every area of academia.

No matter what program you look at you see the failure of government in action or on the brink. Any sane individual wouldn't want congress any where near our key energy infrastructure. Congress has done everything it can to hamstring this industry and now wants to blame the industry for its failure.

The answer is quite simple and the American people are starting to shout it out.
DRILL NOW! Pass laws to squelch the environmentalists.
DRILL NOW! Pass laws that accelerate refinery construction.
DRILL NOW! Open public land to oil development.

Dems want control over U.S. oil flow

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Drilling is the Answer!

More and more Americans agree that drilling is the answer. A new survey is out and 67% are demanding drilling. Will the Congress wake up and embrace the answer?
I keep hearing about the speculators driving up the price. The speculators are given reason when we won't go after the oil we have. When we constantly choose to go to the most volatile points on the planet to buy oil. The oil market will go down dramatically the day the congress approves the use of American oil. It will go down again when we first take advantage of this change. It will also fall when we build the first new refinery.
The price of oil and the price to America will change for the better when congress stops holding up America.

Americans agree on answer to gas prices: Drill now

Saturday, June 14, 2008

I Like These Bugs

Usually I am looking for ways to get rid of bugs. Fortunately these aren't as annoying as the common house fly. What would you think of a genetically altered bug that excretes crude oil. As long as you keep them happily fed they will produce this much sought resource. Can you imagine eliminating the need to drill for oil with such a bug.
It doesn't sound quite as exciting when you realize you will be filling your tank with bug crap. The nice part is these guys don't need to eat food crops to give us this much needed fluid.

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol

As great as this news is, how come I had to read it in a foreign paper? It seems that our media is failing to report on the many great energy alternatives that our waiting in the wings. The goal is to promote the gloom and doom and not give America hope as we go into the political season. This one is in our own backyard. They have NO excuse.