I don’t usually go for political articles, but this one deserves mention for the wholesale idiocy about energy on display.
Don Monfort writes: Submitted on 2011/10/01 at 10:24 am
Sorry to stray off topic, but I was flabbergasted by something I just read:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204226204576602524023932438.html
The most flabbergasting part; our energy policy is based on fantasy:
When it was Mr. Hamm’s turn to talk briefly with President Obama, “I told him of the revolution in the oil and gas industry and how we have the capacity to produce enough oil to enable America to replace OPEC. I wanted to make sure he knew about this.”
The president’s reaction? “He turned to me and said, ‘Oil and gas will be important for the next few years. But we need to go on to green and alternative energy. [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.’” Mr. Hamm holds his head in his hands and says, “Even if you believed that, why would you want to stop oil and gas development? It was pretty disappointing.”
America is still going to use oil in 5 years, but I’d rather it be domestic than foreign, wouldn’t you? Alternate technology takes time to develop and there’s zero chance we’ll all be driving electric vehicles in 5 years.
Obama said this when he was running for office:
Obama pledges to end oil dependency
Friday, August 29, 2008 (KGO ABC7 Television)
“I will set a clear goal as president: in ten years we will finally end our dependence on oil in the Middle East,” said Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama.
…
“If he means what it sounds like it means, it’s impossible,” said Stanford University Professor James Sweeney.
I guess we know what he meant by that now.
When the presidential limo becomes an electric vehicle, I’ll take his pledge seriously.
The vehicle fuel consumption is about 8 miles per gallon which on metric system corresponds to around 30 litres/100 km – source specs
Pres. Downgrade the CinC of JUNK science!
THIS JUST IN: : Unobtainium find just discovered, promises to make batteries as energy dense as gasoline, should be ready for sale in 5 years.
Loans have already gone out to companies to mine the mass-less and invisible Unobtainium ore……
http://img.allvoices.com/thumbs/image/609/609/86987240-shrinking-obama.jpg
The net effect of global warming hysteria has been and will be to harm America.
We have the capacity to become totally energy independent using coal, shale oil, and natural gas.
Why don’t we do it ? Depending upon a middle east which is unstable for energy is mentally challenged.
I used to think the the alarmists were doing some good although for the wrong reasons because they encourage alternative energy development but on balance they do more harm than good. Not using what we have is stupid !
Didn’t seem to learn anything from Solyndra.
Maybe the voters will spring for some lovely parting gifts in 2012.
For a dose of hard reality:
US 48 states oil production peaked in 1970. , UK about 2000, Norway in 2005.
Jean Laherrere shows Global LIGHT OIL oil discoveries peaked ~1965. Global peak LIGHT oil production is peaking about now.
See “westexas” graph of:
Available Net Oil Exports
Available net global exports (after China + India imports) DECLINED 12% from 2005 to 2010
See Robert L. Hirsch, The Impending World Oil Mess:What It Is and What It Means To YOU! ISBN 978-1926837-11-6
May 2011 ASPO conf. Presentation PDF or Video
See solutions in: Edwin Black The PLAN – How to Rescue Society When The Oil Stops – or the Day Before
Turning Oil to Salt Gal Luft, Anne Korin
It’s about wealth transfer. They need to ‘hold back’ developed nations from further energy and economic expansion while they pump billions into green tech to hurry it up and make it viable so they can put all the developed countries under it.
Then phase 2 is where all the newly green developed countries then give all this green tech to the under developed countries and set it up for them so all nations will be equal in economy and energy.
Yes, they really believe this.
“Resources must be diverted from frivolous and wasteful uses in overdeveloped countries to filling the genuine needs of underdeveloped countries,” Holdren and his co-authors wrote. ”This effort must be largely political, especially with regard to our overexploitation of world resources, but the campaign should be strongly supplemented by legal and boycott action against polluters and others whose activities damage the environment. The need for de-development presents our economists with a major challenge. They must design a stable, low-consumption economy in which there is a much more equitable distribution of wealth than in the present one. Redistribution of wealth both within and among nations is absolutely essential, if a decent life is to be provided for every human being”. – John Holdren, 1973 (Obama’s current science czar)
Mr Hamm is also reported on the Hockeyschtick.
“we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.”
Utter nonsense. We live in the age of incompetence.
Don’t you think we have a misunderstanding here? Either on the side of President Obama, Secretary Chu or Mr. Hamm:
In five years we might have a battery that can power a car for 130 miles on a single charge. That is the discussion right now. “A car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon” is just nonsense. Too bad none of these gentlemen noticed…
[Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.’”
….he also assured me that Solyndra was a solid company, solar works at night, and within five years the entire country will be running on solar…..
bair polaire says:
October 1, 2011 at 2:44 pm
“Don’t you think we have a misunderstanding here? Either on the side of President Obama, Secretary Chu or Mr. Hamm:”
Obama never had a technical education so he has no mental concept of physical values. A similar mistake happened to a German top Green, Cem Özdemür, recently in a TV interview where he said we need more transmission lines to store the wind energy; and that Germany’s electricity usage would be max 100 GigaByte (GigaWatt would have been correct). Cem, like Obama, never had a technical education.
You can’t expect them to understand the difference between Work and Current, for instance. They never learned that.
More religion of environmentalism on display here. If Obama really wanted to move us towards energy independence he’d issue an executive order that the entire federal government vehicle fleet be converted to natural gas. That’s something we have plenty of, something that could actually be done with no new technology, jump start a mostly total conversion away from oil fueled vehicles, and in the process cut our dependence on foreign oil dramatically. But when it’s not about practical solutions, but about religion, this is what you get.
Barry Woods says:
October 1, 2011 at 1:56 pm
“No plan to destroy the west, they genuinely beloeve they are doing good work. Saving the Planet.”
So, they are not malevolent just unimaginably stupid and more destructive than malevolent? You just kicked the ball into your own goal.
The US will never produce enough oil for self-sufficiency. We need the oil as reserve against the day that world war breaks out again.
I’m on cell phone so cannot give full link to the reference.
Click my name above, then see my speech on Peak Oil from April 2011 on my blog.
Chu is apparently an idiot. Power plants can barely break 50% thermal efficiency, and when you include power line losses and charging losses (few batteries are better than 70% efficient at charging), you’re worse off than with a diesel engine. Even if you reduced the battery weight to zero, giving them an infinite storage capacity, you still wouldn’t break 50 mpg for the total system.
Looked at another way, if you only used a tiny lithium ion battery that could propel you car to the end of the driveway or one lap around the block, you still couldn’t get half the mileage Chu is claiming, and that’s with a battery that fits in your pocket.
Perhaps Obama completely misunderstood him, or perhaps Chu completely misunderstood what someone was telling him, because it’s more likely that what was meant was that we’ll have a battery that will let a fairly conventional looking car (not a graphite composite toy) go 135 miles on a charge.
The battery will get recharged by a solar-powered windmill
There is nothing wrong with the science
And no need to question their motives. The latest close-to-billion-dollar solar loan guarantee beneficiary is related to Nancy Pelosi. This proves they are noble and incorruptible. And wise
“in ten years we will finally end our dependence on oil in the Middle East”
Did Obama mean *from* the middle east? What percentage of oil used in the USA comes from the Middle East?
From what I have read, the current electric grid couldn’t even survive converting 25% of the current US auto fleet to all electric. Converting the entire US auto fleet to electric would require massive increases in both generating capacity and carring capcity of the transmission and distrubution grids. To think that this can be accomplished in less than 50 years is dilusion.
In my opinion, far more than better batteries are needed to make electric vehicles competitive with ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) based vehicles.
1 Range: Electric vehicles must achive a mininum 350 mile range on one charge. Most ICE based vehicles have fuel tanks sized to provide a range of 350-400 miles.
2 Recharge time must be competitive with refuling times of ICE powered vehicles. I will be generous and say 15 minutes minimum.
3 Availability of publich recharging stations. You need to be able to re-charge your electric vehicle at remote locations away from both home and work for travel. Geographic distribution should be similar to gas stations today.
I used to think there was nothing wrong with electric vehicles – especially as a lot of vehicle use is commuting to and from work.
I mean – you can’t argue with less inner city air pollution can you ?
That was until I saw an article highlighting that the Nissan Leaf – a totally electric car – would have a battery life guarantee of only a few years at most. The replacement batteries cost almost 80% of the purchase price so if you buy one of these things you are effectively guaranteeing a new vehicle purchase every two years – maximum five.
Might be good for Nissan or whoever manufactures the batteries but not so good for the purchaser.
I’m still running a 1996 Taurus as our “workhorse” vehicle and it is going fine – when the electric vehicles can match this maybe they’ll be viable.
Personally, I think they are a pipe dream.
Steven Chu is giving us (Chinese-Americans) a bad name as scientist. What a fool.
We just need to legislate green technology into existence. Imagine where we would be today if we had had the vision and the determination to do that in the ’60’s with the flying car! We could all be living like the Jetson’s right now.
Clearly, we are the ones we have been waiting for.
Ryan Welch ,
The author , Steve Moore , appears on TV fairly often and knows his stuff . It was Mr. Hamm who was surprised . That being said , Obama’s reaction amply demonstrates the fantasy world in which his entire administration lives .
“…we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon…”
With 48% or so of all electricity generated from coal, exactly why do we need a car that runs on 48% coal when at the same time Obama is having the EPA do everything possible to shutdown coal plants.
Some people require a 2 x 4 to get the mind working properly. When your thick enough, nothing will help.
Hows about a clockwork cars? They could be directly coupled to windmills to wind them up.
Roger, there is no link above, but I found your blog and the post regarding Peak Oil via a Google search. I agree Peak Oil is not a problem and should not be a concern.
Nearly 20 years ago, PBS had a program regarding the history of the oil shortage/energy crisis. It’s been going on for over a century. We keep finding new deposits along with new and better methods to extract it. We have known reserves of at least times of all we (human civilization) have consumed so far.
Holdren and Chu are experts. For a good expose of “experts”, watch the on-line video “The Trouble with Experts” at http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/the-trouble-with-experts.html
IanM