Strangewalk

Winter's Coming for the Boomers: Part 2

It should be mentioned that the coal and oil-shale deposits in the US contain the equivalent energy of all the oil that's ever been extracted in history and that are projected to be used in the next century combined.

Winter's Coming for the Boomers: Part 2

The US has by far the largest deposits of both coal and oil-shale of any country. And from everything I'm reading the technology exists to utilize it as an energy source while producing very little pollution. There has to be some kind of power-money-political game going on with oil--maybe some people understand it, I don't. The following is from Wikipedia:

Royal Dutch Shell has announced that its in situ extraction technology [of oil shale] in Colorado could become competitive at prices over $30 per barrel ($190/m3), while other technologies at full-scale production assert profitability at oil prices even lower than $20 per barrel ($130/m3).[43][55][56] To increase efficiency when retorting oil shale, researchers have proposed and tested several co-pyrolysis processes.[57][58][59]...

A 1972 publication in the journal Pétrole Informations (ISSN 0755-561X) compared shale-based oil production unfavorably with the liquefaction of coal. The article portrayed coal liquefaction as less expensive, generating more oil, and creating fewer environmental impacts than extraction from oil shale. It cited a conversion ration of 650 litres (170 U.S. gal; 140 imp gal) of oil per one ton of coal, as against 150 litres (40 U.S. gal; 33 imp gal) of shale oil per one ton of oil shale.[27]