lntwo

America's Energy Policy: Coming to Terms with Reality

Spot on article - not an expert on the oil industry, so I thank those who have some expertise/knowledge on this.
As for the left-right, good v. evil, vegetarian v. doritos thread -- i cant resist. I'm a bleeding heart liberal who learned a long time ago to vote my heart and invest with my brain. This country, people, politicians wanted the easy answers and voted accordingly - Carter was mocked when he drew the clear line in energy policy, morality and our trajectory as a nation. I own a Prius AND XOM, and when this current idiot was elected went 35% in with my retirement in FSESX - so please drill in ANWR, make the goooberment lower gas prices - i insist. While my Bush voting co-workers complain complain complain I'm raking it in with every increase - thanks suckers.

Alt. Energy: More Technology Than Energy?

John E. - while high oil increases awareness and development of alt energy, our cars will be ostensibly running on gas for the near future, so the link to oil price is less direct than one might think. Since wind and solar generate electricity the driving issue is coal use ( repeat after me: "would you like mercury with that") and CO2 production. I could go on about the need to limit CO2 and the revised forecasts on near term sea level rise and all the other cheerful consequences but I'm sure anyone reading this thread is familiar with these issues.

However a point that is frequently ignored with wind and solar is the benefit to developing countries; aside from the obvious there is the water conservation aspect - coal and nuclear power generation are very water intensive, and water availability is an increasing pinch point in the developing world. Not to mention that coal and nuclear are localized, infrastructure intensive technologies.

Long on PBW, GEX, and a variety of oil companies,

Cheers all.