neutrino23

Obama, McCain and Offshore Drilling

The angry right can scream "drill, drill, drill" all they want but it won't change geology and physics. I suspect part of the reason the Democrats are going along with some drilling is that they know it probably won't happen. "Drill, ..." is a campaign slogan, not an energy policy. There is not sufficient accessible oil in the ground to make much difference. There are not enough drill rigs available to allow drilling to start soon.

Nuclear power is interesting but probably not practical as a source of large amounts of new power. Nuclear power plants are fantastically complex, take years to site, design and build. I don't see how we could build enough nuclear plants to do much more than replace the plants that will be retiring in the near future. The trend is for nuclear plants to be more and more expensive. This does not bode well for the nuclear industry. Breeder reactors are a dream that has not materialized. People keep mentioning them as if they are ready to go, just waiting in the wings. If only the liberals would let them be built. Reminds me of the stories about the carburetors that allow cars to get 100mpg. If only (big oil, Detroit, other bad guy) would let them be produced. Some test reactors have been built. They were too complex. Not going to happen. Thorium reactors are also promising (lots of Th around) but to date nothing has been commercialized.

Energy independence is a fun slogan. It will happen pretty soon. Not because of more drilling here but because the oil producer states will one-by-one stop exporting. This happened to North Sea oil a few years back. This will happen to Mexico in two or three years. If Mexico is not a failed state now it might soon be one. Won't that be fun.

Methyl Hydrates buried in the outer continental shelf contain vast amounts of methane which we don't yet know how to use. This is buried ice, it is not pumped out. Currently it needs to be mined which is not practical on a large scale. Disturbing the buried deposits might lead to sudden releases of enormous amounts of methane into the air.

The most accessible new energy source is conservation. We waste vast amounts of oil, mostly in transportation. Cutting back on that waste at 5% a year would greatly reduce out need for imports, for a while.