S
smack500
Guest
Should we continue to use to oil, it pollutes and eventually it will run out no one know when but it will happen.So should we start dealing with it now so when the time comes well be prepared or wait for the last minute ???
Hello, friends, relatives and neighbors! It is time for the quarterly, exciting, energy efficient, frugal and sometimes humorous newsletter! We wish you the best in your corner of the world. It is really important that you are aware of energy issues that the media does not cover. I know it is difficult to find the time to read, we don't always have time, but, we care about you and want you to be aware. Of course, we saved the humorous parts and pictures for last, so keep reading...
Karl and I have been discussing much about alternative energy, lately. All the media attention has been going toward how we can combat terrorism, wage war on Al-Queda, get revenge, etc. One very serious aspect of all of this, is grossly ignored: Why are we in the Middle East in the first place? Although one can come up with a variety of reasons, OIL is the biggest reason.
OIL is the primary reason our country, technology and transportation have boomed in the last 100 years. 100 years ago, we did not consume oil the way we do now. Our commerce, transportation, trains, trucks, shipping, airplanes, home heating, automobiles, buses, motorcycles, power plants, city water pressure, communications, shipping, satellites, space exploration, and more all run on oil based fuels.
What if oil production were to run out or stop tomorrow?
How would big businesses get their products to you?
How much would it cost to get their products to you?
How much would they raise the prices of their products to compensate for the extra fuel costs?
How about the shipment of food?
How would food get to your supermarket?
How much of the price of food would increase to compensate for higher shipping costs?
So we create hybrid electric vehicles. Tiny little vehicles. Not trucks, not trains, not planes. And these tiny, little vehicles still use gas (oil) for half their fuel. The other half is electric. Where do we get electric? Plug the car into the magic outlet in the wall. You pay a lot for this electric. The electric comes from a power plant. So, the power plant, nuclear, coal, oil or gas, has to use more fuel, to fuel your fuel efficient electric vehicle.
Yeah, I am being a wise guy, but a realistic one.
So, maybe an electric car will at least cut back on pollution. Or will it? Plug it into the wall, and grab some energy from the nearest nuclear or coal powered power plant, and now your non-polluting car is creating more nuclear waste, or extremely dirty coal emissions into the atmosphere. Oil is almost better.
Any vehicle that you plug into an outlet, that goes to the nearest power plant, is dumb. It pollutes more than oil and still consumes just as much energy, it is just removed from your immediate attention.
If we are going to build vehicles, they need to be fully independent of the electrical grid using one of the following: solar, wind, magnetic, hydrogen, etc. Otherwise, we are just postponing the inevitable for a few years more, and polluting more in the process.
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What if oil production were to run out or stop tomorrow and there was not enough electric to compensate? (cont.)
How about the pressurization, filterization and purification of your city water supply?
How about your city sewer? Where would it go without pumps?
How would farmers irrigate without their electric irrigation systems?
How about your oil heat in your home and/or business?
Would you get a wood stove?
How long could you and your neighbors cut down trees in your neighborhood, before there were none left?
What would people in cities without trees do for fire fuel?
If everyone starts burning wood and garbage, what will that do to the air quality in your area?
So we build more coal fired electric plants. How long does the coal supply hold out considering that it now has to cover all the bases that oil used to cover?
Coal electric plants are horrible polluters. What will our air quality be like with more coal plants?
Coal electric plants would only be a bandage, not something to permanently fix the problem. It also creates other problems.
So, lets build more nuclear power plants. Lets give terrorists more targets. Lets store more nuclear waste in the mountains somewhere.
How about we send the tractor trailer that is carrying the nuclear waste, on a route, down your street or near your house?
How about we send a train load of nuclear waste through your town 10 times a day?
What if Grandma gets her car stuck in the train tracks? (This happened a lot when we lived in Florida, so I'm not being funny.)
What happens to a town near a derailment? Would the people ever be able to move back home, or would they have to wait, 50, 100 or more years for the radioactivity to clear out?
Could the radioactivity leach into the water supply, rivers, clouds?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Middle Eastern Oil Study
When I was in high school, as an honors student, I was asked to join the debate team. The key topic that year was Oil verses Alternative Energy. Fortunately, I was on the pro-Alternative Energy team. I don't think I could have possibly argued otherwise.
Back in my high school days, the education we received in high school was equivalent to the college education students are getting now. It was very intense and comprehensive. When we were asked to do a study, it was not by reading an article or two, we did heavy research through a number of resources. Here is the bottom line of what we found out in our study:
Based on our study in 1979, there was approximately 50 years left to the Middle Eastern oil supply, if oil was to continue to be consumed at the then current rate. However, more than 20 years later, there are many more cars on the road, many more people in the world, many more countries becoming industrialized that were not before. So now, in 2002, if we consumed oil at the 1979 rate, we now have 27 years left of Middle Eastern oil. When we did the original study, we did not take into consideration our current, 2002, oil consumption, population and industrialization rate. How many years would this extra oil consumption take off our 27 years? Scary? Should we shave another 7 years off? Lets say 20 years left?
Since September 11, 2001, the Middle East has been pumping out more oil than ever, to keep oil prices down and to help keep our economy going. Why help us? Because they are very rich and have invested billions in the US economy, that's why. So, they pump out extra gas, the gas prices drop, we get giddy, drive more, consume more. What kind of impact does this have on the Middle Eastern oil supplies?
The Arabs have a lot of investments in the USA. What are they investing in? I have heard several polls recently, and this is the latest: 90% of Arabs (all classes, non-extremist, and extremist) support Osama Bin Lauden. This is really scary: What if they are investing in some USA stock, that will skyrocket when the oil runs out? Then, the supporters of Osama Bin Laden own our USA companies and get even richer... Is there a way to watch their investments, to see if we can surmise how much they are not telling us about their oil supplies?
Low gas prices are producing a false sense of security.
If we are not prepared for the oil fields running dry,
Osama will be laughing when our society is
forced back into the stone age.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oil is like death.
Every day, we are one step closer to the oil running out.
It could be tomorrow, it could be in 30 years.
It is inevitable.
We know it is going to happen.
Most people choose not to think about it.
There are no alternatives to death.
There are alternatives to oil.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, now that I have scared the heck out of myself, here is some lighter information on what we have been up to...
I am still actively working on web pages and EBay. I am making home made products to sell on EBay, especially cat stuff.
Although work on the house slows down in the winter, the weather here has been fabulous! It is like April weather. We are having 40 degrees at night, which is a Spring-Summer temperature. This time last year, we were having -25 to 0 every night! We have built storage sheds and are in the process of trying to store our stuff as neatly as possible. Karl has done a lot of the back work, because my lower back has been bothering me for about a month now. My back has improved a lot, the last few days, here is what I did to help fix it (don't try this yourself without the approval of your physician, chiropractor and psychoanalyst):
1) Pull over to the side of an icy road, but not too far, because there is a 3 foot ditch along side.
2) Make sure that you are high in the mountains, by yourself, without another living soul around.
3) Get your camera, get out of the Jeep, and take a few pictures.
4) Get back into the Jeep, put it in drive, and watch in horror as the Jeep moves sideways into the ditch, instead of forward.
5) Put the Jeep into 4x4 low, and try to get it out, sinking deeper into the hole until your back wheel is almost off the ground, spinning in the air.
6) You have 10 minutes to catch your spouse at work. Run to the only payphone, dump $3 in quarters into a payphone that does not work, make sure you swear a lot, raise your blood pressure and turn red.
7) Try to flag the rare car down, and swear when they "peel out" to get away from you.
8) Notice that the sun is setting in the sky, and make the decision that you are not spending the night in the mountains, in the cold, alone.
9) Get chains out of the trunk.
10) Get army shovel out of trunk.
11) Notice that the ditch tapers and gets shallow about 50 feet in front of where you are stuck.
12) Struggle with chains, intermittently trying the gas, spinning the wheels, and moving 2 feet forward, before you must again dig aggressively, swearing, angry, to move the vehicle another 2 feet.
13) Repeat step 12 for an hour.
14) Reward yourself with a Starburst for getting the Jeep out, and head home, exhausted.
15) Your back pain should be almost cleared up. Mines better. If not, you will be crippled or dead at this point.
http://www.longshadowstrading.com/Newslett...h%20Qtr2001.htm
Minnesota Public Radio, Marketplace/April 10, 2002
"Concerns of oil shortage stemming from Venezuelan oil workers walking off the job"
Anchor: David Brancaccio
Reporter: Cheryl Glaser
DAVID BRANCACCIO, anchor:
Tensions in the Middle East are raising concerns about oil supplies, particularly after Iraq threatened Monday to halt exports in protest of Israel's incursion into the West Bank. But a situation in this hemisphere could have a bigger impact on US oil markets. In Venezuela, oil workers, protesting government economic policies and staffing changes at the state-run oil company, walked off the job for a second day. MARKETPLACE's business editor Cheryl Glaser has more. CHERYL GLASER reporting:
This week's general strike in Venezuela is part of an ongoing political and economic tug-of-war in that South American country, which is a member of OPEC and a major oil exporter. Barbara Shook covers the oil industry for the Energy Intelligence Group.
Ms. BARBARA SHOOK (Energy Intelligence Group): Venezuela is the US' third-largest supplier of crude and refined product. It supplies the United States as much, by itself, as Iraq exports to the whole world.
GLASER: The Venezuelan government says the state-run oil company is running at full capacity, in spite of the strike. However, media reports say some refineries have been shut down or are operating below capacity and that tankers are sitting idle. The US would feel any interruption in the flow of Venezuelan oil quickly, since Venezuelan tankers take only a week or less to get here compared to the six-week trip from the Middle East. And many refineries along the Gulf Coast and Texas and Louisiana are designed specifically to handle the type of crude we get from Venezuela.
Michael Herberg, an oil industry expert at UC San Diego, says changing over is more complicated than just flipping a switch.
Mr. MICHAEL HERBERG (Oil Industry Expert, University of California, San Diego): You're talking about several weeks and a significant amount of money to switch your system and move over to a different crude. It's something that companies don't do unless they become convinced that they really need to switch their crude supplier.
GLASER: If Venezuelan oil exports are disrupted, other suppliers, like Russia, Mexico or Saudi Arabia, would probably be willing to step in and pick up the slack. After all, where there's demand, there's money to be made. But just like the refiners, it would take those suppliers time to bring the extra oil production capacity online. And American drivers would probably have to pay a higher price, perhaps a nickel or more per gallon. Uncertainties about supplies already are having an impact. The price of a barrel of crude rose 31 cents, a little over 1 percent, in New York today. I'm Cheryl Glaser for MARKETPLACE.
http://www-irps.ucsd.edu/irps/innews/marketplace041002
In late 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coutries (OPEC) refused to sell oil to the United States. Angry over the fact that the U.S. had supplied Israel with weapons during the Yom Kippur War, OPEC's Arab members decided to cut off oil sales to the United States. The United States relies heavily on imported oil and the embargo caused a huge oil shortage. Fuel prices skyrocketed, Americans waited in long lines at gas stations. To conserve energy, the speed limit on the nation highways was dropped to 55 miles per hour.
Although the embargo was lifted in March of 1974, it continued to raise oil prices. This added to inflation and the government encouraged the public to engage in alternative sources of energy, such as solar power. Also a result to the oil embargo was the Alaska pipeline, which enabled America to use more American oil.
Few noted the considerable irony that the worlds supposed most advanced civilizations depended on countries they considered weak, compliant and disorganized
http://www.farmington.k12.mn.us/3ap70s/OPEC.html
5.7 USA on a supply knife-edge
The United States consumes one quarter of the world's oil and imports 55% of its consumption. Production peaked in 1970.
Matthew Simmons says US refined oil consumption has exceeded refinery capacity since 1995. Furthermore, imports of crude oil and refined product are reaching the capacity of handling facilities and stocks in 1996 were at low levels not seen for 20-30 years (Simmons 1997). Most analysts attribute these low stocks to "just in time" inventory management. But Simmons sees little evidence that these systems were in place. He says stock liquidation was important to satisfying US oil demand in 1996.
The world supply and demand balance is becoming vulnerable to disruption from minor disturbances like the weather, political upsets, major refinery or pipeline failures, especially in the US. A hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico shutting down offshore production for several weeks, or a severe winter in North America generating high demand for heating oil could tip the balance. He says there was little spare capacity and only 80 days consumption in inventory in 1996.
The 1997 and 1998 North American winters were warm and demand for heating oil and gas was low, the main reason why a petroleum product supply crises did not develop.
The USA is approaching the decline of its natural gas as well, FIGURE 11. The curve of gas discovery has been moved forward 22 years to show how the profile of production mimics that of discovery. Some short term relief will come from Canadian gas field development currently under construction.
FIGURE 12 shows the Energy Profit Ratio at the wellhead for US domestic oil production from 1915 to 1985. Much of current production must have an EPR well below five, such as those offshore in deep water and the 450,000" stripper" wells with an average production of 2.2 barrels per day in 1994.
The USA will surely soon face the moment of truth between its high hydrocarbon consumption and declining indigenous supply. Appendix 1 shows the statistics for well numbers and oil production for the main producing countries.
http://wwwistp.murdoch.edu.au/publications...toshortage.html
heres info on what oil spills do to the oceans and the environment
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/..._pollution.html
heres a list of laws our government has set for oil pollution
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/33/ch40schI.html
Info on what oil spills does to birds
http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/hww-fap/hww-fa...ecies=89&lang=e
Public Health Costs and Oil
Transportation is the largest single source of air pollution in the United States. Harmful pollutants in motor vehicle emissions include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (or hydrocarbons), sulfur oxides, particulates and toxic gases such as benzene. In addition, ozone, the primary ingredient in smog, is created when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides react with sunlight. There are a variety of health problems related to exposure to these substances, ranging from eye irritation, to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, to cancer. For example, ozone pollution is responsible for 10% to 20%, and nearly 50% on bad days, of all hospital admissions for respiratory conditions ("Oil Slickers: How Petroleum Benefits at the Taxpayer's Expense," Wahl, J., 1996, Institute for Local Self Reliance). And the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that air toxics emitted from motor vehicles account for half of all cancers caused by air pollution.
Consequently, enormous hidden public health costs come with the transportation sector's use of oil. Economists term these costs externalities because they are not included in the private cost of transportation. A 1997 Congressional Research Service report estimates that $4 billion, or $0.05 per gallon of gasoline, is the additional cost due to ozone-related respiratory health problems, and that tens of billions of dollars, or $0.59 per gallon of diesel, is the additional cost due to morbidity and premature mortality caused by particulates and acidic aerosols ("Oil Imports: An Overview and Update of Economic and Security Effects," Moore, J. et al., December 12, 1997,CRS Report for Congress 98-1).
The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that public health costs due to air pollution account for over three-quarters of the total pollution-related public health costs and could be as high as $182 billion annually. ("Subsidizing Big Oil," 2000, Union of Concerned Scientists). Reducing the amount of petroleum fuels we use and replacing them with cleaner-burning biofuels will decrease air pollution and related public health costs.
http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/economics.html
info on what the air gas powered vehicles release
http://www.ucsusa.org/transportation/cars.html
WEATHER
Introduction
One of the biggest scientists preoccupation nowadays in the weather studies and of environmentalist all around the world is the maintenance of thermal balance of the terrestrial atmosphere, gradually compromised by the industrial activities and by the burning in big scale of the Earth's biomass.
The damage effects to environment, caused by residues dejects form industrial process generated by development, reach a lot of environmental goods, as air, more specifically the atmosphere.
Just for quoting one of these problems, we can talk about the problem with ozone, that is one of the gases that exist in the atmosphere. Ozone avoids the free penetration and in big scale of the ultraviolet rays that are bad for animal life. Otherwise the ozone layer is suffering its diminution by the increasing of gases as CFC and dioxide of carbon (CO2), produced by men, that one in lab and this one as result of the burning of fossil fuels, mainly, which consume ozone, creating a kind of "hole in the atmosphere" known as "ozone hole", from where the ultraviolet rays pass with high grade of dangerous to human beings.
By the decreasing order of cleaning, we can list the use of gas, oil and coal as producers of atmospherical pollution.
All of them, otherwise, collaborate to three big problems: the global heating, the urban-industrial pollution of the air and the environment acidification.
Pollution classification, sources and factors
The air pollution is classified in: pollution by industrial remains; pollution by pesticides, and radioactive pollution.
Atmospherical Sources are: fixed (industries, hotels, laundries etc); movable (automotive vehicles, planes, ships, trains etc.)
Factors that cause air pollution:
- natural factors: are those which have as cause nature forces, as sand storms, heating provoked by rays and volcanically activities;
- artificial factors: are those that are cause by man activity, as the emission of automotive fuel, burning of fossil fuels, radioactive material, burnings etc.
Phenomenon related to atmospherical pollution
- Acid Rain :
Rain will be considered acid when it has pH lower than 5,0, occurring not only in rain form, but also as snow, frost or fog.
It is generated by the burning of fossil fuel burning, producing carbonic gas, oxidized ways of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. Another component of acid rain is the sulphur acid, generated of the nitrogen oxides in the emission of fossil fuel. Acid rain can be conduced by winds to a long distance, reaching forests, cities and countries far away from the place where its components were produced. These gases, when liberated to atmosphere, may be toxic to organisms.
The sulphur dioxide causes acid rain when it is combined to the water in the atmosphere, in steam way. The sulphur acid drops resultant of this combination generates serious problems to the reached areas.
Besides the serious problems to the natural environment, acid rain also is serious threat to human cultural heritage, corrupting cultural heritage.
- Heater Effect:
It is the increasing of the medium temperature on the Earth, that occurs by the considerable increasing in the concentration of carbonic gas in the atmosphere, provoked mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, forming a kind of "cover" on the Earth, avoiding heat expansion.
The increasing of carbonic gas grade in the atmosphere makes the Earth temperature in constant increasing, what may cause big climatic problems.
Another gases also contribute to the global heating.
- Diminution on the ozone layer:
There is ozone in the troposphere, that is the atmosphere layer where we live, and also in higher layers of stratosphere, between 12 and 50 Km of altitude, where there is the biggest concentration, which is known as "ozone layer" having as function, protecting the planet of the direct incidence of big part of the ultraviolet rays, which is one of the components of solar radiation.
Mainly consequences: with the diminution of the ozone layer, the ultraviolet rays reach the Earth in a brusquer way, provoking serious diseases in human, as skin cancer, heart and lungs problems, hurting, vision problems etc., generated mainly ultraviolet radiation UV-B, the most damage to man.
Environment is also directly reached by the modification in the food chain, as some animal species and plant are extremely sensible to this radiation, as anure amphibian (frogs). Besides, the destruction of the ozone layer can contribute with the unfrozen of part of the ice of the polar layer, causing the big heating of the planet.
Causes: one of the biggest causes of the ozone layer diminution has been the liberation of industrial chemical composes in the atmosphere, called CFC, which is a non-toxic gas, inodore, and chemically inert. It is used in big scale as refrigerator agent of refrigerators and air conditioners, in the manufacture of plastic foam and mainly as can spray propelente, and its chemical inert makes its capable of reaching big altitudes, without modifying itself, until reaching the stratosphere, where the radiation coming form the Sun provokes its broken. The chlore is liberated, reacting to ozone, breaking it in one molecule and one atom of oxygen.
Curiosity: the word ozone comes from the Greek ozein that means bad smell.
- Dense Fog
The dense fog is a climatic phenomena originated by the concentration of a variety of chemical products, specially ozone and NPA, and it is formed when the Sun light font act on the mix of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic composition.
This phenomenon is produced mainly by cars and trunks, and has been happening in São Paulo City and Mexico City. (Manual Global de Ecologia, Walter H. Corson, Ed. Augustus, 1996).
http://www.aultimaarcadenoe.com.br/climaingles.htm
Hello, friends, relatives and neighbors! It is time for the quarterly, exciting, energy efficient, frugal and sometimes humorous newsletter! We wish you the best in your corner of the world. It is really important that you are aware of energy issues that the media does not cover. I know it is difficult to find the time to read, we don't always have time, but, we care about you and want you to be aware. Of course, we saved the humorous parts and pictures for last, so keep reading...
Karl and I have been discussing much about alternative energy, lately. All the media attention has been going toward how we can combat terrorism, wage war on Al-Queda, get revenge, etc. One very serious aspect of all of this, is grossly ignored: Why are we in the Middle East in the first place? Although one can come up with a variety of reasons, OIL is the biggest reason.
OIL is the primary reason our country, technology and transportation have boomed in the last 100 years. 100 years ago, we did not consume oil the way we do now. Our commerce, transportation, trains, trucks, shipping, airplanes, home heating, automobiles, buses, motorcycles, power plants, city water pressure, communications, shipping, satellites, space exploration, and more all run on oil based fuels.
What if oil production were to run out or stop tomorrow?
How would big businesses get their products to you?
How much would it cost to get their products to you?
How much would they raise the prices of their products to compensate for the extra fuel costs?
How about the shipment of food?
How would food get to your supermarket?
How much of the price of food would increase to compensate for higher shipping costs?
So we create hybrid electric vehicles. Tiny little vehicles. Not trucks, not trains, not planes. And these tiny, little vehicles still use gas (oil) for half their fuel. The other half is electric. Where do we get electric? Plug the car into the magic outlet in the wall. You pay a lot for this electric. The electric comes from a power plant. So, the power plant, nuclear, coal, oil or gas, has to use more fuel, to fuel your fuel efficient electric vehicle.
Yeah, I am being a wise guy, but a realistic one.
So, maybe an electric car will at least cut back on pollution. Or will it? Plug it into the wall, and grab some energy from the nearest nuclear or coal powered power plant, and now your non-polluting car is creating more nuclear waste, or extremely dirty coal emissions into the atmosphere. Oil is almost better.
Any vehicle that you plug into an outlet, that goes to the nearest power plant, is dumb. It pollutes more than oil and still consumes just as much energy, it is just removed from your immediate attention.
If we are going to build vehicles, they need to be fully independent of the electrical grid using one of the following: solar, wind, magnetic, hydrogen, etc. Otherwise, we are just postponing the inevitable for a few years more, and polluting more in the process.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What if oil production were to run out or stop tomorrow and there was not enough electric to compensate? (cont.)
How about the pressurization, filterization and purification of your city water supply?
How about your city sewer? Where would it go without pumps?
How would farmers irrigate without their electric irrigation systems?
How about your oil heat in your home and/or business?
Would you get a wood stove?
How long could you and your neighbors cut down trees in your neighborhood, before there were none left?
What would people in cities without trees do for fire fuel?
If everyone starts burning wood and garbage, what will that do to the air quality in your area?
So we build more coal fired electric plants. How long does the coal supply hold out considering that it now has to cover all the bases that oil used to cover?
Coal electric plants are horrible polluters. What will our air quality be like with more coal plants?
Coal electric plants would only be a bandage, not something to permanently fix the problem. It also creates other problems.
So, lets build more nuclear power plants. Lets give terrorists more targets. Lets store more nuclear waste in the mountains somewhere.
How about we send the tractor trailer that is carrying the nuclear waste, on a route, down your street or near your house?
How about we send a train load of nuclear waste through your town 10 times a day?
What if Grandma gets her car stuck in the train tracks? (This happened a lot when we lived in Florida, so I'm not being funny.)
What happens to a town near a derailment? Would the people ever be able to move back home, or would they have to wait, 50, 100 or more years for the radioactivity to clear out?
Could the radioactivity leach into the water supply, rivers, clouds?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Middle Eastern Oil Study
When I was in high school, as an honors student, I was asked to join the debate team. The key topic that year was Oil verses Alternative Energy. Fortunately, I was on the pro-Alternative Energy team. I don't think I could have possibly argued otherwise.
Back in my high school days, the education we received in high school was equivalent to the college education students are getting now. It was very intense and comprehensive. When we were asked to do a study, it was not by reading an article or two, we did heavy research through a number of resources. Here is the bottom line of what we found out in our study:
Based on our study in 1979, there was approximately 50 years left to the Middle Eastern oil supply, if oil was to continue to be consumed at the then current rate. However, more than 20 years later, there are many more cars on the road, many more people in the world, many more countries becoming industrialized that were not before. So now, in 2002, if we consumed oil at the 1979 rate, we now have 27 years left of Middle Eastern oil. When we did the original study, we did not take into consideration our current, 2002, oil consumption, population and industrialization rate. How many years would this extra oil consumption take off our 27 years? Scary? Should we shave another 7 years off? Lets say 20 years left?
Since September 11, 2001, the Middle East has been pumping out more oil than ever, to keep oil prices down and to help keep our economy going. Why help us? Because they are very rich and have invested billions in the US economy, that's why. So, they pump out extra gas, the gas prices drop, we get giddy, drive more, consume more. What kind of impact does this have on the Middle Eastern oil supplies?
The Arabs have a lot of investments in the USA. What are they investing in? I have heard several polls recently, and this is the latest: 90% of Arabs (all classes, non-extremist, and extremist) support Osama Bin Lauden. This is really scary: What if they are investing in some USA stock, that will skyrocket when the oil runs out? Then, the supporters of Osama Bin Laden own our USA companies and get even richer... Is there a way to watch their investments, to see if we can surmise how much they are not telling us about their oil supplies?
Low gas prices are producing a false sense of security.
If we are not prepared for the oil fields running dry,
Osama will be laughing when our society is
forced back into the stone age.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oil is like death.
Every day, we are one step closer to the oil running out.
It could be tomorrow, it could be in 30 years.
It is inevitable.
We know it is going to happen.
Most people choose not to think about it.
There are no alternatives to death.
There are alternatives to oil.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, now that I have scared the heck out of myself, here is some lighter information on what we have been up to...
I am still actively working on web pages and EBay. I am making home made products to sell on EBay, especially cat stuff.
Although work on the house slows down in the winter, the weather here has been fabulous! It is like April weather. We are having 40 degrees at night, which is a Spring-Summer temperature. This time last year, we were having -25 to 0 every night! We have built storage sheds and are in the process of trying to store our stuff as neatly as possible. Karl has done a lot of the back work, because my lower back has been bothering me for about a month now. My back has improved a lot, the last few days, here is what I did to help fix it (don't try this yourself without the approval of your physician, chiropractor and psychoanalyst):
1) Pull over to the side of an icy road, but not too far, because there is a 3 foot ditch along side.
2) Make sure that you are high in the mountains, by yourself, without another living soul around.
3) Get your camera, get out of the Jeep, and take a few pictures.
4) Get back into the Jeep, put it in drive, and watch in horror as the Jeep moves sideways into the ditch, instead of forward.
5) Put the Jeep into 4x4 low, and try to get it out, sinking deeper into the hole until your back wheel is almost off the ground, spinning in the air.
6) You have 10 minutes to catch your spouse at work. Run to the only payphone, dump $3 in quarters into a payphone that does not work, make sure you swear a lot, raise your blood pressure and turn red.
7) Try to flag the rare car down, and swear when they "peel out" to get away from you.
8) Notice that the sun is setting in the sky, and make the decision that you are not spending the night in the mountains, in the cold, alone.
9) Get chains out of the trunk.
10) Get army shovel out of trunk.
11) Notice that the ditch tapers and gets shallow about 50 feet in front of where you are stuck.
12) Struggle with chains, intermittently trying the gas, spinning the wheels, and moving 2 feet forward, before you must again dig aggressively, swearing, angry, to move the vehicle another 2 feet.
13) Repeat step 12 for an hour.
14) Reward yourself with a Starburst for getting the Jeep out, and head home, exhausted.
15) Your back pain should be almost cleared up. Mines better. If not, you will be crippled or dead at this point.
http://www.longshadowstrading.com/Newslett...h%20Qtr2001.htm
Minnesota Public Radio, Marketplace/April 10, 2002
"Concerns of oil shortage stemming from Venezuelan oil workers walking off the job"
Anchor: David Brancaccio
Reporter: Cheryl Glaser
DAVID BRANCACCIO, anchor:
Tensions in the Middle East are raising concerns about oil supplies, particularly after Iraq threatened Monday to halt exports in protest of Israel's incursion into the West Bank. But a situation in this hemisphere could have a bigger impact on US oil markets. In Venezuela, oil workers, protesting government economic policies and staffing changes at the state-run oil company, walked off the job for a second day. MARKETPLACE's business editor Cheryl Glaser has more. CHERYL GLASER reporting:
This week's general strike in Venezuela is part of an ongoing political and economic tug-of-war in that South American country, which is a member of OPEC and a major oil exporter. Barbara Shook covers the oil industry for the Energy Intelligence Group.
Ms. BARBARA SHOOK (Energy Intelligence Group): Venezuela is the US' third-largest supplier of crude and refined product. It supplies the United States as much, by itself, as Iraq exports to the whole world.
GLASER: The Venezuelan government says the state-run oil company is running at full capacity, in spite of the strike. However, media reports say some refineries have been shut down or are operating below capacity and that tankers are sitting idle. The US would feel any interruption in the flow of Venezuelan oil quickly, since Venezuelan tankers take only a week or less to get here compared to the six-week trip from the Middle East. And many refineries along the Gulf Coast and Texas and Louisiana are designed specifically to handle the type of crude we get from Venezuela.
Michael Herberg, an oil industry expert at UC San Diego, says changing over is more complicated than just flipping a switch.
Mr. MICHAEL HERBERG (Oil Industry Expert, University of California, San Diego): You're talking about several weeks and a significant amount of money to switch your system and move over to a different crude. It's something that companies don't do unless they become convinced that they really need to switch their crude supplier.
GLASER: If Venezuelan oil exports are disrupted, other suppliers, like Russia, Mexico or Saudi Arabia, would probably be willing to step in and pick up the slack. After all, where there's demand, there's money to be made. But just like the refiners, it would take those suppliers time to bring the extra oil production capacity online. And American drivers would probably have to pay a higher price, perhaps a nickel or more per gallon. Uncertainties about supplies already are having an impact. The price of a barrel of crude rose 31 cents, a little over 1 percent, in New York today. I'm Cheryl Glaser for MARKETPLACE.
http://www-irps.ucsd.edu/irps/innews/marketplace041002
In late 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coutries (OPEC) refused to sell oil to the United States. Angry over the fact that the U.S. had supplied Israel with weapons during the Yom Kippur War, OPEC's Arab members decided to cut off oil sales to the United States. The United States relies heavily on imported oil and the embargo caused a huge oil shortage. Fuel prices skyrocketed, Americans waited in long lines at gas stations. To conserve energy, the speed limit on the nation highways was dropped to 55 miles per hour.
Although the embargo was lifted in March of 1974, it continued to raise oil prices. This added to inflation and the government encouraged the public to engage in alternative sources of energy, such as solar power. Also a result to the oil embargo was the Alaska pipeline, which enabled America to use more American oil.
Few noted the considerable irony that the worlds supposed most advanced civilizations depended on countries they considered weak, compliant and disorganized
http://www.farmington.k12.mn.us/3ap70s/OPEC.html
5.7 USA on a supply knife-edge
The United States consumes one quarter of the world's oil and imports 55% of its consumption. Production peaked in 1970.
Matthew Simmons says US refined oil consumption has exceeded refinery capacity since 1995. Furthermore, imports of crude oil and refined product are reaching the capacity of handling facilities and stocks in 1996 were at low levels not seen for 20-30 years (Simmons 1997). Most analysts attribute these low stocks to "just in time" inventory management. But Simmons sees little evidence that these systems were in place. He says stock liquidation was important to satisfying US oil demand in 1996.
The world supply and demand balance is becoming vulnerable to disruption from minor disturbances like the weather, political upsets, major refinery or pipeline failures, especially in the US. A hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico shutting down offshore production for several weeks, or a severe winter in North America generating high demand for heating oil could tip the balance. He says there was little spare capacity and only 80 days consumption in inventory in 1996.
The 1997 and 1998 North American winters were warm and demand for heating oil and gas was low, the main reason why a petroleum product supply crises did not develop.
The USA is approaching the decline of its natural gas as well, FIGURE 11. The curve of gas discovery has been moved forward 22 years to show how the profile of production mimics that of discovery. Some short term relief will come from Canadian gas field development currently under construction.
FIGURE 12 shows the Energy Profit Ratio at the wellhead for US domestic oil production from 1915 to 1985. Much of current production must have an EPR well below five, such as those offshore in deep water and the 450,000" stripper" wells with an average production of 2.2 barrels per day in 1994.
The USA will surely soon face the moment of truth between its high hydrocarbon consumption and declining indigenous supply. Appendix 1 shows the statistics for well numbers and oil production for the main producing countries.
http://wwwistp.murdoch.edu.au/publications...toshortage.html
heres info on what oil spills do to the oceans and the environment
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/..._pollution.html
heres a list of laws our government has set for oil pollution
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/33/ch40schI.html
Info on what oil spills does to birds
http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/hww-fap/hww-fa...ecies=89&lang=e
Public Health Costs and Oil
Transportation is the largest single source of air pollution in the United States. Harmful pollutants in motor vehicle emissions include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (or hydrocarbons), sulfur oxides, particulates and toxic gases such as benzene. In addition, ozone, the primary ingredient in smog, is created when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides react with sunlight. There are a variety of health problems related to exposure to these substances, ranging from eye irritation, to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, to cancer. For example, ozone pollution is responsible for 10% to 20%, and nearly 50% on bad days, of all hospital admissions for respiratory conditions ("Oil Slickers: How Petroleum Benefits at the Taxpayer's Expense," Wahl, J., 1996, Institute for Local Self Reliance). And the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that air toxics emitted from motor vehicles account for half of all cancers caused by air pollution.
Consequently, enormous hidden public health costs come with the transportation sector's use of oil. Economists term these costs externalities because they are not included in the private cost of transportation. A 1997 Congressional Research Service report estimates that $4 billion, or $0.05 per gallon of gasoline, is the additional cost due to ozone-related respiratory health problems, and that tens of billions of dollars, or $0.59 per gallon of diesel, is the additional cost due to morbidity and premature mortality caused by particulates and acidic aerosols ("Oil Imports: An Overview and Update of Economic and Security Effects," Moore, J. et al., December 12, 1997,CRS Report for Congress 98-1).
The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that public health costs due to air pollution account for over three-quarters of the total pollution-related public health costs and could be as high as $182 billion annually. ("Subsidizing Big Oil," 2000, Union of Concerned Scientists). Reducing the amount of petroleum fuels we use and replacing them with cleaner-burning biofuels will decrease air pollution and related public health costs.
http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/economics.html
info on what the air gas powered vehicles release
http://www.ucsusa.org/transportation/cars.html
WEATHER
Introduction
One of the biggest scientists preoccupation nowadays in the weather studies and of environmentalist all around the world is the maintenance of thermal balance of the terrestrial atmosphere, gradually compromised by the industrial activities and by the burning in big scale of the Earth's biomass.
The damage effects to environment, caused by residues dejects form industrial process generated by development, reach a lot of environmental goods, as air, more specifically the atmosphere.
Just for quoting one of these problems, we can talk about the problem with ozone, that is one of the gases that exist in the atmosphere. Ozone avoids the free penetration and in big scale of the ultraviolet rays that are bad for animal life. Otherwise the ozone layer is suffering its diminution by the increasing of gases as CFC and dioxide of carbon (CO2), produced by men, that one in lab and this one as result of the burning of fossil fuels, mainly, which consume ozone, creating a kind of "hole in the atmosphere" known as "ozone hole", from where the ultraviolet rays pass with high grade of dangerous to human beings.
By the decreasing order of cleaning, we can list the use of gas, oil and coal as producers of atmospherical pollution.
All of them, otherwise, collaborate to three big problems: the global heating, the urban-industrial pollution of the air and the environment acidification.
Pollution classification, sources and factors
The air pollution is classified in: pollution by industrial remains; pollution by pesticides, and radioactive pollution.
Atmospherical Sources are: fixed (industries, hotels, laundries etc); movable (automotive vehicles, planes, ships, trains etc.)
Factors that cause air pollution:
- natural factors: are those which have as cause nature forces, as sand storms, heating provoked by rays and volcanically activities;
- artificial factors: are those that are cause by man activity, as the emission of automotive fuel, burning of fossil fuels, radioactive material, burnings etc.
Phenomenon related to atmospherical pollution
- Acid Rain :
Rain will be considered acid when it has pH lower than 5,0, occurring not only in rain form, but also as snow, frost or fog.
It is generated by the burning of fossil fuel burning, producing carbonic gas, oxidized ways of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur. Another component of acid rain is the sulphur acid, generated of the nitrogen oxides in the emission of fossil fuel. Acid rain can be conduced by winds to a long distance, reaching forests, cities and countries far away from the place where its components were produced. These gases, when liberated to atmosphere, may be toxic to organisms.
The sulphur dioxide causes acid rain when it is combined to the water in the atmosphere, in steam way. The sulphur acid drops resultant of this combination generates serious problems to the reached areas.
Besides the serious problems to the natural environment, acid rain also is serious threat to human cultural heritage, corrupting cultural heritage.
- Heater Effect:
It is the increasing of the medium temperature on the Earth, that occurs by the considerable increasing in the concentration of carbonic gas in the atmosphere, provoked mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, forming a kind of "cover" on the Earth, avoiding heat expansion.
The increasing of carbonic gas grade in the atmosphere makes the Earth temperature in constant increasing, what may cause big climatic problems.
Another gases also contribute to the global heating.
- Diminution on the ozone layer:
There is ozone in the troposphere, that is the atmosphere layer where we live, and also in higher layers of stratosphere, between 12 and 50 Km of altitude, where there is the biggest concentration, which is known as "ozone layer" having as function, protecting the planet of the direct incidence of big part of the ultraviolet rays, which is one of the components of solar radiation.
Mainly consequences: with the diminution of the ozone layer, the ultraviolet rays reach the Earth in a brusquer way, provoking serious diseases in human, as skin cancer, heart and lungs problems, hurting, vision problems etc., generated mainly ultraviolet radiation UV-B, the most damage to man.
Environment is also directly reached by the modification in the food chain, as some animal species and plant are extremely sensible to this radiation, as anure amphibian (frogs). Besides, the destruction of the ozone layer can contribute with the unfrozen of part of the ice of the polar layer, causing the big heating of the planet.
Causes: one of the biggest causes of the ozone layer diminution has been the liberation of industrial chemical composes in the atmosphere, called CFC, which is a non-toxic gas, inodore, and chemically inert. It is used in big scale as refrigerator agent of refrigerators and air conditioners, in the manufacture of plastic foam and mainly as can spray propelente, and its chemical inert makes its capable of reaching big altitudes, without modifying itself, until reaching the stratosphere, where the radiation coming form the Sun provokes its broken. The chlore is liberated, reacting to ozone, breaking it in one molecule and one atom of oxygen.
Curiosity: the word ozone comes from the Greek ozein that means bad smell.
- Dense Fog
The dense fog is a climatic phenomena originated by the concentration of a variety of chemical products, specially ozone and NPA, and it is formed when the Sun light font act on the mix of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic composition.
This phenomenon is produced mainly by cars and trunks, and has been happening in São Paulo City and Mexico City. (Manual Global de Ecologia, Walter H. Corson, Ed. Augustus, 1996).
http://www.aultimaarcadenoe.com.br/climaingles.htm
