tisonlyi

The con I'm referring to is in the solving of the problems we have with regard to cheap oil, cheap fuel and cheap energy for the _now_. The recent investments in corn, sugar cane, etc, etc on both sides of the pond... for the most part are gov. sponsored con jobs imo. There is probably some valid research going on, but my cynical mind sees Mr Bush delivering (well, regurgitating) a speech mentioning switch grass that has "Go Back To Bed" written all over it...

Solutions to cheap oil problems for the now do not currently include biofuels, because they currently need cheap oil to produce... :s

(Oh, and don't mention whale oil... the last thing we need is the Japanese using more of that kind of biofuel... )

AFAIK, that method is the only reason those heavy oil shales, sands and tars are economically viable at ~$35 rather ~$100... IIRC, even lovely light crudes become commercially unattractive to produce at oil prices of around $15 to the barrel (if i remember the harrowing cries from opec in the mid-late 90's correctly) and uneconomical sub $10 per barrel... Barring miracles, i don't think there's an awful lot further to go after the improvements that were made in the 80's for those very heavy oil shales and sands...

Also, the oil companies will surely remember the burn they 'suffered' from very heavy crudes when oil dropped from ~$70 per barrel in the early 80's to $20 pre barrel and less in the 90's.

And animal materials... that turkey/chicken gut blender seemed like a 'nice' option from what i read about a while back... but there'd be a knock on effect in animal feeds... :s

No giving up in research for biofuels, but we should be applying technologies NOW to reduce demands on cheap oil asap...

Things like this:
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Together with emergency roll-outs for electric vehicles, liquification of coal for trucks, etc, etc...

The fallout from permanently higher, post-peak cheap oil prices could be pretty scary... we need to delay that as far into the future as possible, and the clock is running down fast.

From wikipedia's peak oil entry:

That's pretty much the West's cheap oil supplies. Prices will be heading towards Jupiter from then on.

We won't be heading back to the stone age like some wacky predictions, err, predict, but oil prices are going to keep on climbing for quite some time. We need serious, nigh on draconian mitigation measures in favour of electricity and some sort of great leap sidewards away from the internal combustion engine - and fast... or else we won't be able to afford synthetic rubber tyres for our electric cars.

Anyway, this getting a touch off-topic i think... sorry!

__________________
"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." - Winston Churchill, 1937 --{ORLY?}--