George W Bush went out on a limb last night and told us that the US had it in its technological know how to develop alternative fuels. America needs these alternative fuels because we are addicted to oil. This is funny, really funny. Wasn’t it 30 years ago when the environmentalists tried to get the government to create incentives for these types of programs? In 30 years we would certainly have already moved over to using hydrogen instead of oil to power not only cars but power plants and homes. Solar and nuclear energy would be used to store the energy in the form of hydrogen. We wouldn’t have created some percentage of the green house gasses that we already have, and we wouldn’t create some amount of the future ones either. Global Warming would have been put into check.
But, the environmentalists were laughed off the world stage and the world got a bit dirtier and hotter. But, now that George W Bush has declared that America is addicted to Oil things will change. After all, America is a technological leader and we will develop some new technology very soon. And, perhaps in twenty years or so we will be able to get the new fuel into the American infrastructure with private companies that will see a profit in this.
Well, too bad for America, because Brazil has already done this. Over 70% of Brazils cars can run on ethanol. Brazil worked with Ford to develop cars that can work on both ethanol and gasoline by virtue of a simple switch. And Brazil has a production and distribution system for creating and producing ethanol fuel. Brazil has worked the bugs out of the system. So, when gasoline costs more than ethanol then ethanol sales go up; and when ethanol is more expensive than ethanol then gasoline sales go up. The fuels are being tied together and the alternative fuels will become an alternative for the world.
So, perhaps it isn’t about America’s addition to oil that Bush cares about. Maybe Bush sees the dominance of the US oil cartel loosing more leverage. If Bush gives money to his oil buddies for them to do alternative fuels research they will simply copy the Brazilian example and put ethanol pumps at every American service station before new entrepreneurs are able to do the same thing more quickly using someone else’s capital. Oil companies aren’t stupid and they know that they could loose 50% of the market share if they don’t jump on the bandwagon quickly. And if gasoline continues to rise, as it is forecast, then alternative fuel could become even more attractive. Oil companies could loose even more market share.
So, this has nothing to do with the environment or care for our planet. In fact, burning ethanol still puts carbon dioxide into the air, but it’s carbon dioxide that has already been there and absorbed by the corn that is grown to make the ethanol. Looking at the system we still get smog in our cities, but it isn’t old smog from that was locked away, but new smog that was in the air last year.
But I still wonder, since America is addicted to oil and the SUV drivers waste more oil than any other drivers. And, addition to anything is considered a sin. And, SUV owners seem to be largely Republicans judging by all the W sticks and yellow ribbons I see on the backs of these vehicles. Given all that, can we finally call these idiots un-American?
Just wondering! But, there is hope that these American who revere George W Bush as if he were God will finally conserve some fuel. Perhaps only drive their SUVs off road like God intended them to be driven. Perhaps they will begin to think of the rest of us as we choke on their inordinate amount of exhaust, and they take up the neighboring parking spaces by virtue of the width of their car. Perhaps they’ll say, “Hey George won’t like if I drive my SUV, better sell it.” There is just so much to be optimistic about our new environment leader.
Environment,Gasoline,Alternative Fuels,Ethanol,Politics
posted by: reducto (reply)
post date: 02.02.06 (2:43 am)
Oh my God, what a fine post. The reason why none of the alternative fuels have worked in the past is that they are too expensive for the consumer.
This is true in Brazil, too. The only difference is that the government funds it. The consumer still pays for it, via taxes. Have you checked the unemployment records in Brazil? It frequently goes from 8-11%. No one can afford-yet- to live with alternative fuels.
It would also stand to reason, since this is a capitalist country, that regardless of where our future alternative fuels come from someone is going to make money from it. Who cares if it is George Bush?
Another fiiiine post.
By the way, if environmentalists were laughed off the world stage the past 30 years expalin why we have the EPA, the Clean Air and Water Acts, no new major oil drilling or nuclear energy expansion, and the phenomenon of it being too expensive to produce steel in this country.
posted by: Rifleman (reply)
post date: 02.02.06 (4:14 am)
We are dependant on foreign oil because the democrats want us to be and can still align with RINO's to sabotage any effort. You see, Jimmy Carter promised the same thing 20 years ago when he saddled the citizenry with Crude Oil taxes.
You see, I respect you as an educated person, so I can't see why you perpetuate the kind of fraud that democrats have engaged in for as long as I can remember. I can understand the average person who hears about hydrogen fuels and thinks the republicans and their beloved oil companies trying to prevent it from ever seeing the marketplace. But the fact is that hydrogen is not a very good fuel and is made by adding large amounts of current to purified water as electrolysis. A fuel cell uses hydrogen much more efficiently than simply burnung it, but a fuel cell is a battery not an engine of motor, and the hydrogen must be replenished from electrolysis, so in the end, the polution is transferred from the vehicle to the power plant, which California doesn't like to build.
In the same way, as you probably know, hybrid technology is not enough fuel efficient to save enough gasoline to make the US independant of oil imports. It is very old technology, as for many years all the railroad locomotives were diesel electric. So exactly why are they now powered by gas turbines? A gas turbine is more efficient! In cars, the hybrid is more efficient only in city driving.
And alterantive fuels are already on the market in spite of obstructive democrats. Willie Nelson already sells a bio-diesel blend in several stations in Texas. Such vegetable oils could be used directly in existing diesel engines with the only problems occuring in cold weather when the oils would congeal. However it is liberals that oppose the use of food crops to power vehicles and such a coversion would destroy democrat corporate welfare plans like farm subsidies.
Instead democrats whine about SUV's and global warming. An SUV is quite a bit more fuel efficient if "USED TO CAPACITY"! Face it, you can't cram 8 adults with 300 pounds of cargo into a honda CRX! Instead, simply owning an SUV will grant you an assumption that you are wasting gasoline. If yiou are using it to capacity, you are saving gasoline!
So, I'll take Bush's promise for the time being, since Jimmy Carter has already lied to us.
posted by: DrForbush (reply)
post date: 02.02.06 (8:36 pm)
Reply to: reducto
Obviously you are just making this up. No one knows what the prices for alternative fuels will be, because the prices are set by supply and demand. If we don't have a supply or a demand, it is hard to judge what the final price would be. If farmers started growing switch grass and corn tomorrow the prices of these crops would fall, because we don't have the demand for them yet, so who will grow them to prove that the price will be low enough to make ethanol a viable fuel. But, as it is ethanol can be produced for less than a dollar a gallon. That gives anyone with a brain to produce it a 150% margin. If you can't live on that don't start a business doing anything, cause 150% margin is supernatural.
As far as Brazil goes, Brazil worked with Ford by giving them grants to build an ethanol burning engine that can switch between ethanol and gasoline. The entreprenuers did the rest. Kind of like in America...
posted by: john (reply)
post date: 03.21.06 (12:55 am)
I am not highly educated with alternative fuels because I'm only 19. I have plenty of time to learn though, and thank all of you for giving your two cents. However, it seems as if your all still missing the "BIG PICTURE"! Wether your democrat or republican is irrelevant and should not be mentioned, because WE are all AMERICANS! With that said we ALL have the same goal, finding and using the cheapest and most efficient fuel available. I would like to see the market introduce ehtanol though. Farming would be given a big boost, as well as the market. More jobs would be created and there would be more competition to make the cheapest and most efficient fuel. I don't see any real negatives in atleast trying to introduce the use of ethanol. So please look for answers and not ways of picking on one another, I mean I'm 19 and mature enough to not pick on any of you. THANKS!
