Ryan -- Tom, also from the article posted, you learn that the production of uranium also requires -- surprise, surprise, a great deal of petroleum. Everything we do requires it.

Hijexx wrote:
] ryan is the supernicety wrote:
] ] Ryan-- this is really important. I really would like to
] learn
] ] more on this. Are there any good studies or academic papers
]
] ] anyone knows about? This could be the defining point for
] our
] ] generation.
]
] That's an understatement :) There's a good link at the bottom
] of the article:
]
] http://www.newsgateway.ca/by_topic_peak_oil.htm
]
] And I have to say so far, Heinberg's book "The Party's Over"
] puts things in quite a sharp focus.
]
] Tom, there's a great chapter in the book about Non-Petroleum
] Energy Sources. The problem with fuel cells is that they are
] not energy sources, they are just carriers of energy. That
] stems from the fact that the process of hydrogen production
] uses more energy than the hydrogen will yield.
]
] And on ethanol:
]
] "Cornell University professor David Pimentel, who has
] performed a thorough net-energy analysis of ethanol, found
] that an acre of corn ultimately yields, on average, 328
] gallons of ethanol. It takes 1,000 gallons of fossil fuels to
] plant, grow, and harvest this quantity of corn. Additional
] energy must be used in distilling the ethanol. In sum,
] 131,000 BTU are needed to make 1 gallon of ethanol, which has
] an energy value of only 77,000 BTU. This gives ethanol an
] EROEI [Energy Returned On Energy Invested, -ed] of
] roughly .59, meaning a 41 percent net loss of
] energy.[0]
]
] A recent USDA study came to a more optimistic conclusion: it
] claims that ethanol offers a 34 percent energy
] profit.[1] This translates into an EROEI of 1.34,
] still hardly an impressive figure when compared to the
] historic or current EROEI for oil. The practical difference
] between Pimentel's .59 and the USDA's 1.34 is slight. In
] either case, if the entire US automotive fleet were to run on
] pure ethanol, nearly all of the continental US would be
] required in order to grow the feedstock. There would be no
] land left over even to house the American population, let
] alone feed it.
]
] [0] http://unisci.com/stories/20013/0813012.htm
] [1] "Study Finds Ethanol Production Energy Efficient," ENS, 2
] August 2002
]
] Here's the positive study on ethanol:
]
] http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2002/08/0322.htm
]
] The reality is somewhere in the middle probably. The math on
] that puts it at about break even. Once again, back in the
] same boat as hydrogen, an energy carrier, not an energy
] source.
]
] I really recommend this book. It's getting my attention and
] making me think really hard about where we should go from
] here. I think we should all be particularly worried. The
] road map you see, I believe the cartographers do not see the
] cliffs ahead.

RE: Observations and the State of Affairs - Peak Oil