Acidus wrote:

ibenez wrote:

You know, if you LIBERALS...yada yada yada.

Tons of new refineries means dick when the two major pipelines for the south go down.

Supply has become a problem because we have done nothing to slow the demand.

Can you tell that Acidus lives with an energy policy master's student?

He is, of course, 100% correct. The term he is describing is "sustainability". Our current lifestyle isn't going to hold up to the rigors of energy supply and demand.

Someone demanded nuclear power. Build more nuclear plants? Great, except we only have enough uranium supply at current capacity for another 100 years. Also, increasing our capacity to 1/3 of current demand would generate 70,000 MT of waste a year (or, the amount earmarked for sequestration in Yucca mountain). AND, it takes 15 years and $10 million dollars to build a plant which, even so, won't help us a single iota where oil is concerned. Build more refineries? Fabulous, except we only have enough oil for another 10 - 50 years at current consumption no matter who you talk to (unless, of course, that someone is cooking the books for the Whitehouse). Everyone certainly agrees that it is going to get a lot harder technically to recover the oil that's left after production peaks, which some believe has already happened. Price gouging? Imminent shortages? Radical policy change? You bet your ass.

-janelane, biking to school since 2005.

RE: Atlanta may run out of gas.