tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12596769.post114099748468890510..comments2023-12-23T13:25:43.770-08:00Comments on Rob Kremer: Bush, Kulongoski, and renewable fuelsRob Kremerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13842508120324878364noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12596769.post-1141791835194751442006-03-07T20:23:00.000-08:002006-03-07T20:23:00.000-08:00I just reread this post. 1995 had low prices but 1...I just reread this post. 1995 had low prices but 1998 was the year that oil prices really bottomed out. (Arco and BP merged, Chevron bought Texaco, and Phillips 66 began to gobble up every BKing underperformer out there). SorryDare!PDXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03048270494443595647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12596769.post-1141367871076942922006-03-02T22:37:00.000-08:002006-03-02T22:37:00.000-08:00Feigned Sanity-Your understanding of petroleum eco...Feigned Sanity-<BR/><BR/>Your understanding of petroleum economics is a little suspect. First off these OPEC nations are forced to sell at world prices regardless of how low they are willing to sell. Even if they sell below market somewhere in between someone else will pick up the value difference.<BR/><BR/>Second, oil does have a limited demand. In 1995 oil bounced back between $8-$10 a barrel (this would be supply far ahead of demand). This led to financial issues throughout the dictatorships that contribute to OPEC and a rapid consolidation of major oil companies as they were running from bankruptcy. The world price for oil must stay above $15 a barrel in order to float the whole system. <BR/><BR/>Right now oil is floating between $60 and $75 a barrel. This premium of $45-$60 goes into the coffers of those who want us dead. <BR/><BR/>If American demand is significantly reduced it would go along way in reducing the fortunes amassed by those that would do us harm and prop up other like-minded dictators. There is alot of talk about Iran filling the void of the Soviet Union in the third world. This would not bode well for our free people anywhere. A $5 a barrel reduction is alot of AK-47 that Iran and Saudi Arabia don't buy. <BR/><BR/>Furthermore the sustainable technologies spawned would fuel our economy with efficiencies that other ecnonomies would be decades behind. This would go directly to productivity and a slowdown of the global warming contributing CO2 would be a dividend as well. <BR/><BR/>Efficient energy usage is no different than efficient processor power in computers or speed of communication and delivery. The money saved would also have the same economic stimulation as an increase in real wage. The time and money you save contributes all through our economy.Dare!PDXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03048270494443595647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12596769.post-1141109206145935792006-02-27T22:46:00.000-08:002006-02-27T22:46:00.000-08:00Rob-Your wrong in your analysis in several ways. ...Rob-<BR/><BR/>Your wrong in your analysis in several ways. First off - our economy IS addicted to foreign oil!!! We are dependent like a junkie on oil that props up dictators and extremists the world over. We are undermining and self-destructive in our importation of foreign BTU's of hydrocarbon fuels. No other nation in the world would allow this much of their GDP to be exported to people who want them dead. China won't; no one in Europe will; we are alone in our insistance on oil when simple fixes lead everywhere else.<BR/><BR/>I would support the President whole-heartedly in laying a $5 a barrel or even a BTU tax on energy imports to move over to university level research and infrastructure grants for sustainable fuels.<BR/><BR/>Second - Ethanol is a good deal all the way around. Prior to Katrina shutting down the refining capacity of the southwest wiping out our supply of ethanol to off-set the drop in available petro-gas ethanol was actually cheaper than gasoline. Ethanol is a true alternative (price, performance, and infrastructure use) for gasoline when gas is above about $1.75 a gallon. It also is used alot to blend off-spec gasoline into spec as it is a superior product to standard gas when looking at octane rating (Arco gasoline is blended with 10% ethanol year round to make it meet required octane requirments).<BR/><BR/>Third - Ethanol plants are not a place that you ship corn to. They are a place to put agricultural waste products and non-food grade corn instead of a land fill. If corn doesn't meet a quality for consumption (such as it's spoiling or it's genetically modified and barred from human food-supplies)it's ethanol bound and at a profit. It support agriculture and keeps this economic output compounding within our own borders.<BR/><BR/>Other examples of profitable, self-sustaining Ethanol operations: Coors brewery in Colorado set up a ethanol plant to reprocess their mash before sending it off as waste. Cellulose ethanol plants (the ones Prez. Bush talked about in the state of the union) take wood waste and paper waste creating fuel from something normally just incinerated. (We have at least one of these going on line near Portland in the next six months). Farmers coops popping up throughout the mid-west to create a market for their crops when shipping or other costs make selling prohibitive. Also, specific nitrogen rich grasses and plant species grown as a rotation crop that offers the additional benefit of being sold as an ethanol feed source instead of just being plowed under.<BR/><BR/>Go to E85fuel.com to learn more about ethanol as an alternative fuel. It seriously is a good deal all the way around. <BR/><BR/>I would also like to say that all we would need to do is alter the Clean Air act slightly to concentrate on CO2 over the other emmissions and magically we would have the same clean-diesel technology that Europe uses. 50mpg in a full size car or small SUV is common. <BR/><BR/>The Kitzhaber/Westlund (and now bandwagon jumper Kulogonski) "Oregon Appollo Project" is a bad deal. This your right about. But realize it for what it is. An attempt by democrats to make domestic energy a partisan football. Don't fall into their trap. Our side needs to address this energy issue straight up and head on. <BR/><BR/>As Dick Cheney said, "the American way of life is non-negotiable." But offering real choices for the market place to take a path is not compromising, its truly being American.Dare!PDXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03048270494443595647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12596769.post-1141083983966788112006-02-27T15:46:00.000-08:002006-02-27T15:46:00.000-08:00It's worth noting that not all agriculture is the ...It's worth noting that not all agriculture is the same when it comes to subsidies. Certain crops, mostly grown in the midwest and south (wheat, corn, rice), get MAJOR govt subsidies. Most so called "minor" crops (apples, mint, asparagus, etc.) get very liitle or no govt subsidies.MMWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17073848240393577888noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12596769.post-1141075374769042602006-02-27T13:22:00.000-08:002006-02-27T13:22:00.000-08:00I find it unlikely that oil production is not subs...I find it unlikely that oil production is not subsidized.<BR/><BR/>Don't you?rickyragghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06541867920127691919noreply@blogger.com