OK, its the not-to-distant future and Professor Frink just made an alternative fuel source that is clean, inexpensive, and plentiful. Our need for oil has dropped 99%.
What will happen in the mid-east?
What will happen in the mid-east?
You keep referring to the USA, I'm not talking about the USA. I'm wondering what would happen in the mid-east if the high demand for their oil was gone.limerickman said:Let's get some facts straight before you begin to speculate.
The issue is energy - how to generate energy.
Currently oil is deemed to be the most efficient method of generating energy.
America consumes between 25-30% of daily oil production, worldwide.
The premise of your question needs to be examined.
Professor XYZ comes up with an alternative energy source.
Given that the USA (and the rest of the world) is wholly dependent on oil to fuel to keeps it's entire way of life going in the short term it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference if this new energy source was found
because
(a) the entire US/World infrastructure is engineered to process only one fuel - oil.The capital expenditure required to reconfigure all of the power
station, cars, planes, trains,
manaufacturing processes, domestic light and heating systems, would
run in to literally billions.
(b) the time line for all this reconfiguration would take literally years.
So the Middle East and other oil producing nations ultimately hold the upper hand - even if a new environmentally friendsly cheap source is found.
Chance3290 said:You keep referring to the USA, I'm not talking about the USA. I'm wondering what would happen in the mid-east if the high demand for their oil was gone.
Oil is not the major means for generating electricity in the US.limerickman said:You're all missing the point.
Energy is the issue : oil is currently the means for generating energy.
Colorado Ryder said:Oil is not the major means for generating electricity in the US.
Coal accounts for 51% of electricity generated. Followed by nuclear at 20%, then natural gas at 16%. New generating plants being constructed are natural gas fired.
http://www.electricityforum.com/images/elecgen_graph1.gif
Here is an updated chart.
All transportation is petroleum based. The USA relies heavily on trucks for moving product. Also many manufacturing processes require petroleum based products. Many homes in the Northeast are heated by oil.limerickman said:Thanks for this information - it's very interesting.
But the view is that your economy is very oil dependent - so oil must be used for a whole range of issues such as transport (cars), planes etc.?
Or why else is the USA using so much oil.
25% of daily world oil production is consumed by the USA.
But we're over a barrel here in Europe too (we're all oil dependent).
Let's not forget the millions++ of miles of asphalt roads we drive on as well.Colorado Ryder said:All transportation is petroleum based.
Nothing a little HEU-235 wouldn't take care of.limerickman said:Unfortunately demand for energy is increasing worldwide - with India and China ramping up, the demand for
oil will continue to grow in to the future.
Sources of oil supply however continue to decrease.
lwedge said:Nothing a little HEU-235 wouldn't take care of.
Lw
Sorry Lim. Highly Enriched Uranium-235.limerickman said:you've lost me on this one.
lwedge said:Sorry Lim. Highly Enriched Uranium-235.
LW
Yeah. Places like Australia and Canada.Dondare said:Uranium comes from places which have even nastier governments.
And kazakhstan,which has the world's second largest deposits after oz.Colorado Ryder said:Yeah. Places like Australia and Canada.
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