A recent report is urging the government to sponsor a demonstration of the technology used to harness solar power in hopes of spurring private investment.
Rising oil prices have made the technology more appealing, and would reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil and help reduce the production of carbon dioxide.
It would be almost 10 years before energy could be prduced in abundance.
Is there a downside to this?
I really think that all our electricity will come from renewable sources sooner than you think. Our children’s children will be amazed that we fought wars for control of energy resources. It will just be there, not even something we have to think about. Nikola Tesla dreamed of wireless energy transmission and worked on it for years before his funding was pulled, and people have been trying to do type of thing for years. With something like solar power plants, I have to ask who is funding it and what’s in it for them. How will it be distributed? Does it have enough momentum to push out existing technologies? There’s a lot of money invested in the infastructure to distribute electricity and politicians are in bed with the oil and coal industries. Would power lines become obsolete? I’d really like to read more about this report. Please add a link or source if you can!
Oil has become an important part of the modern life. That’s why I chose to do my summer assignment on oil. I encountered my summer assignment topic, and found that there has been a conflict in the Nigerian Delta over oil. This conflict has been caused Ijaws and other tribes fighting “with each other and the federal government.” (_____________________) I chose this as my project because this conflict has not been in the news often like other conflicts such as the conflict with Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, North Korea, and Columbia. This conflict doesn’t seem to bring the media’s attention, but I think the United States should keep a closer eye on Nigeria since it is “America’s fifth largest supplier.”(____________) I chose this project to learn more on this conflict since oil is an important resource in America and through my research felt angered at the Nigerian government for their actions toward the people of Nigeria.
Nigeria is in danger of being corrupt. When oil is discovered in a country that is “poor, (and) fighting over scraps,” we would think it would be the end of poverty, but not so with Nigeria. Nigeria “pulls in $14 billion a year in oil revenue.” I blame the Nigerian government for not putting an end to poverty. Nigeria’s new wealth has been taken by “politicians, in particular by the country’s military, brought to power in the country’s late 1960s civil war,” who have been robbing the country’s finance ever since. There is no reason that the people of Nigeria should be poor, because the oil has been found on their land and belongs to the people of Nigeria.
The Ijaws used to be a “easygoing minority tribes, earning their living with other tribes by fishing in canoes harbored in the board delta of the Nigerian River,” but that was forty years ago. Most of the country’s production comes from the Nigerian Delta which is now causing violent outbursts. The Ijaws are now destroying pipelines, setting fire to pipelines, protesting, selling oil they steal from pipelines and even kidnapping people. The country is in total chaos. Crime and Violence has caused a “20 percent drop in Nigeria’s oil production” which meant “a shortfall of 455,000 barrels daily.” They have even stepped up their attacks on foreign oil. Even Shell announced an evacuation in February of 2006 to evacuate “an oil platform off its Atlantic coast as a precaution, shutting an additional 115,000 barrels a day.” In January, “militants held four men- from the United States, Britain, Bulgaria, and Honduras for 19 days before releasing them unharmed.” Tribes like the Ijaws, that were once peaceful are now armed and have been fighting for years claiming to be fighting “for better distribution of the country’s wealth.” I was shocked when I found out that even militants who claim to be fighting and representing the people of Nigeria have actually “evolved into criminal gangs, adept at stealing huge amounts of oil to sell on black markets, the proceeds of which are used to buy ever more sophisticated weapons.”
Even though the United States is not involved in the conflict, this conflict does affect the United States. Nigeria is the fifth largest supplier of oil “to the United States, after Mexico, Venezuela, Canada, and Saudi Arabia.” Almost half of Nigeria’s oil is sent to the United States. Nigerian oil is prized by refiners because “it is of a light, sweet variety that is easier and cheaper to refine that the thicker and sulfur-rich kind that comes from the Middle East and Venezuela.” Nigeria determines the price of oil in the United States. The United should keep a closer eye on Nigeria if they want to oil prices in America to go down. Nigeria has played an important role Africa and “is crucial to all of West Africa, having provided the military troops and negotiating forums to quell civil war and related violence in neighboring countries. “ Nigeria has also helped on fighting terrorism by trying to “monitor and defuse an encroaching fundamentalism among its own Muslims.” Several American companies haves stakes in Nigeria such as “Mobil, Chevron Texaco and Halliburton.” In my opinion the United States is not doing anything to stop oil from rising. I believe the United States should be more involved with the conflict in Nigeria.
You have to explain the role of big oil corporations in keeping the figth in Nigeria
Am investigation and report by Essential Action and Global Exchange found that:
Oil corporations in the Niger Delta seriously threaten the livelihood of neighboring local communities. Due to the many forms of oil-generated environmental pollution evident throughout the region, farming and fishing have become impossible or extremely difficult in oil-affected areas, and even drinking water has become scarce. Malnourishment and disease appear common.
The presence of multinational oil companies has had additional adverse effects on the local economy and society, including loss of property, price inflation, prostitution, and irresponsible fathering by expatriate oil workers.
Organized protest and activism by affected communities regularly meet with military repression, sometimes ending in the loss of life. In some cases military forces have been summoned and assisted by oil companies.
Reporting on the situation is extremely difficult, due to the existence of physical and legal constraints to free passage and free circulation of information. Similar constraints discourage grassroots activism.
…
While the story told to consumers of Nigerian crude in the United States and the European Union — via ad campaigns and other public relations efforts — is that oil companies are a positive force in Nigeria, providing much needed economic development resources, the reality that confronted our delegation was quite the opposite. Our delegates observed almost every large multinational oil company operating in the Niger Delta employing inadequate environmental standards, public health standards, human rights standards, and relations with affected communities. These corporations’ acts of charity and development are slaps in the face of those they claim to be helping. Far from being a positive force, these oil companies act as a destabilizing force, pitting one community against another, and acting as a catalyst — together with the military with whom they work closely — to some of the violence racking the region today.
Are mindless sheep who don’t know the facts?
Proponents for drilling make the argument that setting up offshore drilling will reduce America’s dependence on other countries for oil.
A few key facts:
1. Offshore drilling here in the United States will not bring us lower gas prices. Oil prices are determined by the global oil market
2. Increased oil production doesn’t mean that we will pay less for gas. From 1999 to 2007, the amount of drilling permits increased by 361 percent.
3. It would take at least a decade for oil companies to obtain permits, procure equipment, and do the exploration necessary to get the oil out of the ground, most industry analysts say. And even then, they add, the amount of new oil produced would probably be too small to significantly affect world oil prices.
4. By 2027, gas prices would only fall by 3.5 cents per gallon if we drill for oil offshore.
DNA fairy, you are right, the two "speculations" slightly conflict. To edit, it should be stated that the oil production would make a 3 cent change 20 years from now.
they’ve been drilling in the gulf for the past few years and look where gas prices are………
"Production" means actually bringing the oil or gas up out of the ground. If 85 million barrels of oil per day are produced, 85 million barrels are pumped out of wells each day. More oil than that may be available, and pumps may or may not be able to pump more up, but only the oil actually pumped up is counted as production.
Video describing my home veggie oil filtration set up.
I filter used cooking oil from a local restaurant and burn it as fuel in my 2001 diesel Volkswagen Jetta TDI. And I’m about to explain and show everything I did to accomplish this.
More info at http://smellslikefries.blogspot.com/
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PERSONNEL
Total Population: 71,892,808 [2008]
Population Available: 39,645,893 [2008]
Fit for Military Service: 33,444,999 [2008]
Reaching Military Age Annually: 1,298,979 [2008]
Active Military Personnel: 514,000 [2008]
Active Military Reserve: 380,000 [2008]
Active Paramilitary Units: 148,700 [2008]
ARMY
Total Land-Based Weapons: 6,672
Tanks: 4,205 [2007]
Armored Personnel Carriers: 830 [2007]
Towed Artillery: 685 [2007]
Self-Propelled Guns: 868 [2007]
Multiple Rocket Launch Systems: 84 [2007]
Mortars: 5,813 [2007]
Anti-Tank Guided Weapons: 1,283 [2007]
Anti-Aircraft Weapons: 1,664 [2007]
NAVY
Total Navy Ships: 182
Merchant Marine Strength: 602 [2008]
Major Ports and Harbors: 6
Aircraft Carriers: 0 [2008]
Destroyers: 0 [2008]
Submarines: 13 [2007]
Frigates: 24 [2007]
Patrol & Coastal Craft: 28 [2007]
Mine Warfare Craft: 24 [2007]
Amphibious Craft: 8 [2007]
AIR FORCE
Total Aircraft: 1,199 [2007]
Helicopters: 336 [2007]
Serviceable Airports: 117 [2007]
FINANCES (USD)
Defense Budget: $30,936,000,000 [2009]
Foreign Exch. & Gold: $76,510,000,000 [2007]
Purchasing Power: $853,900,000,000 [2007]
OIL
Oil Production: 45,460 bbl/day [2005]
Oil Consumption: 660,800 bbl/day [2005]
Proven Oil Reserves: 300,000,000 bbl [2006]
LOGISTICAL
Labor Force: 23,530,000 [2007]
Roadways: 426,906 km
Railways: 8,697 km
GEOGRAPHIC
Waterways: 1,200 km
Coastline: 7,200 km
Square Land Area: 780,580 km
Turkey is 4th largest army of the world and Nato 2th after USA
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Take note of how clear the water is in this spearfishing video. It’s not very well known that oil rigs make great support systems for fish and other sea life. A man made artificial reef. Video from Divers.
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JJTech jet pump operation using a Wanner T80 series diaphragm pump on surface. Call us @ 936.494.3773 or visit our website @ www.j-jcompanies.com for more information.
JJ Tech holds USA and selected foreign country patents on its line of Jet Pumps and accessories. This pump was developed to produce large volumes of sub-surface formation fluids with inclusions of moderate to high solid content.
The unique patented design allows easy retrieval of the pump from deviated and horizontal wells. Retrieval of the pump from the hole for replacement of the nozzle or expansion tube is done by manipulation of the surface valves and reverse circulation of fluid with the existing production equipment (plunger pump, surface SP). No wire line, pulling unit or work over rig is required.
Wanner Hydra-Cell T Series pumps feature an exclusive seal-less design that eliminates clean up costs from leaking seals or packing and protects operators from dangerous fluids such as those containing hydrogen sulfide.
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The fabulous YESMen along with Global Exchange are up to their activist antics bouncing their famous Halliburton Survivaball Executives down the San Francisco streets to protest against the profit before people and planet position of Chevron around the world.
In 2009, San Ramon, CA based Chevron became the fifth largest corporation in the world. And seven out of the ten largest corporations are oil companies. Despite greenwashing campaigns to describe itself as environmentally focused, Chevron has committed less than 3 per cent of its capital and exploratory budget on alternative energy investments.
Over the last decade, Chevron-affected communities from California, Ecuador, Burma, the Philippines, Nigeria, Iraq and beyond, have increasingly worked in coordination to hold Chevron and the entire oil industry in check.
Chevron has successfully lobbied to keep California from enacting extractive oil taxes.
For more information:
Global Exchange http://www.globalexchange.org
Yes Men http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/
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When I was little what scared me most was what might be hiding in my closet in the middle of the night. Any monster in my closet has nothing on peak oil O.O So next time your child is upset cause he thinks a monster might be in the closet, just sit him down and explain peak oil. He won’t think the monster so bad anymore.
Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. The concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, and the combined production rate of a field of related oil wells. The aggregate production rate from an oil field over time usually grows exponentially until the rate peaks and then declines—sometimes rapidly—until the field is depleted. This concept is derived from the Hubbert curve, and has been shown to be applicable to the sum of a nations domestic production rate, and is similarly applied to the global rate of petroleum production. Peak oil is often confused with oil depletion; peak oil is the point of maximum production while depletion refers to a period of falling reserves and supply.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
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