The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer • Hacker News Board

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#201

Post by stephengillie » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 12:51 AM UTC

scythe wrote: post #148

chocolatebunny wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much more room for improvement is there in gas and diesel?

More than you think. A hybrid car gets more mileage out of its engine for two reasons: - regenerative braking reduces the efficiency penalty of city driving. While a normal car sees a 25-30% mileage drop in stop-and-go traffic, a hybrid sees about 5-8%. - the actual engine is more efficient! The gasoline engine in hybrid vehicles usually replaces the Otto cycle with the Atkinson cycle. The latter is more efficient bu…

As a(n obnoxiously outspoken) 2016 Camry Hybrid owner, it's true. On highway it usually gets ~40 MPG. Below 45 MPH the engine can shut off, and often it coasts along, only using the engine to accelerate or go uphill. My Costco route consistently gets 45-50 MPG, and I use about 28 gallons of gas to go 1,080 miles a month.

Long term, I'm hopeful to replace the NiMH battery with lithium and a plug-in charger.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#202

Post by 0x8BADF00D » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 1:00 AM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #5

It's been fascinating to watch Saudi influence wane over the last few years as this sinks in as the new reality. We live in a completely different power structure now from 20 years ago. They're certainly still obscenely rich, but the power they had over geopolitics via OPEC is effectively gone at this point due to tar sands, renewables, and natural gas.

It turns out that having a theocratic ethnostate is a bad idea. Gee, who would’ve thought.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#203

Post by merpnderp » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 1:10 AM UTC

zeroname wrote: post #68

chocolatebunny wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much more room for improvement is there in gas and diesel?

He didn't say it was due to more efficient motors. Just compare the average MPG of the cars on US roads, running on subsidized gasoline, vs. those on European roads, running on heavily taxed gasoline.

Gasoline in the US is taxed not subsidized.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#204

Post by giobox » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 1:22 AM UTC

tjr225 wrote: post #52

oliveshell wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me personally, 350-400 miles (in the worst case: with the A/C on full blast, up an incline, including frequent stopping and acceleration) would be a start. But it’s also about about refueling (i.e. charging). Until a spot at a supercharger is as easy to come by as a gas station wherever you go, it won’t be the same. Not to mention having to wait 30+ minutes to charge, which can add up on a road trip.

What if there were "battery stations" with charged swappable, standardized batteries? You could do your own charging at home or at work otherwise.

As others have noted, Tesla tried this with a single station off the I5 and quickly abandoned the idea.

The battery is probably the most expensive component in the entire car, and is ultimately a consumable. People would forever be anxious about getting swapped out with a battery with more charge cycles on it than the one they had, ultimately affecting the potential lifespan/resale of the car.

Not an insurmountable problem, but a problem that adds a fair deal of complexity to managing the inventory at the charging stations. From what I’ve read, the software on the few Teslas that used this service didn’t understand the battery had been switched at all, and continued measuring battery health as if it was still the same original battery. I certainly wouldn’t have been keen on this idea at all unless the car correctly tracked these things.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#205

Post by Brakenshire » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 1:28 AM UTC

Shivetya wrote: post #61

chocolatebunny wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much more room for improvement is there in gas and diesel?

consider the expansion of plug in hybrids, similar to the Volt, Clarity, Prius, and Kona, all extend the viability of the petrol engine. In many cases it moves into the roll of a range extender because its weight combined with fuel is drastically less than what battery technology can accomplish; an example is the Model 3 which has nearly 1100 lbs of batteries for 310 miles. engines directly? variable valve timing wil…

Plug in hybrids are probably only viable for a particular range of battery costs. When batteries are expensive it’s worthwhile reducing that cost by spending the extra money on a duplicated drive-train. As the cost of the battery falls the savings by having the extra drivetrain complexity fall.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#206

Post by xref » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 1:31 AM UTC

unexpected wrote: post #155

2trill2spill wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea you are correct, but are there any US Oil and gas producers horizontally drilling wells but not hydraulic fracturing the well?

I work in this industry. To answer your question, yes, there are oil and gas producers horizontally drilling wells, but not fracking them. This is actually quite common in offshore (Gulf of Mexico) environments. Your offshore pad is in a fixed location, and you often drill horizontally to get to the target. These wells are productive enough that you don't need to hydraulically fracture them.

curious, would fracking be used years or decades down the line to extend well life?

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#207

Post by Brakenshire » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 1:39 AM UTC

CompelTechnic wrote: post #30

tim333 wrote: post #28

There was an interesting article The Next Financial Crisis Lurks Underground https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/opinion/the-next-financia... arguing: >...fracking could not have taken off so dramatically were it not for record low interest rates after the 2008 financial crisis. In other words, the Federal Reserve is responsible for the fracking boom. >Frackers haven’t proven that they can make money. “The industry ha…

If we are talking strictly about the economic measures going into a business decision, using (cheap QE) debt to finance capital expenditures was a good idea. The profit being made off of the capex justifies it well. It is not unsustainable in the sense of a business decision.

Fracking requires ongoing capital investment though, so what happens when the interest rates go up?

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#208

Post by DeadlySyns » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 1:42 AM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #99

ddebernardy wrote: post #17

Good on them. But what a sorry state to be in, when global warming and sea level rise related problems already are a reality in Miami or - of all places - Norfolk's naval base.

IIRC, the Norfolk situation isn't really a global warming issue. The entire region is sinking because of geologic issues. Unless I'm thinking of another coastal Virginia city. Anyone from VA know?

You might be referring to the aftermath of the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater, which is one of the largest craters to have struct Earth.

The crater is classified as a complex crater and as a result of the impact, the asteroid left a "W" imprint in the surface. The land on the outskirts of the crater(The "W") is unstable and is most likely what is calling the region around Norfolk to sink.

Someone with more geology knowledge might have more to say about it however :)

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#209

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 2:08 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #183

beat wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At which point just renting a gas vehicle for long trips starts sounding really good.

It sounds good until you want to rent a gas vehicle on the same holiday weekend as everyone else and there are none available.

Luckily, the value of gas vehicles will be driven down with EV sales to the point where everyone could have a spare gas vehicle if they wanted one.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#210

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 2:09 AM UTC

learc83 wrote: post #147

briandear wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for the hassle of renting a vehicle. And, what do you do in a natural disaster?

100 miles is enough range to get out of the way of worst effects of most natural disasters, and plenty of people get by without a car at all.

100 miles would not be sufficient to get out of the path of Hurricane Florence currently on the US eastern seaboard (although Tesla has done of the honors of lifting any restrictions on their software range limited models, as well as providing free SuperCharging to get folks to safety [1]).

[1] https://electrek.co/2018/09/12/tesla-releasing-more-battery-...