101–110 of 132 posts
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> the alliance is based around a lot more than just oil, curious what else
If anything the military side of things is far more advantageous to us than the oil. They are the major counter balance to the theocracy in Iran that would like to unbalance the entire region and establish an Iranian born caliphate.
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Isn't it typical for each economy to export the thing it is best at producing? Also look at Norway--huge petroleum wealth, lots of Teslas because oil is dirty.
Not quite. It exports everywhere there is a comparative advantage. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage
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You in fact shouldn't know this as the EIA reports that 3,239,699 barrels of petroleum products were consumed in august of this year alone for electrical generation in the US (source https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/browser/index.php?tbl=T... )
I'll change my comment from not -> hardly. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3 While your number seems like a lot, it's really just a drop in the bucket. The US consumes close to 8 billion barrels of oil annually. I was, however, surprised that it was still as high as 0.5%.
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>There are no electric alternatives for most long distance transportation, which is a huge chunk of our energy consumption. What about trains?
At this point, there are no long distance electric trains in the US. Odd, it seems like it would be mutually beneficial to have the electric grid run on rail right of way and be used to power trains.
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But again, if electricity is cheap enough, why not electric trains like we do in Europe? Or hydrogen if you need some energy storage on board? See http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/could-hydrogen-train... I bet that this would be much better for the environment than algae.
>why not electric trains like we do in Europe? While electrification of the US freight rail network certainly may happen, you have to remember the US is twice as large as the EU (9.1M sq km vs 4.5M sq km) and only a quarter the population density (33 vs 117 per sq km). Long distance passenger train routes don't really make sense (electrified or not, very few people want to spend 2 days on the train when a flight is 4…
Some intersection of actually-competitive pricing and higher speed tracks, and it seems like rail would have the potential to be plenty competitive. Lower vehicle purchae, maintenance & fuel costs, greater comfort. If I could make a 2 hour flight in 4 or 6 hours by train for 90% of the cost, I'd probably never fly again.
Texas is in a funny place. They are pumping oil like crazy, but they are building wind like crazy as well. Look at the City of Austin and the amount of renewables year over year: https://data.austintexas.gov/Utilities-and-City-Services/Gen... You can see a real-time chart of energy mix here: https://austinenergy.com/ae/about/environment/renewable-powe... Most days renewables are 50% of electricity consumes. I pay a b…
Oil is an important automotive fuel, but it's a chemical stock for everything that's touching your skin at the second. Hilariously, we should probably start wondering if our plastics come from oil sourced from "ethicality regulated states" or something.
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America now produces enough oil that cutting off Saudi Arabia wouldn't be any kind of energy crisis. The only reason to be nice to tolerate their journalist murders at this point is for military strategic advantages in the middle east.
>for military strategic advantages in the middle east. Really? As a European, I feel much closer to Iran's history and culture than Saudi Arabia's. My understanding is that the US chose a side a long time ago (cf. ARAMCO foundation) and decided to go "all in", even if it goes a long way against its interest. And things are getting worse with time.
Everyone is now rushing to sell oil, before demand for it will start falling rapidly.
This also gives countries a great opportunity to raise fuel/carbon taxes without suffering high oil prices -- which would keep demand lower, resulting in even lower pre-tax prices and a very helpful feedback loop.
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Natural gas is an alternative to oil for long distance transportation, although both are still fossil fuels. Progress is being made on algae biofuels. If electricity gets cheap enough it can be used to make synthetic hydrocarbon liquid fuels.
But again, if electricity is cheap enough, why not electric trains like we do in Europe? Or hydrogen if you need some energy storage on board? See http://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/could-hydrogen-train... I bet that this would be much better for the environment than algae.
The US freight network hasn't yet managed to fully rollout positive train control, electrification seems like a much harder problem. Moving freight requires a lot more power than moving people, and also has a lot more sidings and things. Some lines run double height cars, which I'm guessing would add additonal complications.