Could the U.S. Survive Without Foreign Oil?

lololol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

no

 

Sure. We'd just have to reduce our out of control consumption.

 

of course we will "survive" without foreign oil... we'll do what a free society constantly does... assuming costs went up for us, we'll invent and use other methods that were once more expensive than cheap ground oil... and once these other methods are less expensive, we'll use them and simply move forward like we always do... we'll find ways to use less oil, use more man-made oil, create new alternatives to oil for things... we won't end...

its just a matter of shifting cost in society... maybe oil becomes so expensive folks decide to use public transit more, or plan trips better, maybe shipping companies switch more of their fleets than they already are over to natural gas, its a huge change in the trucking industry now... folks will stop buying and making things out of oil and switch to other products and companies will follow the consumer dollars... just as they always have over time...

I mean follow the trend in automobiles americans have bought... it shows what we do when oil changes in price, we adapt and change as well...

 

Actually if not mistaken MOST of our oil for the last several years have been ours and not from the outside.

 

By we I assume Americans. how and when did Americans find it?

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The car can run on solar. Perhaps recharge an electric car from the Solar Charged battery in a home.

 

You had NOTHING to do with Standard Oil or the Seven Sisters... and it was NOT a US government project.

 

And what would that magic new energy source be that has as high of an energy density as oil and is as cheaply available? Nuclear fusion? I've had these type of discussions on here before, but I can't believe the religious belief in the free market fixing it all.

The reality is that unless we control fusion, and that's a BIG if, there won't be any other cheap energy source waiting in the wing to replace oil. In the past, energy transitions have taken place from a inferior to a superior energy source. This time, it will be the other way around, and that will make all the difference.

 

I was referring to his current vehicle. Do you have an electric car?

 

If we wanted to be energy self sufficient, yes. We could do away with the import of all foreign oil, if we really wanted to and therein lies the rub.

 

Ya....They all pretend there is some 'magic fuel' that has 0 emissions while, at the same time, restricting our access to petroleum for which there is world-wide infrastructure meanwhile, eco-frauds like Obama won't even take his famous pen and write one of his unilateral executive orders for all FEDERAL vehicles to run on natural gas which we have in abundance and produces 50% less CO2 which would stimulate the market to build natural gas fueled vehicles at a cost the average American could actually afford and create fuel infrastructure for natural gas. No, it seems that this administration WANTS us to be held hostage to the ME.

 

assuming the price of oil skyrockets, other technologies will replace it... this is nothing new... once there are dollars available someone will come along to sop them up with some bread... why do you doubt the ability of this to happen... there are tons of ways to "create" oil using plants and other organisms... it just costs an arm and a leg compared to a good ole bucket of crude... I'm not saying it won't cost more, it surely will... already the transportation industry is switching to consume more natural gas then ever... people said that would never happen, and it hasn't for a while because oil was just so darn cheap and easy to get... once that changes, society changes along with it...

I mean, if you knocked on my door trying to sell me wind or solar power decades ago, I would have said thats stupid get off my doorstep before I shoot you for trespassing... now I have both and actually get a check from the power company... I got sick of paying 14 cents a kwh... now I pay nothing as the system has paid for itself... and I pump back power to the grid... now lets say you include my digester in this equation, I cover all the electrical needs of the farm, and once again, sell off that power for a healthy profit, that will be paid off in the next couple years, and I can expect a decade or two after that of pure profit...

so how on earth can you NOT imagine a society that would adapt and change? sure it will be expensive, sure it will be disruptive, sure life will change... but we do it every single day already... this is no different... sides, we have a glut of american oil now? so what would hurt us if we cut off foreign oil? we can't use all the junk we're pumping out of the ground now... just go ask the places storing it waiting for the day we can export, or for demand to spike again...

but hey, I wouldn't dismiss fusion if thats the route you want to go either... its an "all of thee above" answer... but the question posed, was, what would happen if america had no foreign oil, well currently we can live without it just fine, so whats the big issue? and as supplies drain down, and prices rise, america will slowly adjust, more and more every year as prices rise and rise... and things will balance out with new inventions and technology to conserve what we have... I mean look how much of our own oil we waste already, you don't think once it becomes more cost effective, we'll find ways to reduce, reuse, and reinvent oil the way we see it today?

why so angry tarzan...

 

ITT: dumb americans who think canadian oil counts as domestic oil.

 

Yes we can. All we need to do is get rid of fools like Obama that wont let us use all our resources.

 

You listened to Dr. Bill didn't you? I've said that before, most of the warm climate states are already plumbed with gas mains. It would create jobs installing the new natural gas pumps in the existing filling stations. I really like Honda's Civic NGX.

 

Technically we can, but it would mean higher gas prices at the pump, more use of alternative energy sources. more mass public transportation, and fewer cars. But it can be done.

 

There are sources of energy that have 0 emissions. The one source of fuel with a zero carbon footprint is nuclear energy. But our problem is what to do with the nuclear waste.

Then you have solar energy with almost no emission expenditure, but our problem is that solar energy is still grossly inefficient for mass production scale.

Then you have the bio fuels, but that competes with our food source as well.

It is all a matter of pros and cons on which source of fuel and where it comes from.

 

I take it you have not worked in the oil/gas industry. To obtain that oil, which is located in very hard areas of drilling, the price per barrel would have to be between $90 to $110 with the most effective at $130 per barrel. That would make the price of gas at the pump around $5 to $6 or regular unleaded. Dr Carson does not talk about that and believes you can have $50 per barrel and still have those oil exploration companies still produce. It only shows you that Dr Carson has no business sense whatsoever.

 

The one thing that is preventing us is cost. It is opportunity cost, cost for substitution, cost for efficiency, cost of mass transportation, cost of changing the infrastructure, etc. Most people want it, but they don't want to pay for it.

 

So, you want the FED to subsidize natural gas, but nor renewables? Got it!

I am not opposed to natural gas as a fuel source. In fact, You can buy natural gas powered vehicles in socialist Europe for a long time. I have a friend there who is driving one. As always. the US is a little behind in these things, because all they can think of is oil.

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Agreed, see my comments on EROI (energy return on energy invested) of tar and shale oil above.

 

Technically, it was under Dubya who allowed alternative energy to flourish with tax credits, deductions, and other measures and people and companies took advantage of that. It was when Dubya left and the GOP had Obama that the GOP turned tailed and ran.

 

If people like you had been running things in the 1850's we would probably by now have turned all the oceans into vast farms for Cetaceans to supply us with billons of gallons of whale oil and still be castigating the dreamers and their impractical petroleum. Change happens, deal with it.

 

Yes...we obviously "Could", it is simply a matter of how much pain we are willing to suffer.
http://csis.org/publication/myth-or-reality-us-energy-independence

I would guess that within a decade of dropping imports the United States will have developed renewable energy and Nuclear to the point that Oil is an afterthought.

 

Nuclear must have a carbon footprint from the mining operations.

 

The carbon footprint is only referenced to the production of the electricity, not the acquisition of the source.

 

I see. But I think it's important to included all aspects of an energy source's creation when evaluating its impact on the environment. Look at the full cycle for nuclear energy from mining to the process of storing the used rods.