Comments on: Energy sources, where now – where tomorrow

By: Stan

Stan — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:53:28 +0000

What saved Reagan et al. was the Alaskan and North Sea oil fields coming in. Those, of course, are well past peak production now, but they did return gas to $1 – 1.25 range for long enough to feed our arrogance. It was more than “not following up.” Reagan’s crowd led the defiance of common sense on oil.

You’re right, though. Any coherent energy plan is going to stake out and prioritize how we use our resources, reserving some portion for developing the replacement resources you mention.

But how likely is it we’re going to develop a rational plan?

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:42:01 +0000

Thanks Stan- Point Taken.
How soon we forget. The point still stands we didn’t learn, the price of gas dropped a little and folks forgot about the risks that were identified. While Regan didn’t follow up Congress did nothing either except restrict more and more the available reserves. At the moment we need oil as a bridge to get us to the time when electric cars, fuel cells and appropriate service are widely available.

By: Stan

Stan — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:10:59 +0000

“We should have seen the writing on the wall in the crisis of the 1970’s now the landscape is full of new users and fewer new suppliers.”

The much-abused and often reviled Jimmy Carter did see and announced a program to re-achieve energy independence through combinations of conservation and alternative energy development. Look up his speech. He was shouted down in attacks from the sold-out right wing led by Ronald Reagan, and, a couple months later, ennunciated what came to be known as the Carter Doctrine, that oil supplies in the Middle East were a vital national interest and we would intervene militarily there if needed.

So we saw the writing on the wall the 70′s and said it didn’t matter and declared our oil addiction holy.