Energy dependence: what we can do TODAY! RIGHT NOW!

[johnaries]

Bushit keeps saying that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and implying that the solutions are "just around the corner" (just like a stable Democracy in Iraq). That it's sometime in the near future.

Well, the future is.... NOW!

Some background:

A - Although I'm sure you've seen the GM commercials by now, GM is not the only company making E85 (85% Ethanol)vehicles. Some companies actually stopped building E85 versions of their popular models because of a lack of demand.

B - The State of Mn has already passed a law requiring that all diesel sold in the state be at least B20, which is basically a mix of 80% standard diesel and 20% (wait for it....) USED vegetable oil! Although most modern diesel engines can handle much higher mixes, and the bio diesel actually cleans the engine and extends the life of the engine. There is a DUer ( wish I could remember his name) who has posted that he has a diesel pick-up truck and when he needs to fuel up he goes by the gas station first and gets a few gallons of diesel, and then stops by the local fast food restaurant and fills up with used oil before they get pumped into the grease traps. The only notable difference he related is that his truck always smells like KFC.

C - Fuel cell vehicles work. Right now. Today. The only 2 issues are 1. they cost about $3k more to produce (right now) than internal combustion engines and 2. problems with producing and storing hydrogen.

However, there are fuel cells that can run off of ethanol and even gasoline (and get over 100 mpg from gasoline), which only leaves the problem of the additional cost of building them - which will go down somewhat if demand increases and which I also address later.


Here's just part of my plan, focusing on "transportable" fuel:

1 - SUPPLY. Stop paying subsidies to farmers to "not grow crops". Instead, offer them guaranteed low interest loans to start growing energy crops like corn, switch grass, etc.

2 - INFRASTRUCTURE. Offer tax incentives (after allowing the "give the rich a free ride" tax cuts to expire) to gas stations if they supply Ethanol and Biodiesel. (NOTE: Most gas and diesel stations use "blend" technology. You know how most stations offer REG (low-grade), SUPER (mid-grade), and PREMIUM (hi-grade) gas?

Most of them only have 2 tanks, Regular and Premium (only 2 tanks are cheaper because of EPA standards, and since Ethanol is safer for the water table the stricter EPA standards are not necessary which also makes it cheaper for the station, but that's another discussion), and the dispensers are set to "blend" the 2 tanks to create the mid-grade fuel by using 50% Reg and 50% Prem (or 60% Reg, of 70% Reg.... the location can control the percentage. Think about that and why you may not be getting the benefit from your mid-grade fuel you expected, if you actually BUY mid-grade fuel. Who does?).

SO, offer the gas stations a temporary tax incentive (5 years?) to replace the REG gas with Ethanol, and instead of Mid-grade re-mix the dispenser ratios to offer pure Ethanol (for fuel cell vehicles), an E85 blend (for "flex-fuel" vehicles), and Premium for gas-only vehicles.

3 - Demand that as all government-owned fleets are replaced they are replaced by E85, fuel cell, or hybrid vehicles. (trust me, I work in the transportation industry. This will prompt a LOT of change in our infrastructure).

4 - Offer tax incentives to CONSUMERS to encourage them to buy alternative energy vehicles. These should be done in the form of immediate "sliding scale rebates".

We must remember that most average consumers for large purchases (such as cars) will only take advantage of a rebate if it can be applied to the initial purchase price, which in effect lowers the purchase price.

For an example, if someone buys a hybrid vehicle, they get a tax refund of (example) $1000. Rather than wait for the $1000 refund later (because they simply don't have the money to spend "right now"), they are much more likely to take advantage of the refund if it can be applied directly to the purchase price. But, I'm sure car companies will be willing to work with the Government on this issue since it will ultimately increase their sales.

As far as the "sliding scale" aspect, I suggest that the amount of the rebate be directly tied to the "energy efficiency index" of the car. For example, $1000 for a hybrid, $3000 for an E85, %5000 for a fuel cell car (just pulling those outta my butt, but you get the idea).

I am still in favor of long term research, but these are things we could implement TODAY, and begin to see benefits by the end of the fiscal year - not ny 2025. I hope that by 2025 we'll have even better options - if we choose to take advantage of them!

[SongOfTheRayne]

1. Better yet.....instead of GROWING things to use as fuel....

use BYPRODUCTS of the already-existing agricultural industry. You have some really good ideas...:yourock:

[johnaries]

11. Thanks! But not my ideas. It's already out there!

We just have to get people to take advantage of it.

For some reason, that's always the hard part......

[gekeeley]

2. Bush pushed...

switchgrass.

So, we should probably avoid trying that.

I saw a show on PBS with Arnold Vinick...err Alan Alda... about alterantive energy cars and the hydrogen car was absolutely amazing.

Viva hydrogen!!

[johnaries]

6. Switchgrass was touted as an efficient source of ethanol

long before B* talked about it.

Bottom line, B* talks about it "in the future". It's available TODAY.

We shouldn't give up on hydrogen. But B*'s timetable is totally f*cked.

[gekeeley]

7. Oh I agree..

I just find it hard to follow any of Bush's initiative, no matter what they may be. Iraq? Bad. Social Security Reform? Bad. Human-Animal Hybrids? Ehh... I'm open to it.

[johnaries]

14. The Union of Concerned Scientists

touted the benefits of biomass fuels and especially Switch-Grass long before Bushit mentioned it in his SOTU address. They have also be extremely critical of the Bush admin for BLOCKING serious research.

Do you even know what "human-animal hybrids" are? Do you know what a "chimera" is? Even a "naturally occuring chimera" is? Do you even care, or does it just "sound bad" and so you just automatically decide against it without actually finding out what it is?

"Woo-hoo! My state just passed a law outlawing a man osculating a woman!" "It sounds disgusting, I can't imagine that any decent Christian man would want to osculate the woman he vowed to love and protect!" "Osculation, in or out of wedlock, leads to other sins too numerous and to repulsive to repeat here!",

"What? Osculate means 'to kiss'? So, if my 80 year old grandmother tried to kiss me on my birthday i can tell her that it's a sin? SWEET!"

[Jane Austin]

3. I use Willie Nelson's B20 in my Passat

and I love it. I think my car runs quieter on it.

Wish I didn't have to drive to South Austin to get it.

[johnaries]

10. The biggest "warning" against B20 is to watch your filters,

because B20 cleans your engine and dislodges all the nasty, dirty deposits that have built up.

B20, B80, and B100 actually clean your engine and extend your engine life (although new engines can use B100 without modification, I can't remember off-hand which enginge models and/cannot take B100).

The 2 drawbacks is that Biodiesel does have increased NOx (smog) emmisions, and it doesn't perform well in freezing temps. Hell, #2 diesel doesn't perform well in winter - (my company processes fuel transactions for the Trucking Industry - although we're sticklers for making sure that truckers only get what their trucking companies allow them to get, the one exception is during the winter - if a trucker in Canada gets "1 diesel but is only allowed #2, we know #2 will freeze his lines and we'll approve it. His company thanks us later, even though we broke their own rules.)

You are not imagining things that your car runs quieter on it. It's a proven fact. We just need to make it available at your local gas station!

Which we can, with just a little "tweak" or "incentive" or two...

[Jane Austin]

18. Yup, yup, yup. I'd love it if I didn't have to plan when to go get fuel.

Thanks for all the information.

I think my car is new enough not to have built up too much crud before I started with the B20.

[MazeRat7]

4. If the goal is to reduce dependency on foreign oil.. then

The three logical choices of what can be used "today" are:

1) Coal
2) Nuclear
3) Natural Gas

Near term there is solar and wind for limited amount of energy generation.

Long term there is hydrogen (which requires NG or the like).

Bottom line, all these are available as a stepping stone to reducing our dependency on oil. The downside is all these (with the exception of nuclear) create green house gasses. But then your post only ask about removing the dependency on foreign oil not what was the best move overall off for the economy and the environment. *grin.

MZr7

[johnaries]

15. I have to strongly disagree.

1 - coal: coal has to be mined. the mining processs itself is costly, detrimental to the environment, and hazordous.

2 - nuclear: uranium is a limited resource, and it must be refined. Plus there is the problem with the waste product which has a radioactive half-life of 10,000 years - which means it will be 20,000 years until it is inert.

3 - natural gas; again, a non-renewable resource, and usually a by-product of oil drilling.

Solar energy and Wind energy all have a place in my personal overall plan for our energy future, but the major "block" is in what I identified as "transportable" energy. Solar and wind energy as well as geo-thermal energy can be transmitted across power lines.

However, I was trying to address the "biggest stumbling block", taking the energy with you over the road.

In a total energy picture, yes, solar, wind, geo-thermal, and even fuel cell technology all play major parts. But I was waiting to address those separately.

[Kansas Wyatt]

5. Shut down the military, except for defense only

And divert all military funding to the development of new technology. We could even use the former militaristic infrastructure already in place. If they developed and built the A-Bomb in three years, surely they could quickly find a replacement to the combustible engine.

Big Oil & the Military Industrial Complex may react violently, but they'll just have to get over it for the good of the country. After all, they always want what's best for the country.

[SongOfTheRayne]

13. Think of all the things we could do if we cut back millitary spending....

Poland has an excellently equipped and excellently trained army and they don't spend nearly as much on it as we do..... we could do the same, help the environment, AND make the court systems so much more efficient so that people would get trials quicker. Imagine....

Maybe eventually they would even get to the point where it wouldn't take a YEAR for them to get my book copyrighted......but now i'm just ranting.

[johnaries]

17. Great point! Even if we just STOPPED the outsourcing

or "privatization" of military spending. Although I agree that military spending was "out of control" and should be "reigned-in", KBR's performance is appalling! To everyone who spouts "private enterprise is the most efficient", well, if you're looking at KBR (aka Halliburton which is still paying Cheney in stock options), as much as I complained about the military when I was in service, I have NEVER seen this level of incompetence!

The ONLY time that I have seen incompetence of this tis magnitude was when the company had discovered that it could make more money on incompetence than competence.

Sound like the movie "The Producers"? No way it could be real, right?

I worked for that company. I was a manager for that company. I understood their accounting practices, and saw right through them.

Hot Stop Convenience Stores.

You may notice they are no longer in business. But the Founders are rich! They manipulated inventories and arranged for thousands of employees to be fired on trumped-up charges, and they bankrupted the company that they founded....

but they are drinking pina coladas on the beach, right now.

[johnaries]

20. Wasn't the military SUPPOSED to be for "defense only"?

You brought up an excellent point. Actually several excellent points!

Hmmm, wasn't there a politician in the past that tried to warn us against this? Certainly, it wasn't a President; No President of the United States would have issued a warning against something like the Military-Industrial Complex, would he?

[wuushew]

8. Don't forget increased CAFE standards

something the Congress repeatedly votes against.

[upi402]

9. Rethugs wont, liberals will do that

But will Dem nominees state facts and make Rethugs react to their good plans. Then move to the next good plan on a tight, simple list of plans/issues.

That's be a hopeful turn.

[johnaries]

21. That's why we use "tax incentives" and "low interest loans"

Yes, rethugs only understand $$$$$

That's why we use $$$$ as a carrot. And a stick.

[SpiralHawk]

12. Excellent - K & R

I especially like point number 1, because it will bring more farmers back to the earth across the nation, and especially in the heartland (screw that Orwellian Homeland shit).

But we damn well better raise those Energy Crops organically, for the streams and the aquifers cannot take any more toxins. Those toxins wind up in our bodies. D'oh.

But vast, new fields of Energy Crops can be grown in non-toxic, non-genetically polluted ways. Those crops can -- and should -- heal the earth, rather than stealing from it or poisoning it or causing it to mutate in unpredictably dangerous ways. Toward this end we need to apply our American genius. It can be done.

1 - SUPPLY. Stop paying subsidies to farmers to "not grow crops". Instead, offer them guaranteed low interest loans to start growing energy crops like corn, switch grass, etc.

[johnaries]

16. Great point! Thank you! We should also think about "reclamation"

The aquifers are getting close to depletion anyway, as I'm sure you know.

I understand that it is tempting for many farmers to use "shortcuts" which produce better drop, they don't always see the problems that the runoff causes downstream. The "Muddy Mississip" is a perfect example. I'd go swimming in the Mississippi in Illinois - no way I'd jump in at New Orleans.

We can fix that. Easily. If we "want to".

Mother Earth is watching us. She won't hesitate to shake us off her back like so many fleas... which we are. Don't talk about "saving the Earth", talk about saving our place on the Earth.....

[johnaries]

19. I want to point out that I believe we need a 3-tiered solution:

a short-term solution, a mid term or interim solution, and a long term solution.

What I am offereing her is merely a short-term solution, with an eye on longer term ideas.

But my point is, we DO have options available NOW. TODAY. and we should utilize them NOW! TODAY!

Bush and his 2025 "target" COMPLETELY out of touch! No guts. He's just putting off what can and should be done TODAY!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

22. Short term - STOP USING SO MUCH!!!

Are even DU'ers so addicted to energy that this is not their first thought?

Don't drive unless you have to.

Turn down the furnace, wear a sweater.

Turn off lights when no one is in the room.

Cut out one 20 mile trip per week. That's only one gallon of gas, but if 5,000,000 drivers did it...

[Ksec]

23. A tip

Light farts to heat your home and reduce costly gas bills.

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. Ban Drive-Thru Fast Food

Have you ever seen your local Mickey D's or BK or Carl's at lunchtime? Seven days a week? I'd say it's a conservative (no pun intended) estimate that 500 cars idle for 15 minutes outside EACH AND EVERY fast restaurant here in So. Cal.

Make the fat phreaks get out of their cars and walk into the restaurant (and I use that term loosely). We'll kill two birds with one stone: The fatties get thinner from either the exercise or the refusal to go to there, and we'll solve the problem of MILLIONS of cars a day, idling for 15 minutes and not going anywhere...

Just a thought.

[SpiralHawk]

25. kick

because its time to act

[GumboYaYa]

26. Here's another radical idea. Drive less!!!!

It's much easier and cheaper, not to mention environmentally friendly, to just use less gas. Car pool, take public transportation, ride a bike, run all your errands in one car trip. These are all things that each of us individually controls. We don't need big business, government or anyone else to implement these solutions.