I just finished reading the Committee on the Present Danger Policy Paper: OIL & SECURITY and The Petroleum Bomb, a small part of my Easter weekend reading keeping me from more outdoor time (I did get a short hike in today, though). Not sure if I agree with it all, but one thing I do side with fully is our need to get cracking on re-engineering the energy supply.
Geopolitical risks are simply too high, in this environment, we shouldn’t be risking an outage. An oil shock, let’s say $100 / barrel could be triggered by numerous known types of attacks.
Ethanol mixed with gasoline 85/15 (E85), the E85 is a must do, E100 vehicle popularity is attainable within a few years. Read the Woolsey-Schultz piece to learn why. Biodiesel, I’m not so sure, I’m not sure the production efficiencies are there yet, though new tech may change that. We have to figure out how to get E85 into pumps.
Go read the Woolsey-Schultz document, it’s an eye-opener if you’ve not been keeping up with the technology, and if you have been it will surely light a fire under your butt to trade in your gasoline-only auto for a Flexible Fuel Vehicle. FFVs are actually out on the road in increasing quantities, you might be surprised to learn some peeps own them and don’t even know. That’s right, biomass ethanol could power those cars and those in the pipeline, so to speak, if someone could figure out how to get more E85 to more filling stations.
Of course, there are more options beyond E85. Despite the fact here in NYC we pay I think around $0.18 / kwh the national average is about half that, off-peak charges elsewhere would be even less. Plug-in hybrids could be a solution, but probably not economic here in NYC. Seriously, electricity pricing is crazy in this town, I’m thinking of experimenting with solar panels to run some of the lighter weight equipment in my apartment. And it would be efficient for heating too as my Apple Powerbook is capable of warming my work area without any encouragement whatsoever, surely a feature The Steve spec’d in to not only ward off the chill but also discourage use of those darn inefficient fireplaces. But I digress. Seriously though, it may require a full-scale suburban roof to make the numbers work, I probably don’t have required surface area. I’ll look into it.
