Re-Post: Fix the Roof While the Sun is Shining

Allen Wilson posted this last fall, but it’s just as true today as it was then. Updated by LC with another link at the end.

Have you heard? Oil prices are headed down. One “expert” has predicted that oil is headed down to the $60 per barrel level. Remember when those same experts were predicting $200 per barrel?

But before we get too excited and breathe a great sigh of relief, remember the pain at the pump from this summer [2008]. The crisis in the economy will pass. Growth will return to global markets. Let’s not make the same mistake twice. We’re getting a second chance and we must not be fooled into letting it slip away.

All summer long we heard the Democrats in Congress tell us that drilling domestic supplies would not provide relief because it would take ten years for the impact of drilling to be felt. We now know that the time was overstated and that some production would make it into the pipeline in as little as one year. Truly, a ramp up to significantly impact foreign oil imports will take time, but it would appear that we may have some time. So let’s not miss the chance to fix the roof while the sun is shining because it will certainly rain in the future.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Let’s not be fooled by the rhetoric and the hype. To begin with, there are a lot of unscrupulous people who would sell you a rain making machine, or shares in “vast untapped oil reserves”. To keep from being taken advantage of we have to be well informed. A good place to start is with sound information. But don’t just rely on one source; there are unconventional sources like Bakken and Green River Basin. And don’t limit your information to liquids. Domestic gas supplies also exist in unconventional locations using newer technologies.

Don’t get too excited, the best bet is the development of known reserves off shore and in Alaska’s ANWR. But we shouldn’t get lazy or complacent. Investment in the new technology to develop unconventional sources should be done now. A coordinated plan for domestic production is absolutely necessary. The good news is that with that coordination and leadership we can become more energy independent.

Right along with a domestic production program for petroleum, clean coal and alternative fuel production should be pursued. An all of the above policy sounds good, but citizens need to understand what that means. As with petroleum, a well led and coordinated plan is required. It isn’t quite as simple as just building power plants and biofuel plants.

For instance, building inherently safe nuclear power plants is a positive step, but one that takes time. The world has a shortage of the engineers that are needed for this work. The development program has to address the entire pipeline from people to regulations to fuel storage. Nuclear is good, it is a long term solution, and we have to start immediately.

Wind power is clean and green, but takes land that is located in the wind belt. It also takes equipment and that equipment has to be manufactured. The worldwide capacity to manufacture this equipment is operating at a very high capacity. We will likely keep building as much as the manufacturers can supply, but they won’t be able to increase that capacity very fast.

Biofuel and solar are thought of as two separate technologies but they compete for the same thing, sunlight. The land that will be used for these technologies is only one consideration, water and transportation are also considerations.

If there is a silver lining in the current financial troubles it is that falling oil prices will give us time. It isn’t often that history provides a second chance. Now is the time to take stock, get involved, stay informed, and make your voice heard. The best time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.

Update by Karen: Reader Angry White Male sent me a link to this 2008 study by the US Geological Survey. We’re sitting on a boatload of oil. More than all of the middle east. But the democrats won’t let us retrieve it. Just think how many jobs could be created during this recession. But those millions of Americans wouldn’t be dependent on them, and they can’t have that. Instead we get a bill from the House that will drive up the price of everything, reward political cronies, destroy jobs and lower GDP. And the kicker is nobody had the time to read it. Is this really the kind of change people voted for in November?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.