Oil

[Stewy]

(03-03-2022, 05:51 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Russia acting as they are is simply the biggest example, among many, of why the US needs to be energy independent, as well as being able to supply our allies in situations such as we are currently facing.  Invest in green energy at the same time, great, but don't curtail production until the green energy can compensate for the subsequent shortfall your creating.

I wanted to come back and quote this last part as absolute truth.  There is no instant fix.  Anyone who tells you different is lying or trying to sell you something or just plain doesn't know what they're talking about.

Renewables vs. Sustainability 
- Wind Power - what happens when the winds change and produce only 40% of the projected power for months on end?
- Hydro Power - what happens when there's a sustained drought for several years, and water levels drop so low in reservoirs that they can no longer let enough water flow to produce power?

These are both real issues.  One that has come to fruition in the UK (wind), and one that is on the verge of happening in US SW with the hydro damns that provide 30% of Los Angeles power critically low and soon are going to have to turn the power off.  If someone is talking about renewables without talking about sustainability, then they're trying to sell you swamp land in Florida.

Detailed Example:  UK ran into this problem already this winter.  They DICTATED to their power industry that they had to go 100% renewable.  Well they had a rare winter of low wind, and guess what, it got cold and the power went out all over the UK.  As a result they had to restart several of their coal burning (as dirty as it gets) power plants, to keep the power on and people warm.  This shows the reality of what we all will face, if the govt's and the O&G industry don't work together.  There needs to be and WILL be (because like UK reality will slap people in the face) is a smooth energy transition.  It needs to start with switching all of our coal and oil burning power generating plants to natural gas which is infinitely cleaner than coal or oil.  We need to embrace nuclear and massively invest in fusion.  We need to invest in our power grid, because it's already failing all over the country, and the more we switch to EV's, the more strain it's going to come under.  And in the end it's a helluva lot more complicated than this.  "Just Switching" is an absolute fallacy.

I'm not against any of this, but ignoring it and forcing a change that the power producers and the infrastructure are not ready for, and not by a long shot, will lead to disaster.