Re: Politicians and energy policy
- From: "Paul E. Schoen" <pstech@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 24 May 2008 17:31:43 -0400
"rickman" <gnuarm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e0eb7e3c-1f59-41ea-8702-dd8465bb80b5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I heard a bit of a politician on the radio today. He was governor of
one of the western states. He said some things that I didn't hear any
supporting evidence for. I wonder if there are facts to support these
ideas.
He seemed to think that driving hybrids is the answer to the oil
problem. He describes this scenario. Everyone drives a hybrid which
can be plugged into the power grid and charged at night when the power
grid is way below peak usage. Then they can be driven up to 40 miles
the next day without using any fuel.
He would also set the power rates at lower amounts at off peak times
and higher during the daily peaks. You would be able to sell power to
the grid at the same price that it would cost you to buy it. So if
you weren't driving that day, you could sell power back from your
hybrid to the power company and make a profit!
He claimed that this would eliminate our need for foreign oil.
I don't get it. Sure hybrids can save fuel. If you otherwise drive a
vehicle that gets 20 MPG and you switch to a hybrid that gets 40 MPG,
you save half the fuel you otherwise would use. But a 50% savings on
auto use of petroleum is not a 50% savings in imported oil. There are
many, many other uses of oil. The fuel saved by plugging into the
power grid may not be a savings at all. Where does this power come
from? A lot of power plants burn petroleum. Otherwise they burn coal
which is very dirty or use nuclear energy which is a whole 'nother can
of worms.
I don't remember his name. Anyone here know who this is? Do his
numbers add up? Has he given any real numbers to support his claim or
is this one of those half baked ideas that sounds good in a sound
bite, like having a gas tax "holiday"?
Just switching to hybrids won't do any significant good, especially now
that Detroit is selling bigger, heavier, more powerful hybrids that still
use about the same amount of energy to get from point A to B. Even the
Toyota Prius is becoming less efficient because they have added more
horsepower and weight. A real contribution will be made by driving smaller
vehicles with less power, and driving them more conservatively. If a
significant number of people switched to more efficient vehicles for daily
use, and/or changed their driving habits, demand for gasoline would drop
enough to cause a surplus, and prices will immediately drop. If it happened
quickly enough, it would create a storage crisis, as the refineries keep
pumping, ships keep coming into port, and tanker trucks fill up, expecting
to fill up tanks at gas stations. The strategic reserves are already near
capacity, and there is very little individual storage capacity, so even if
prices would drop to $2, there would be no place to put the excess
gasoline. But it probably "ain't gonna happen".
Paul
.
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