Oil Energy Policy

[Classact]

Would you support limiting oil import to the US? If not why? If so why?

America consumes 10,000 gallons of gasoline every second of every minute of the day every day. That is the approximate size of an olympic swimming pool in quantity every second.

How could this demand be reduced to allow eliminating import considering our demand is projected to increase in the coming years?

Could we set in law a percentage of reduction of imports and make them stick without impacting the economy, for example 1% in 2009, 2% 2010...?

How could we change our energy use to accommodate such reductions?

I think we could use more diesel and less gas along with more electric hybrid vehicles to cut demand for gas.

[PostmodernProphet]

people will use oil as long as it is the less expensive alternative....

simply limiting import is the wrong way to affect price, since it increases the cost of buying the remaining imports but does nothing to benefit us economically.....

one way of reducing the use of imported oil but providing money for us instead of Saudi Arabia is to increase gasoline taxes.....oil becomes more expensive, encouraging people to use alternative fuels, but the additional expense is kept by us to use to promote those alternatives....

[JohnDoe]

good morning classact,

i don't think we can put a limit on our imports...?

raising cafe standards on our cars/trucks/suv's is the most effective way to reduce our gas/oil consumption.

convert all gvt vehicles/trucks to biodiesal

convert all gvt buildings to solar electric/heat vs oil, reinsulate buildings...

the gvt can start with themselves on reducing consumption of fossil fuels...that will make a dent....

jd

[Classact]

people will use oil as long as it is the less expensive alternative....

simply limiting import is the wrong way to affect price, since it increases the cost of buying the remaining imports but does nothing to benefit us economically.....Good morning guys!
But by limiting imports it would increase profitability of US oil as it did foreign oil. There are many oil wells that are not used in the US because of low production, but if the demand was projected to increase, by law then the owners could recognize investment in producing every last drop from low production oil wells.


one way of reducing the use of imported oil but providing money for us instead of Saudi Arabia is to increase gasoline taxes.....oil becomes more expensive, encouraging people to use alternative fuels, but the additional expense is kept by us to use to promote those alternatives.... Of course this would be the proper way to become independent but it is political sucide to vote for a tax increase on already expensive gas.


good morning classact,

i don't think we can put a limit on our imports...?

raising cafe standards on our cars/trucks/suv's is the most effective way to reduce our gas/oil consumption.

convert all gvt vehicles/trucks to biodiesal

convert all gvt buildings to solar electric/heat vs oil, reinsulate buildings...

the gvt can start with themselves on reducing consumption of fossil fuels...that will make a dent....

jdIn stead of converting gvt vehicles to bio-diesel how about replacing gasoline with LNG from Alaska for all American vehicles. Liquefied Natural Gas is abundant in Alaska and is dirt cheap. It will work in standard engines without making extensive changes to the engines. Let's say all SUV and small trucks must be fueled by LNG and then continue to use gasoline for domestic autos not in this category. LNG provides the same power the SUV and small truck folks demand and can be made safe as gasoline. LNG is used widely in S. America and in Asia. Standard Keg Type tanks could be filled in Alaska and shipped to the US and made available in every service station with little investment for storage. Simply equip the vehicles with two LNG tanks and when one is empty switch to the second and continue driving to the station to exchange the empty tank for a filled tank, like buying a keg of beer.

[manu1959]

i tried to get my partners to convert our 60,000 sq ft office building to solar.....they voted it down our pg+e bill is 10k per month......wasteful ....

[Classact]

i tried to get my partners to convert our 60,000 sq ft office building to solar.....they voted it down our pg+e bill is 10k per month......wasteful ....I really support solar heat and electricity, the problem is the cost and time it takes to amortize the initial costs of installation. Companies are reluctant to be first because if they invest and then others then follow the cost will fall in installation costs. I think it is a production start up problem and that could be overcome by the government doing the start up. If you remember a CD player used to cost $100 or more for the walking around type and now they are $10 and less. If the government demanded purchase of US manufactured solar systems to specifications at low bid and at the same time states invest in the same government applications the cost would be reduced so drastically the momentum would flow into corporate uses.

[JohnDoe]

The thing is, as soon as we cut consumption, the gas/oil prices fall drastically and i can see Americans going back to guzzling gas/oil again.... :(

[Classact]

The thing is, as soon as we cut consumption, the gas/oil prices fall drastically and i can see Americans going back to guzzling gas/oil again.... :(I'm not sure of your point... if we were to replace gas with LNG equal to the reduction of imports the price of gas would remain the same if demand didn't increase.

Yes, give bio-diesel and other alternative fuels a tax break and encourage they prosper but continue moving away from imports so the money stays in America. Without taxing alternative energy fuels they would compete nicely with current gas pricing.

America could start out with LNG on all federal car fleets... Dept. of Education, Defense, Health and Human Services for example as we reduce imports by 1% and then when the reduction goes to 3% require all new SUV's and light trucks to transition to LNG. At 10% import reduction a complete category of Army, Navy, USMC and Coast Guard vehicles must convert to LNG.

[Classact]

Here is another Alternative Energy the federal government and state governments could take...

Create private-government cooperatives to produce solar hot water and solar electric systems for government buildings. A private company could contract to produce the solar devices with work release prisoners or non violent prisoners in federal custody. These companies could then permanently hire a certain percentage of these prisoners upon release from custody. Using such a system would cut costs and perhaps reduce return to prison of those who took the opportunity of a great employment... the permanent employees would be able to work well with inmates or work release and promote production and future chances for employment through good work performance.