Why trouble in the Middle East no longer means an oil price hike. Given how much oil used to dominate foreign affairs — and how its price served as one of the first major indicators of global conflict — it’s worth looking a little more at this dog that didn’t bark.

submitted by Chipit from spectator.us

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[–]mikipika 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

Nice puff piece of journalism. I would have like to see a little more effort by the author to discuss the contribution of renewable energy to the decrease of dependence on foreign oil. Fracking? REALLY?

[–]bobbobbybob 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

you'd like to see more on how a tiny and largely irrelevant show pony has anything to do with geopolitics. OK. maybe /s/hydrogen will be your thing?

[–]mikipika 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

You and I disagree on the pony. Are you focused only on the US? I suggest you expand your knowledge to include how other countries are dealing with their ponies. Yes, hydrogen is an alternative and I think has it's own set of problems so I don't think it is relavent right now. I will be the first to admit my ignorance of geopolitics, with only my first hand knowledge from visiting other countries, mainly Asia although I have seen articles about Germany and some Scandinavian countries using renewable energy.

[–]bobbobbybob 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

In NZ, the socialist UN government wanted us to all drive electric cars. Then they did the math, and gave up. Would DOUBLE the load on our power gen, mostly at night - when renewables other than hydro are not generating.

Australia had the same issue and is desperately trying to overcome it with gigantic, wasteful powerbanks. But they blew up their coal gen. in SA, and now they have rolling blackouts.

Whoops.

Renewables do not provide reliable energy. You need to buffer them. Coal and gas provide reliable energy at peak efficiency ALL the time.

We are at least two technologies away from renewables being effective without massive inefficient coal/gas backup systems rates at the same peak output as the renewables.

Or you get blackouts. Like in the UK this year. Soon to be a worldwide phenomena.

We need financially achievable, zero loss, energy storage before we are ready to move away from that sweet octane in our vehicles.

Two technologies:

Battery tech for cars with increased density, decreased volatility and improved long term capacity retention.

Grid buffering, however it may come. Superconducting resonant storage / flywheels / hydrogen/ battery / potential energy. Whatever it may be.

[–]mikipika 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Nicely written, brilliant points. We passed peak oil and the future of energy production will possibly be beyond what we can imagine right now.

[–]SpeakEasy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Not how economics works. Foreign oil is still the cheapest, and thus the best option for cars, farming implements, and whatever else. Nobody, especially massive corporations, would switch to renewable energy immediately, so they didn't. Supply would go down and demand would stay the same more or less, so price would go up. Renewable energy plays no part in this due to its insignificance and the difficulty of changing everything.

[–]mikipika 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My electric bill has two accounts because one account is alloted to renewable energy. I have the option to go 100% renewable, the rate is a bit lower but there is a "fee" for this which makes it less feasible for my budget. Economics is a complex topic, I am not an economist. I do think that when she is talking about using oil prices as a metric for problems in the Middle East, she talks about fracking. I don't think fracking is the reason we are not as dependant as we were, I think it is related to renewables, which she ignores. Driving through Texas, Montana, California, I have seen windmills. Lots and lots of windmills. I see more and more solar panels on houses and fields, such as the one just outside of Las Vegas.

[–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Nope. Fracking changed everything. There is an ocean of oil in Texas and Oklahoma, and it practically refines itself. We don't need the middle east any more.