Energy crisis threatens U.S. survival, Gore says

[Natorgator]

Finally, some real leadership on the issue. From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States should be making all of its electricity with renewable and carbon-free energy in 10 years, former Vice President Al Gore said Thursday.

"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said.

In a speech at Washington's Constitution Hall, Gore touched on an array of the nation's current woes, saying the economic, environmental and national security crises are all related.

"I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously," Gore said.

To begin to fix all the problems, Gore said, "the answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels." Video Watch more on Gore's answer to energy crisis »

Gore called on the country to produce all of its electricity from renewable and carbon-free sources in 10 years, a goal he compared to President Kennedy's challenge for the country to put a man on the moon in the 1960s.

Gore chastised those who have proposed opening new areas for oil drilling as a solution to U.S. energy problems.

"It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil 10 years from now," Gore said.

New demand from places like China means oil supplies won't be able to meet increasing demand, Gore said.

"The way to bring gas prices down is to end our dependence on oil and use the renewable sources that can give us the equivalent of $1 a gallon gasoline," the former vice president and Nobel laureate said. Read Gore's full speech

After losing the presidential election to then-Texas Gov. George Bush in 2000, Gore returned to the nation's political main stage with "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary film detailing global warming's effects on the planet, in 2006. The widely acclaimed film went on to win an Academy Award for best documentary in 2007.

In the movie, Gore explains how the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have grown exponentially in the last few decades and how that has lead to changes in the Earth's climate, such as shrinking polar ice caps and an increase in the number of hurricanes and other violent storms.

To counteract the effects of global warming, Gore has pushed for polices that would reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, such as greater energy conservation and the development of alternative energy sources like wind and solar energy. Gore has also advocated for governments to tax the emission of carbon dioxide.

Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for increasing awareness of the climate change issue and for advocating for policies that could potentially offset the effects of global warming.
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Gore's return to the political arena has drawn increased scrutiny, particularly of his energy use. In 2007, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research chastised Gore for "extravagant energy use" at his Nashville, Tennessee, mansion.

Gore subsequently has installed solar panels, a geothermal heating and cooling system, compact fluorescent light bulbs and other energy-saving technologies in his home.

Although I'm not as worried about global warming as I am about peak oil, at least the two problems basically have the same solution. I wonder if more people will pay attention to this now that gas prices are so high.

[Patrick Degan]

Although I'm not as worried about global warming as I am about peak oil, at least the two problems basically have the same solution. I wonder if more people will pay attention to this now that gas prices are so high.

You can bet that the moron bloc who vote solidly Republican will be chanting the "more drilling" mantra from now until doomsday. At least 30% of the voters right there.

[The Vortex Empire]

This would be very nice, but it'll never happen. Too many idiots in high places, too many idiots in the public.

[Lancer]

Even if they do open up ANWAR and coastal drilling, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that oil companies would just snap up the leases and then sit on them for as long as they can get away with. Their profits certainly aren't suffering for maintaining the status quo, and their pet party killed the "Use it or lose it" bill for oil leases in the House almost on a party-line vote.

[Patrick Degan]

Even if they do open up ANWAR and coastal drilling, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that oil companies would just snap up the leases and then sit on them for as long as they can get away with. Their profits certainly aren't suffering for maintaining the status quo

Precisely. Just what incentive would the oil companies have to increase available supply which would lower prices and hence their profits?

[tim31]

Even though chaos theory may disagree, it makes you want to cry that Gore isn't the one finishing up his second term. Imagine the progress that could have been made.

[Singular Intellect]

Even if they do open up ANWAR and coastal drilling, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that oil companies would just snap up the leases and then sit on them for as long as they can get away with. Their profits certainly aren't suffering for maintaining the status quo

Precisely. Just what incentive would the oil companies have to increase available supply which would lower prices and hence their profits?

See? Proof there's no real oil crisis or shortage! It's just the oil companies gouging the customer until we finally take a stand and force them to give us cheap abundant oil again!

[Patrick Degan]

Even if they do open up ANWAR and coastal drilling, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that oil companies would just snap up the leases and then sit on them for as long as they can get away with. Their profits certainly aren't suffering for maintaining the status quo

Precisely. Just what incentive would the oil companies have to increase available supply which would lower prices and hence their profits?

See? Proof there's no real oil crisis or shortage! It's just the oil companies gouging the customer until we finally take a stand and force them to give us cheap abundant oil again!

Sarcasm, perhaps...?

[Singular Intellect]

Precisely. Just what incentive would the oil companies have to increase available supply which would lower prices and hence their profits?

See? Proof there's no real oil crisis or shortage! It's just the oil companies gouging the customer until we finally take a stand and force them to give us cheap abundant oil again!

Sarcasm, perhaps...?

Naturally, though I suppose I could've been more obvious, but I had hoped it already would be.

[Solauren]

Even though chaos theory may disagree, it makes you want to cry that Gore isn't the one finishing up his second term. Imagine the progress that could have been made.

Universal Health Care, Well Funded Public schools and law enforcement, and flying cars that run on vegitable oil.

[Broomstick]

Even though chaos theory may disagree, it makes you want to cry that Gore isn't the one finishing up his second term. Imagine the progress that could have been made.

Universal Health Care, Well Funded Public schools and law enforcement, and flying cars that run on vegitable oil.

The sad thing is that I had access to flying cars (they're more properly called "small airplanes") and, thanks to the fucked up economy, I can no longer afford to fly them....

(And yes, there are small airplane engines right now that can function on biodiesel, i.e. "vegetable oil")

[Pulp Hero]

You know when I talk to people who refuse to believe it peak oil, I luse the following simple logic:

1. We both agree oil came from dinosaurs.

2. There are no more dinosaurs anymore.

3. Therefore oil will run out someday.

4. Therefore it is better to switch away from oil sooner rather than later.

[une]

This would be very nice, but it'll never happen. Too many idiots in high places, too many idiots in the public.

I'm watching C-Span now, and it's very depressing to hear people's opinions on this. Almost all of the conservative people that have called in have said that Al Gore was just trying to scam the country and if he really cared about the environment he wouldn't live in a mansion and ride around in personal jets.

[Patrick Degan]

Even though chaos theory may disagree, it makes you want to cry that Gore isn't the one finishing up his second term. Imagine the progress that could have been made.

Universal Health Care, Well Funded Public schools and law enforcement, and flying cars that run on vegitable oil.

Ah, but that stuff's for those sissy French Commernists. Cain't have any of that in God's America.

[CaptainChewbacca]

You know when I talk to people who refuse to believe it peak oil, I luse the following simple logic:

1. We both agree oil came from dinosaurs.

That's... not true.

[Patrick Degan]

You know when I talk to people who refuse to believe it peak oil, I luse the following simple logic:

1. We both agree oil came from dinosaurs.

That's... not true.

Perhaps. But PH here is talking about trying to get a point across to people who have trouble following an issue from A to B. You have to give them the McGuffey's Primer version.

[Count Dooku]

Even if they do open up ANWAR and coastal drilling, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that oil companies would just snap up the leases and then sit on them for as long as they can get away with. Their profits certainly aren't suffering for maintaining the status quo, and their pet party killed the "Use it or lose it" bill for oil leases in the House almost on a party-line vote.

My dad worked as a geochemist for Chevron for 25 years, and his sole job was to find oil, and find the cheapest way to get it out of the ground. Drilling in ANWAR, according to him, isn't a solution at all, let alone the fix-all solution the Republitards tout it to be. He cites cost as a major issue. Drilling in such a place is extremely expensive, and our resources that are already there just aren't adequate to do the job.

He also make the claim that there isn't much oil up there right now anyway, with the most liberal estimates being around 12 billion barrels a year. I believe the U.S. uses that much oil in a year and a half! Spending billions to get at such a relatively small amount of oil is not a good idea.

I had a conversation with a fundi (in class) about the newly discovered oil shale and oil sands in North Dakota. He seemed to think that the 4 billion barrels there would be enough to last the U.S. decades. Without factoring in the cost of getting at that stuff (which I'm told is pretty darn high), it's just not that much oil.

Then there's the off-shore drilling proponents. All the oil rigs we've got are already drilling for oil - who wants to spend 500 million dollars on another one?

I find often that the people I talk to have no concept of reality when it comes to this stuff. None of them realize that any of these solutions would only help FIVE YEARS or so from now, and that if we pursued them we'd probably end up paying the extra cost involved in going after the new stuff. And most importantly, they don't realize that if everyone works together, we can drive down the price be consuming less, and going to alternatives like hydroelectric, wind and wave power, and of course nuclear power.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Problem with people is that they don't have a sense of scale and then try to act as if they know the Science.

It doesn't help that many of these morons have vested interests and the idea that there's no more oil that's easily accessible no doubt sounds ridiculous or terrifying.