How do we end our dependence on foreign oil?
Posted by Casey:
This is more than just an economic concern. Certainly, the price at the pump is beginning to be more and more onerous. But more importantly, we are being held hostage by socialist dictators by our tremendous dependence on foreign oil.
Ethanol is not a sustainable solution, and new offshore oil platforms and drilling in ANWR are not politically possible.
Therefore, as hydrogen is the most abundant and most energy efficient element in the known Universe, we must begin to harness it’s power to replace gasoline as our main source of power.
In my opinion, if our government truly wanted to eliminate our reliance on foreign sources of energy, it should do the following:
1. NASA and private energy corporations need to collaborate to develop safe orbital power satellites that use microwave technology to provide clean, efficient energy to the nation. This will eliminate the need for “clean coal,” oil, and fresh-water supply limiting hydroelectric power.
2. Congress must mandate that the U.S. military must use hydrogen fuel cell technology for all new vehicles purchased after 2020. As it is contracts with private automobile companies that provide the military with vehicles, it will then be beneficial and cost effective for the automobile companies to develop efficient, cheap hydrogen fuel cell technology that can then be used in consumer automobiles.
3. Beginning in 2010, the U.S. gas excise tax must start to increase. As a limited government kind of guy, this goes against my principles, but must be done. The effect this will have is to increase demand for alternative sources of automobile power. The aforementioned improved hydrogen fuel cell technology that has been developed for military use will then be ported to consumer vehicles, cheaply and effectively.
4. Congress must mandate that all new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2027 must be hydrogen fuel cell powered.
These changes will be initially expensive, but I think that they could gain broad public support for the long-term effects.
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Comments
Uh about that NASA thing… energy transfer via microwave is still experimental (and that’s with small watt-age and voltage — only with a light bulb). So a wide deployment for something such as powering the whole nation would take a very long time.
With the NASA spending being cut here and there, I don’t think we’re going to see it for the masses in the next 20-30 years. But it’s technology and it tends to accelerate (and sometimes decelerate), so who knows…
“Foreign” oil is a misnomer. Oil is a fungible commodity. The only way to end dependence on foreign oil is to end dependence on oil.