Drill baby drill...

[Rustic]

Reliable, affordable Renewable energy is decades away...

US oil reserves surpass those of Saudi Arabia and Russia - FT.com

 

[sonic]

Reliable, affordable Renewable energy is decades away...

US oil reserves surpass those of Saudi Arabia and Russia - FT.com

LOL. Reliable, affordable renewable energy is already here. Several U.S. cities like Burlington Vermont are on 100% renewable energy.
That said, it is smart that by the end of Obama's term we'll be leading the world in production, and as you've cited, reserves but that's more defensive than offensive. Cost effective renewable energy is growing exponentially, which speaks well for the U.S. leading in this field.

 

[Pumpkin Row]

Reliable, affordable Renewable energy is decades away...

US oil reserves surpass those of Saudi Arabia and Russia - FT.com

LOL. Reliable, affordable renewable energy is already here. Several U.S. cities like Burlington Vermont are on 100% renewable energy.
That said, it is smart that by the end of Obama's term we'll be leading the world in production, and as you've cited, reserves but that's more defensive than offensive. Cost effective renewable energy is growing exponentially, which speaks well for the U.S. leading in this field.

No. No it isn't. Wind and Solar power are extremely inefficient, extremely unreliable, and extremely expensive, and will practically never pay for themselves, nor will they ever. It's physically impossible to ever actually achieve the same level of efficiency that coal does with any of the previously mentioned methods. Anyone who says otherwise has no idea how the weather works, and/or is just plain delusional.

Also, the claim that Burlington is on 100% renewable energy is laughable.

All of these renewables (except maybe the hydro) have to be backed up by non-renewables, so the net impact in the physical world is an increase in total installed net electric power generating capacity, not a decrease. I mentioned before that it's physically impossible for Wind and Solar to ever be as efficient as coal. That's because the wind is never blowing 24/7, and the sun is not always shining, and there's absolutely nothing that can ever be done about it. The maximum amount of efficiency a Solar Panel, even the most high-tech and efficient ones available, is only about 30-35%(I could be guessing high). Even if it operated at 100%, Solar Panels would never be able to supply enough power, because night is a thing that exists. Much like Solar Panels, Wind Turbines can never work at 100% efficiency, and even if they did, the wind stops blowing. When this happens, Burlington actually powers their wind Turbines with actual electricity. This is actually wasteful, and results in lower power efficiency. It also sounds as if Burlington has cleverly tried to deal with this by a sort of renewable energy credit (or attributes) arbitrage process, by buying low, then selling high. So they can sell their cake and claim it, too. They're claiming to improve the environment, but doing it with accounting... which is kinda funny, because that means the claims are false. You can't "Improve the environment" with accounting. They've made no progress, but attempted to claim that they actually did. It's silly, but people are apparently falling for it.

 

[Claudette]

I agree. Wind and solar are far from reliable.

Pickens tried using his own money with Wind and found its not viable.

If solar were viable all of us down here in Florida would be using it. You can bet all the Southwest would be using it as well.

We have billions of barrels of oil in Alaska as well as billions of cubic feet of natural gas in that state. Loads of oil off the coast of both Florida and California. Time to start drilling for it.

Hell, the Chinese are slant drilling for our oil of the coast of Florida now.

The idiots who oppose the drilling obviously want to pay more for oil from other sources. Idiots they truly are.

 

[waltky]

Trump has previously pledged to increase offshore drilling...

Obama bans new oil drilling in Arctic Ocean
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 - The Obama administration bans offshore drilling in the Arctic but Donald Trump could rip up the ban.

The Obama administration has introduced a ban on offshore oil drilling in the Arctic for at least five years. The move is a significant victory for environmentalists who have campaigned for years against drilling in the ecologically fragile region. But the ban could be overturned by Donald Trump, who has previously pledged to increase offshore drilling. Drilling will be still allowed in Alaska's Cook Inlet and several areas of the Gulf of Mexico. According to the 2017 to 2022 leasing plan published by the US Department of the Interior, drilling will be banned in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off northern Alaska. The plan will limit, but not ban, development in the Cook Inlet off south-central Alaska.

Royal Dutch Shell hoped to use this rig for exploratory drilling during the summer open-water season in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's north-west shore​

Of the 11 lease sales proposed in the five-year plan, 10 are in the Gulf of Mexico, historically the focal point of US offshore oil production. US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said: "The plan focuses lease sales in the best places - those with the highest resource potential, lowest conflict and established infrastructure - and removes regions that are simply not right to lease." Industry representatives condemned the decision. "The arrogance of the decision is unfathomable, but unfortunately not surprising," said Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican member of Congress for the region, said she was "infuriated" with President Barack Obama. She said the president had "once again ignored our voices to side with the factions who oppose'' offshore drilling in Alaska.

Jacqueline Savitz, senior vice president of environmental group Oceana, praised Mr Obama for "protecting our coasts from dirty and dangerous offshore drilling". Nearly 400 scientists signed a letter this summer urging the president to eliminate the possibility of Arctic offshore drilling. Mr Obama has attempted to make environmental programmes a central part of his legacy, signing a global accord to curb climate change and an ambitious plan to reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. But those advances are now at risk as he hands the reins to Mr Trump, who has said he thinks climate change is a hoax and pledged to increase oil and gas drilling. The decision to block Arctic drilling follows a decision this spring to block drilling in the Atlantic.

Obama bans new oil drilling in Arctic Ocean - BBC News