Friday February 03, 2006

Technology won't solve America's oil addiction

peakoil.com -> emediawire.com :

America's dependence on oil took center stage in President Bush's State of the Union address, in which he declared "America is addicted to oil," but a growing number of experts now say that technology alone won't wean the country from its oil addiction. The root cause of our dependency, they say, is a more intractable problem - the depletion of finite global oil resources - and that any solution will require massive conservation efforts in addition to developing alternative energy sources.

In his speech, President Bush set a goal of replacing more than 75% of the nation's Middle East oil imports, and proposed increased spending on ethanol and other alternative fuels. While laudable in principle, such efforts fall far short of addressing the enormity of the problem, says SF Informatics, a citizens group focused on energy issues. "Presidents have been talking about ending America's dependence on foreign oil since the 1970s," said Richard Katz of SF Informatics. "Yet we continue to grow ever more addicted. What the President didn't tell us is that that the world has already consumed half of its conventional oil supplies and now faces the imminent peak and decline of production."

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett is one of just a handful of lawmakers who have recognized the grave risks posed by "peak oil," the point when oil output begins an irreversible decline. Addressing shrinking supplies will take more than technology, he says. Bartlett says that ending the dependency will require a combination of reducing consumption and developing alternative energy sources. "Unless we do both, it probably won't be possible to break America's addiction to oil and reduce the trend of increasing dependence upon oil imports from the Middle East," Bartlett said.

See also :

1. Bush : 'America Addicted to Oil'
2. Congressman Bartlett Peak Oil Speech - 7 Sep 2005
3. US Senate on Peak Oil
4. Transcripts from first Congress hearing on understanding peak oil

(2006-02-03 12:46:12 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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