Posted by Don in Missouri [97.64.167.2] on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 14:21:09 :
In Reply to: Not sure how you figure that posted by Sherman in Idaho [209.33.95.254] on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 13:38:10 :
Just because oil companies don't pay the true cost for oil when they pull it out of the ground (they actually get to depreciate it on their income tax)doesn't mean we don't all pay in one form or another. And it is not a never-ending supply.
Nobody has ever given me a free barrel of crude oil. Sunshine, on the other hand is free to everyone, and the sun sends us about 10,000 times more energy every day than we use. My Power Wagon now rests under 7.5kw of photovoltaic solar panels. My roof-mounted panels reduce my utility bills by about $200/month. Electricity is not a very good way to store energy for transportation. The way to get liquid solar fuel is to get it from plants.
The ratios I mentioned include all of the inputs: diesel fuel for tractors, harvesters and trucks, natural gas for fertilizer and operating crushing and conversion facilities, as well as electricity. When the crude oil runs out, we can continue to make liquid solar fuels by substituting all of the fossil energy with renewable energy in the production system. While we still have fossil fuels, it makes sense to multiply their usefulness by making biofuels.
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