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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated

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To: KLP who wrote (473238)	2/21/2012 2:50:17 PM
From: Sea Otter	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) of 793877

Of course. When I said "push away from oil" I meant doing so in an economic fashion. Encourage and fund alternatives (much like we've encouraged and funded oil exploration, through tax credits, subsidies etc), encourage R&D, and gradually encourage marketable alternatives. I'm about as hard core market-based as a gal can get ... And I know full well that oil isn't replaceable anytime soon. Among other things, I'm tangentially involved in alt-energy venture investments. One thing you quickly learn doing such things is that oil is truly a miracle substance - it's energy density is unrivaled, as it is ease of transport and distribution. It ain't easy developing replacements. The problem with oil isn't so much the absolute amount and the dynamics of the market, but rather the geopolitical implications. The Middle East will eventually detonate, sooner or later, taking most of our oil supply with it. We're dreaming if we think we can somehow drill our way out of that dependency. The numbers just don't add up. So I think - as a security matter - we'd better get cracking on something real and long-term. My bet is that biofuel will be the eventual winner, either algae-based or using recombinant DNA organisms and sugars (not corn and cane ethanol - which is a total joke). Lots of promise there. But we're still a long ways off. The natural gas idea is interesting and I've read it could well be viable. I agree more effort should be going into it. Why there hasn't I don't know - but I would point out that Bush did zero in that arena as well. Obama presumably hasn't done anything here due to the environmental issues. Perhaps Bush reason for inaction was to guard the oil lobby. Either way, the lack of governmental action points out the level of dysfunction in our system.

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