To: RetiredNow who wrote (357507 ) 11/8/2007 12:06:51 PM From: Joe NYC Respond to mindmeld,1) it's a short term solution to a long term problem, meaning it does not solve the root cause. Rather, it attempts to address the symptom. High prices are a symptom. The root cause is our oil addiction and over-consumption. You don't help a heroin addict to get clean by giving him more heroin. 2) that short term solution comes with some pretty heavy risks, such as it could have serious PR side-effects such as heavy damage to the local environment; damage to the local environment has real costs, as previous lawsuits have proven expensive to companies like Exxon. Factor it in. It will happen. 3) choosing that solution fails to take advantage of the Pareto Principle, meaning spend your money on the 2-3 solutions that have the biggest impact on the problem...make sure you get the biggest bang for the buck. ANWR drilling add 1-2mbpd, but moving to plug-in hybrids can cut oil demand in the transportation sector by 10-11mbpd. More bang for the buck The truth is that finding and drilling new oil fields, even in ANWR, takes around 10 years from prospecting to pumping and selling. Moving to a plug-in, hybrid transportation economy could be done in 10-15 years if the right laws were in place. 50% of the population cycle through cars ever 3-4 years. 80% of the population does it in 10 years. 90% in 15 years. So in the same time frame, we could cut our consumption of oil in the transportation sector by 75%, and do it as part of the natural refresh cycle of the automobile.
