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Published byLucy Reeves Modified over 9 years ago
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How Will America Survive Without Foreign Oil? Ideas for Today and Tomorrow
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America is the World’s Largest Consumer of Energy America has approximately 5% of the world’s population We consume approximately 30% of the world’s energy Americans consume more than twice the energy of citizens of industrialized nations
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More than 50% of the oil consumed in America is foreign Key suppliers include: Mexico Canada Venezuela Saudi Arabia This dependency costs money
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What Would We Do If This Foreign Oil Was Disrupted? IS THERE A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE?
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EFFICICIENCY IS THE ANSWER
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3 Main Sectors of consumption
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TRANSPORTATION
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Most Petroleum is Used for Transportation
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Today’s Situation We use 19.5 million barrels of oil a day for transportation On 2001, more than 10% of our Gross Domestic Product was spent on transportation Emissions from automobiles emit 22% of America’s greenhouse gases a year
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How is transportation inefficient Vehicles can be much more fuel efficient Lighter materials Better engine design Fuel additives Hybrid Vehicles Savings add up Money saved each year on fuel Money saved on related costs
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Short-term Goals and Caveat 1) Increase the use of additives 2) Increase minimum MPG on automobiles Do both of the above without affecting vehicle prices
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Long-Term Strategy 1) 55 MPG vehicles within 20 years 2) 50% ethanol fuel within 20 years Caveat – Keep cars safe and powerful
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How Did We Get Here? Waste No carpooling Bigger cars Thriving Economy Cheap gas More powerful cars
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Americans Love Our Cars It’s a big country We’re used to the convenience The use of private vehicles for transportation is going to stay
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We are on the move Americans traveled nearly 5 trillion miles in 1999
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Vehicle use is on the rise
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WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?
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Americans will not kick the car habit in the near future This means the only short-term solution is to: Demand more efficient vehicles Use renewable fuel additives such as ethanol
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Better mileage Fuel technology alone can increase economy to 40 miles per gallon
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The Solution is Simple: Corn
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Current ethanol production
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Corn used for ethanol production
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Ethanol is more efficient 100 BTUs of energy to produce 135 BTUs of ethanol 100 BTUs of energy to produce 85 BTUs of gasoline
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Current vehicles can use it Every automobile manufactured for sale in the US is capable of running with an ethanol fuel additive Some diesel engines can even operate with mixtures containing as much as 85% ethanol
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Why is it good? It’s made in America It’s renewable It costs about the same as gasoline It burns cleaner It prevents freezing gas lines We can grow as much as we need
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More Efficient Vehicles Increasing fuel use to 55mpg will save 4 billion barrels of oil over the next 12 years By 2020, we can save 4.8 million barrels a day – more than we currently import from the Persian gulf
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We already have the technology
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The other main use of oil is for production of other forms of energy Heat Electricity Steam
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More efficient homes = less oil needed to create this energy Better construction Solar power Geothermal heating and cooling Wind production Lighting
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Insulation = savings Building “super insulated” homes use only about 20% of the energy to heat and cool The cost of construction is saved in less than 2 years
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Where is it lost?
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Simple solutions can equal big energy savings Weather stripping Double pane windows Foam core doors Attic fans Higher quality insulation Southern windows
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Solar power for heat and electricity
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Two types of solar Electricity production Heat production
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Making your own electricity A midsize photovoltaic solar panel will: Cost approx $10,000 after incentives Produce 24% of the electricity used by the average household Eliminate 7600lbs of CO2 emissions in one year
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The Sun can heat...and cool: Solar energy is easily converted to heat It can also be used in a system that cools
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The steps of solar heating The sun heats water between layers of glass or other material The water is circulated throughout the home radiating its heat The cooled water is circulated back through the glass plates
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Don’t forget the swimming pool
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Wind in your home
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Let the Earth heat and power your home
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Other ways to “plug the leaks”
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Combined Heat and Power
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These systems are readily available “Normal” energy production is 20%-30% efficient. CHPS are approximately 80% efficient.
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What does it mean?
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Current Legislation There is a surprising amount of efficiency legislation either on the books or pending in Congress
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Energy Interconnect Legislation Combined Heat and Power Advancement Act of 2001 Designed to promote the development of CHP systems by providing equal access to the power grid
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H.R. 4 of 2001 Residential Energy Tax Credit Stuck in committee
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S.828 Tax Credit for Energy Efficient Property Stuck in committee
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S.804 Fuel Efficiency Bill Stuck in Committee
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There are currently 12 energy efficiency related bills pending in the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
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Where Does That Leave Us?
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Propose More Legislation
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Tax Incentives
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Slowly Regulate Old Technology Out of Existence
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Fund More Research
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We can afford it Energy savings will recoup investment costs Lower pollution will free up funds for other purposes Fewer environmental cleanup disasters
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Efficiency is the Answer Now and Later
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