Despite what environmentalists try to claim, there are many reserves of oil in this country, & we do need to drill for them.
The oil reserves that we have left in the United States just aren't as large as the general public seems to believe. Oil was discovered here in the mid-19th century, and the entire continental United States has been very throughly explored for oil over the last 150 years. We've already pumped out almost all of the easy to find, easy to pump oil in North America. There just isn't that much left, and what there is left is hard to get at.
If what the rebuttal about my ANWR statement,I don't believe there are only 7-17 months of oil there,or oil companies would not bother to drill there.
When I say that there are 7 to 17 months of oil in ANWR, I mean that if we could pump oil out of ANWR as fast as the US uses oil, it would be completely consumed in that amount of time. In actuality, we can't pump the oil out of the ground that fast, so it would take many years or decades to completely exhaust ANWR, but it would only supply a tiny fraction of our total demand. But as tickledgirl pointed out, oil is a very valuable commodity, so as long as the oil companies can sell it for more than it costs them to recover it, they will drill there.
Also,I didn't claim biodiesel is a panacea for our energy problems,but it is a step in the right direction.It can be made from inedible products such used cooking oil,which gives it an advantage over ethanol(there are efforts underway to find inedible products to make ethanol).
Biodiesel is not a step in the right direction. It simply can not be scaled up to replace a large percentage of our current petroleum usage. At best it interim technology.
As far as hybrids,I like the idea of them having plug-in capabilities,but it will take much technological advancement to make an-all electric car that perform for very long without being recharged after a short time.
The daily mileage of the average American is well within the capacity of a single charge of an all-electric vehicle with today's production battery technology. Most Americans could easily use an all-electric vehicle as their daily commuter vehicle, plugging it to recharge overnight when electricity rates are lower. Most American households have more than one car, so the second car could be a longer range gasoline, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid for roadtrips and the like.
All electric vehicles are a realistic option that should be considered.
Around $3.69 for regular. I notice people are not complaining as much about gas prices, they just pay them.
