

Offshore Drilling Graph Speaks for Itself - MikeCapone
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/oil-offshore-drilling-graph-us-consumption.php

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lliiffee
This still vastly overestimates the impact of domestic drilling. We have a
_world_ oil market. Thus, if prices drop in the US, less overseas oil will
come here. This means that the impact needs to be compared against _world_ oil
consumption, which is 4 or 5x as big.

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jccovey
While I won't touch on the credibility of such a graph on a blog at
treehugger.com, I will add, simply, that any additional oil production
benefits everyone worldwide.

Renewable energy is critical going forward, but the technology isn't there yet
to flip the switch and say good-bye to oil, and a few trillion dollars (more)
in government grants and incentives won't get us there overnight.

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run4yourlives
_Renewable energy is critical going forward, but the technology isn't there
yet to flip the switch and say good-bye to oil_

Bullshit. The technology for electric cars is viable right now, certainly more
so with the price of gas sky high.

Now the will - with a multi-billion dollar industry dolling out kickbacks like
they are going out of style and a public with an insatiable need to buy the
biggest damn car on the road - that's another thing.

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jccovey
My point was not that electric cars cannot be produced -- they can, and in
large numbers for low prices -- but that the electric grid in the United
States cannot yet support millions of cars charging every day, especially when
you consider the multitude of other electric devices those same people have
plugged in 24/7.

Once we have nuclear power plants again and modern lines running to modern
equipment in every American home, then we can talk about everyone switching to
electric cars.

Technology is not used in a vacuum: a lot of pieces have to fall into place
first.

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jcromartie
This is why I shudder when I hear political rallies full of people chanting
"drill, baby, drill!"

Do they _know_ that they are tools for the oil industry?

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patrickg-zill
There are a few points missing from this analysis:

1\. Oil prices are subject to price elasticity, that is, the relationship is
not a linear one. For example, 10% more oil on the market than is being
bought, would not reduce prices by 10%, it would reduce prices by perhaps 25%.

2\. Drilling is not solely about oil price. The reason that drilling will
occur is that domestic oil production means more total dollars going into the
US Treasury. There are royalties and other taxes, not to mention taxes on
employment (humans, not robots, build the rigs and operate the machinery).

Right now, when the USA sends $500Billion per month, or whatever the number
is, overseas to pay for foreign oil, the US gov't gets virtually none of that
in taxes or royalties, and even the follow-on effects of Saudis buying our
goods are weak. Domestically produced oil has much more positive effects on
the US economy, per-barrel.

