
Why $5 Gas Is Good for America
Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 @ 19:24:11 UTC Topic: General
The skyrocketing cost of oil is sending pump prices soaring. But
it's also subsidizing research into new technologies that can change
the energy game (by By Spencer Reiss /Wired Magazine).
At the climax of his book Twilight in the Desert, Houston investment
banker and energy guru Matthew Simmons describes a visit to the world's
most powerful oil company, Saudi Aramco, in Dhahran. Simmons listens in
horror as a senior manager reveals the kingdom's darkest secret. The
old ways no longer suffice. To keep their aging wells productive, the
Saudis now rely upon one information age prop after another: advanced
analysis of rock cores, 3-D seismic imagery, software for diagnosing
underground oil flows - all integrated using something called fuzzy
logic. Fuzzy logic? The Aramco man tries to explain the science of
complex systems and partial information, but Simmons hears only tidings
of a bleak future. Obviously, the end of energy as we know it is nigh...
Yes, a few billion newly motorized citizens of BRIC - that's
economist-speak for Brazil, Russia, India, and China - have turned up
unexpectedly at the filling station, pushing prices sharply north. And
yes, the oil world has lately endured more than its usual share of ugly
headlines: insurgency in Iraq, unrest in Venezuela, mayhem in the Gulf
of Mexico. And, OK, all those air-conditioned Cadillac Escalades are
thirsty beasts. A million extra barrels a day burned here, a million
fewer pumped there, a little geopolitical instability, and suddenly the
price of the stuff that makes the wheels go around is flirting with
historic peaks...
So rising oil prices are more than just an irritant or even an ominous
nick out of the GDP. They're an invitation to corn and coal and
hydrogen. For anyone with a fresh idea, expensive oil is as good as a
subsidy - with no political strings attached. Indeed, every extra penny
you pay at the pump is an incentive for some aspiring energy mogul to
find another fuel...
The cost of developing entirely new energy supplies is daunting, but
the money is available - and we're not talking about the $14.5 billion
porkfest served up by Washington's recent energy bill. The global oil
industry will rake in three quarters of a trillion dollars this year.
And when that kind of money is up for grabs, investors are never far
away...
So what's a price-shocked, carbon-afflicted highway jockey to do? Keep
driving. In fact, drive more. The longer gas stays expensive, the
higher the chance we'll see alternatives. Put that pedal to the metal.
And smile when you see a big black $3 or $4 out in
front at the gas pump. Those innovators need all the encouragement they
can get. Shale oil, uranium, sunlight - there's enough energy out there
for a dozen planets. Where we'll all park is another matter.
Read the whole story here: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/gas.html
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