What do you think is our best shot at cutting dependence on foreign oil?

Question

In my opinion it is going to take a combination of efforts on different fronts to reduce consumption of oil. Some possibilities include:
biofuels
increasing output from alaskan oil reserves
better driving habits(reduce accelaration/speed)
more efficient regular fuel cars
more affordable hybrid/biofuel/hydrogen vehicles

and something called drafting
thats right i said drafting...what is drafting you say? when you drive really close to the car in front of you then you can accelerate and drive in their "draft bubble." This reduces fuel consumption and if we can make it safer to drive that close(like something that keeps a set distance like cruise control)
i think using all of these can help to reduce fuel consumption. what do you think?

drafting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_(racing)

Answer 1

Nuclear Power is the only alternative proved to have the ability to provide the massive amount of 24/7 reliable power we need. Solar, Wind, Geo, Etc. should also continue developing and used where practical. For now, Nuclear is the only proven source that is reliable and affordable.



Isn't it comical? When our brilliant "Environmentalists" killed our Nuclear Power Program, they made us the worst CO2 polluters. Now they scream "Hate America", and they caused it. We engineers and scientists in the energy industry than already knew it was our best alternative. That's why the industry tried to go that direction. Amazing how "Environmentalists" think they know more than Engineers and Scientists! But it FELT right, though.

Answer 2

I don't think changing your driving habits will achieve the desired effect. I think people should be able to go as fast as they want. I think electric cars are our best shot. Why? They don't use any oil! How's that for cutting dependence? You don't need any.



Biofuels are energy intensive. How much oil is in ANWR, and how many barrels of oil from foreign countries would it replace?



We have more efficient regular fuel cars now. That, I think, would take a long time to dent our dependence on foreign oil, because many people have yet to buy a newer car, and are still driving older, less-efficient models.



Don't hold your breath if you're waiting for more affordable hydrogen vehicles. One, they're not even on the road yet. And two, they cost about $1 million to make. Hybrids? People will say, "Why should I spend $22,000 on a brand new car when mine works just fine?" And they're right, since they would have to drive that hybrid for 12 or 13 years until they save enough money at the gas station to recoup all the extra money they spent on the car.



Drafting would be too dangerous and cause a lot of accidents.

Answer 3

The united states once used wood, and then coal, and now oil for energy.



If we have more fuel efficient cars, typically americans will just drive more. but there is nothing wrong with that. I'd like to go back to the work hard all week, play hard all weekend days of yore.



We need to go to either go directly to the source (the sun) or figure out a way to tap the motion of the earth traveling through space. imagine if we could somehow turn our highways into solar power collectors. our energy needs would be met for many years to come.



drafting LOL

Answer 4

More oil drilling at home would help.



I heard they have billions of oil reserves in North Dakota. Now if the environmentalists nuts don't stop the drilling we could cut dependence to foreign oil very soon.



We should all reduce where we can, but we'll be using oil for a long long time. First it's the most efficient fuel on earth right now and secondly everything is set up for oil and gasoline.



We need to quit blaming oil companies for the costs of gasoline. They don't set the prices and the taxes keep going up for bogus reasons. I've never heard a politician say they'll cut gas taxes to help us out during hard times, but they want to waste our time and money taking oil execs and baseball players to court and trying to label CO2 as a pollutant. What a joke.



Alternative fuels are great, but will be very expensive at first and will take years to fulfill demands. We should always be looking for new methods, but until then, try to lower the costs of gasoline by conserving where possible.



Most energy companies are continually looking for alternatives and hopefully we'll see some in our lifetimes.

Answer 5

Only 9 answers and no one went into details about battery cars. Generator battery cars use a generator to supply electricity to the electric engine "like train locomotives".



The Chevy Volt works on this concept. You can plug it in and charge the battery at home. Run the car around 40 miles on the battery which gets you over 100 mpg. Then the generator kicks on and supplies electricity for the rest of the trip. The generator gets around 60 mpg.



Other battery cars are coming out buy independent start up car makers. Phoenix Motorcars, Inc. is making normal looking vehicles with around a 100 mile range on Altairnano Lithium Titanate Battery Technology. This allows a 10 minute recharge capability with a 440 volt recharge system that could be added to gas stations. The battery will also last over 12 years. This is the equivalent operating cost of over 100 mpg.



Plug in hybrids are the way to go. The U.S. has a vast amount of Coal and other resources to make electricity.



If the government wanted to, it could make solar panels affordable for around $2 a watt which would make investing in solar panels on your house a 7 to 10 year payback. This would lighten the load of the power grid.

Answer 6

We could save about 10% of motor fuel (10% of about 9 million bbl/day) overnight by changing driving habits, but it only takes a few bad drivers to mess up everyone else.



Of your suggestions:

— Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field is well past peak production.  We could drill in ANWR, but we would only get about 10% of motor fuel consumption or 5% of US oil consumption.  This would just barely make up for production declines elsewhere.

— More efficient cars are okay, but you need to replace the fleet fast enough that declining consumption outpaces declining domestic production and declining world oil exports.  Yes, world oil exports are declining; one effect of $110/bbl oil is that the exporters have LOTS of money, and they spend some of this to out-bid us for some of that oil!

— Hybrid cars are good, but they only cut fuel requirements by about 1/3.  Biofuels are not going to replace our current oil consumption because plants just can't capture enough energy (unless they are single-celled algae).  Hydrogen begs the question of "hydrogen made from WHAT?"; there are no hydrogen wells.



If you want to see the future, there are vehicles coming which can run on electricity for short trips and only need liquid fuel for longer trips.  Biofuels could supply such small amounts of liquid fuel.  Three of these vehicles are the Chevy Volt, VentureOne and Aptera (see links).

Answer 7

interesting ideas. drafting- maybe if each car had a trailer hitch on each end, and a wiring plug -in, so that the lead car controlled the engine and brakes of all. I can't see it being used, but it'd cut wind resistance all right. wind resistance increases with the square of the velocity, if we reduced speed to like 45 mph, it'd save a lot of fuel. and it'd make bicycles, buses and small, low power cars more competitive. battery powered vehicles would have more range, too, at lower speeds. We should be able to ride bikes on the side of the interstate highway- if cars weren't going past at 80mph..... i don't think biofuels or hydrogen are going to be practical -they consume too much resource for the end product. without our current relatively cheap energy resources, only the very wealthy could afford them.

Answer 8

The "World's Cleanest Car" runs on compressed air.



"BBC News is reporting that a French company has developed a pollution-free car which runs on compressed air. India's Tata Motors has the car under production and it may be on sale in Europe and India by the end of the year.



The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up -- roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000.



The car features a fibreglass body and a revolutionary electrical system and is completely computer-controlled. It is powered by the expansion of compressed air, using no combustion at all, and the exhaust is entirely clean and cool enough for use in the internal air conditioning system. "

Answer 9

I agree with some of your answer but you have to realise that the fossil fuels that we are using are finite apart from the fact that we are losing them, they are pollutants to our planet and we are not doing our planet any good by drawing millions of gallons a day from within it ..........how long before we implode on ourselves

Any other alternative that does not pollute has to be the only option for all of our futures don't you think. And as for your drafting soloution sorry not an option [example have you ever tried to do that on a motorcycle?]. Definitly not an option at least behind 95% of the cars that I have tried it on

Answer 10

The best shot at reducing our dependency on oil is drilling for oil everywhere that it exits. As it stands now, our number one supplier of oil is not the Middle East, its Canada, then Mexico, contrary to ordinary thinking.



We have lots of oil in the Gulf, and in Alaska and drilling wherever it exists, is the best way, to lessen our dependency on foreign oil.



Many of these bio-fuels can’t sell themselves and have to be subsidized by the government. The price of oil is dependent upon supply and demand and oil speculation.



If we let the free market handle the situation, we will do just fine. The government can’t even tie its shoes right. Example, this Global Warming hoax that they will tax the blank out of us for.. Bad science!



EDIT: Drafting is a good idea. Do your part and draft a ride behind a big scary truck.

Answer 11

Dear Earthling Chris,



This is Zork. Eeree meeree.



We have come to your planet offering tips on recession and environment. Biofuels are not the answer because they drive the price of plants like corn up, increasing the cost of food. Sugar is currently your only efficient way to create Ethanol. Switch grass technology is in the early stages. You have not yet cracked the code.



Our extensive analysis tells us that if all available land in America is turned into fields growing switch grass, it would only substitute about 20% of your current transportation needs. You would also need to increase your yield per acre of the plant growth, and switch grass technology still needs to be proven.



The quickest way to reduce oil consumption is to make your cars more efficient. Earthlings! You have the knowledge and technology to make cars that go 50 to 100 mpg. However your politicians and lobbyists stand in your way. We aliens agree that in order to reduce oil consumption, you must follow multiple methods and alternative technologies to get yourself out of the mess you are in today. Perhaps one day you will be intelligent enough to develop and understand the energy source that we use.



Earthlings, "drafting" is one of the most Didiot ideas we have heard since our crash onto Earth. You cannot even drive safely in traffic, and now you want to tailgate within inches of each other? Please refer to your Driver's Education Manuel to understand why.

Answer 12

In the Big Picture....there is no single solution. You're absolutely right, it will take a combination of many options.

Answer 13

Increased use of coal

Nuclear power

Development of oil shale

Answer 14

Stop driving so much and buy a bicycle for short trips. Long term solution: electric cars and nuclear power plants.

Answer 15

I think we need to send some observers to Brazil to see how they changed to alcohol. If that backward country can pull this off, surely we Americans can! What are we waiting for?

Answer 16

Fuel cells, solar cells, wind power, hybrid engines. cars that run on compressed air or water.

Forcing the oil companies to cooperate.

Answer 17

I agree, use less oil all together, that oil is dinasaurs an we should use there DNa to make a jurassic park and ride on t-rexs and brontasaurs

Answer 18

Drafting is very dangerous. If you're too close to the car in front and it suddenly brakes, you've got an accident on your hands. And it doesn't have a big effect on fuel efficiency anyway.



Alaskan oil reserves aren't the solution. ANWR only has about one year's worth of oil at our current consumption rate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Refuge_drilling_controversy#Estimates_of_oil_reserves



Biofuels aren't a good large-scale solution because the more agricultural land we use for fuel crops, the less we have for food crops.



The best solution is electric vehicles. They're far more efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles and would drastically cut our dependency on oil. And there are some really good EVs soon to be in production.



Available in California in October 2008, the Aptera typ-1e will cost about $27,000 with a top speed of 95 mph and range of 120 miles per charge.



http://www.aptera.com/details.php



Soon thereafter Aptera will introduce the typ-1h, a plug-in hybrid version of the typ-1e with a 40-60 mile range on purely electrical energy, and a range of over 600 miles total when in electric/gas hybrid mode, for around $30,000. On a 120 mile trip, the typ-1h will get 300 miles per gallon. The shorter the trip, the higher the efficiency.



http://www.aptera.com/details.php



Available in 2009, the ZAP Alias will cost $30,000, have a top speed of 100 mph, and a range of 100 miles per charge.



http://zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/electric-cars/zap-alias



Soon thereafter the ZAP-X will be available at a cost of $60,000 with a top speed of 155 mph and a range of 350 miles per charge.



http://zapworld.com/electric-vehicles/electric-cars/zap-x



Available in 2009, the Miles Javlon will cost $30,000 with a top speed of 80 mph and a range of 120 miles per charge.



http://www.milesev.com/



Phoenix Motorcars will start selling their SUT to individuals in 2009. It will cost $45,000 and have a top speed of 100 mph with a range of 100+ miles per charge.



http://phoenixmotorcars.com/

Answer 19

Energy conservation, usage of solar power and electric transport will solve your problems fast.

Answer 20

Annex South America and the Middle East. We'll have plenty of oil and we "baby boomers" will have really neat places to retire.

Answer 21

Anything we can do to help. I do not trust the Arabs will not use oil as a weapon.