[quote=4plexowner]”get all our fuel needs from tar sands and oil shale and coal to liquid tech”
you might want to do some research about the energy (natural gas) required to extract oil from the tar sands – the overall gain in energy is minimal – also, if Canada uses the natural gas to extract oil from tar sands then that natural gas isn’t available for export and a significant part of the north east US is without heat in the winter – then there is the massive amount of fresh water required – tar sands are not the panacea that many people thought they would be – the Chinese just invested $1.5 billion (iirc) in the tar sands but they don’t have the nat gas / water issue because they don’t use Canadian nat gas or water
oil shale – similar issues – is there any net gain in energy by the time we get the oil into a pipeline?
coal to liquid – interesting technology – the challenge with coal is that it can’t be put into a pipeline and shipped around the country – converting coal to liquid overcomes that challenge – so now we have liquefied coal in a pipeline – what do we do with it? – it isn’t a replacement for oil – what is the infrastructure cost to implement this technology? – is it just more pie-in-the-sky thinking like hydrogen powered cars?[/quote]
The last I heard they were experimenting using tuned microwaves to extract oil from shale and having some success but there are water pollution issues that are the most serious issues with this approach.
Probably the same tech can be used for tar sands if it works I would think
There is the environmental issues that are the most costly for either of these sources is my guess and why I think it may not be the best idea at this point anyway.
Using a nuclear reactor to heat water then tar sands I think would work as well.
There is natural gas to Liquid tech that is going to become main stream as well.
