based on the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. imported 62 percent of its oil, or 339 million barrels in February 2009, sending approximately $13 billion, or $328,709 per minute, overseas to foreign governments. (Pickens Plan)Needless to say, that is a lot of money. In just an hour we spend $19,722,540 dollars on oil; maybe, if we were to sacrifice an hour's worth of oil per month and invest this money into the development of alternative energy sources, we would see an acceleration in the implementation of non-oil energy sources. (This Sunday, I will be reviewing an article that proves space solar power is the best choice for an alternative source of energy, but until then I will leave you all the abstract.) By sacrificing just an hour's worth of fuel per month we can overcome the launch costs involved with space solar power; the most effective choice in future energy generation.
Below is the abstract from The End of Free Energy and What to Do About It, this week's featured article in the Sunday Paper Club.
Easy energy refers to the current oil, coal, and natural gas energy sources that provide about 86% of the U.S.’s and the world’s energy. An increasing average world per capita demand for easy energy combined with a growing U.S. and world population will exhaust recoverable resources of easy energy this century, probably within the lifetime of today’s young children. Current sustainable nuclear and renewable energy sources provide only about 14% of the world’s electricity and modern fuel needs. To meet the world’s projected 3X increase in energy needs by 2100, if not decades earlier, today’s sustainable energy production must expand by a factor of over 25X. This paper’s assessment of the energy production potential of conventional nuclear, geothermal, wind, ground solar electric, and land biomass finds that these will fall significantly short of both the U.S.’s or the world’s 2100 sustainable energy needs. To fill the substantial sustainable energy shortfall that will emerge by 2100 as the era of easy energy ends, space solar power and algae biodiesel—absent the extensive use of advanced nuclear energy and/or undersea methane hydrates—will need to be substantially developed. Space solar power will be needed to supply most of the U.S.’s and the world’s dispatchable electrical power generation capacity while hydrogen produced with off-peak space solar power electricity and algae biodiesel will be needed to fill the fuels shortfall.
