Saturday, May 15, 2010

Average Gallon of Gasoline Requires 3 Gallons of Water

From Jenna Orkin


Oil Catastrophe/Energy
Peak Oil: The End - Matt Simmons
Matt:...There are too many studies, way overdue, that are now finally being done that show in the next five to seven years about two-thirds of the energy workforce will retire.


Jay: Okay. You don’t see a pool of new talent coming into the market?


Matt: No, no. We just barely got started when we had our financial collapse, and then all the new pool got fired...
And then there is an unbelievably interesting and almost totally ignored interdependence between the amount of water it takes to create modern energy, and the role of energy in creating water. It turns out the average gallon of motor gasoline in the world requires about three gallons of water at the refinery; in the cooling towers, 40% of America’s fresh water is used for power generation.
Volcano of Oil Erupting
Because of this fractioning, what you see from the air on the surface of the water represents maybe just 20% of the volume of the various types of oil in that area. And we're talking an area the size of Maryland (10,000+ square miles) that is on the surface. The remaining 80% is under the surface; and all of it is highly toxic to the living organisms encountered.
Matt Simmons' Ocean Energy
Oil can rise to over $100 per barrel
Where's the oil? Much of it may be gone
What could make the oil spill worse? A hurricane
Spill means high-stakes hurricane season
Financial damage seen spreading
Oil spill on ice not worth the risk
Oil spill could hasten loss of Louisiana's marshes
Scientists find oil plume below Gulf's surface - from Elizabeth Miller
Pak Railways suspends operation of 16 trains - Pakistan
Obama Seeks $80 Billion for New Nukes


Economy
Sarkozy Threatens Euro Withdrawal
Fed Opens Credit Line to Europe
40l(k)/IRA Nationalization
A Capital City Nears Bankruptcy
US bankruptcies resume upward path in 1st quarter
Illinois Doesn't Pay Bills; Crisis Pushes Businesses to Edge of Bankruptcy
Home birth unavailable in New York


Terror/Intelligence
Pentagon works to define rules of cyber warfare
Pentagon Virus Detector Knows You’re Sick Before You Do
Jury Reaches Decision in Brain-Scan Test Case
Report: Secret Space Plane Likely an Orbiting Spy
AFRICOM to Deploy Social Scientists to Africa, Searching for Signs of War
Informant Nation: New terror monitors: parking attendants from Rice Farmer
Former UK minister stabbed at his office
Indonesia 'uncovers plot to kill president' - from Rice Farmer
Army brings death and carnage to the streets
Neo-Nazi jailed for making chemical weapons
Troops force out Kyrgyz siege protesters
Marine Major Sentenced in Leak of Intelligence Documents


Environment
"Earth System Sensitivity Inferred from Pliocene Modelling and Data,” from Elizabeth Miller
Earth more sensitive to CO2 than previously thought.
Caterpillar plague on Isle of Wight was caused by climate change, says expert

6 comments:

Titus Pullo said...

I can not find anywhere that lists the total proven reserves for the Macondo Prospect, from which this disaster is emanating. Anyone who can link us to just how much oil was ever down there to begin with would be greatly appreciated.

MuZaKisGooD said...

According to Cornell ecologist David Pimentel, growing, chilling, washing, packaging, and transporting that box of organic salad to a plate on the East Coast takes more than 4,600 calories of fossil fuel energy, or 57 calories of fossil fuel energy for every calorie of food.

- Michael Pollan writing on the industrialized organic food system in the omnivore's Dilemma. pg. 167 (hardback)

businessman said...

Guy Fawkes...In this article it mentions that the Macondo field is estimated to hold 50 million barrels of oil:

Click Here for the Article

vince327 said...

Hi everybody,
I thought I might contribute with what I hope will be an interesting factoid for you New Worlders :)

In Balcan countries there's actually an old and ever popular term: "Indebted as Greece". It's used to describe people and organizations who are over their heads in debt. The term was probably coined sometime during the 19th century, when Greece emerged as an "independent" state from a declining Ottoman Empire. Western geopolitical interests have kept the country in a state of perpetual indebtedness, economic crises and political instability ever since.

Michiel said...

I wanted to inform you that I have added a disclaimer to the groups.google page.

It goes:

"Disclaimer: This group comprises of users of the aforementioned blog. This group is in no shape or form affiliated with From The Wilderness, From the Wilderness' Peak Oil Blog or CollapseNet. The opinions stated here do not neccessarely reflect those of the people involved with those sites."

If it needs change please inform me.

RanD said...

From: http://apnews.myway.com/
/article/20100516/D9FO77K00.html :

"The first chance to choke off the flow for good should come in about a week. Engineers plan to shoot heavy mud into the crippled blowout preventer on top of the well, then permanently entomb the leak in concrete. If that doesn't work, crews also can shoot golf balls and knotted rope into the nooks and crannies of the device to plug it, Wells said."

"...golf balls and knotted rope...." ?

It appears not everybody is catching on; yet.