Drill, for the love of everything...
 

We operate equipment that now, and for the foreseeable future, needs oil.

The current pricing is killing our livelihood.

We need to drill - NOW !

And, we know where:

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/program...ped_report.pdf

For those of us that want to save the oil for our airplanes,
we can convert our autos to burn compressed natural gas (CNG).

Conversion for passenger car: $ 2,500 - $ 4, 000

Government rebate: $ 2, 000

Home supplied system
(if home has natural gas): $ 2, 000

Effective cost for home supplied
per equivalent energy of one gallon of gas: $ 0.99

Cost at filling station per equivalent energy of one gallon
of gas: $ 2.99

...

I have some alternative fuel experience in industry, including CNG. A few thoughts...

CNG is safe for vehicles. I mention this because the big oil companies ran an ad campaign in the mid-90s to attempt to scare the public away from CNG.

If possible, buy an OEM vehicle designed for CNG as opposed to a conversion. The engine management system on the conversions may not function perfectly under all conditions.

Get a dual-fuel vehicle (one that can use either gasoline or CNG). If you run out of CNG away from home or a CNG filling station, you need to be able to fall back on gasoline. Also good for road trips.

Range on CNG is less than gasoline.

For CNG to be a good deal you need several things...

- Government rebates. The Fed has one, and if your state does too it starts to look pretty good financially. Check your local gas utility, sometimes they offer subsidies for obvious reasons.

- A home refueling unit. Check local permiting and installation requirements...if the local buearocraps are not familiar and comfortable with the equipment, it will be like trying to license a nuclear powerplant.

OR

- A nearby high-speed filling station which is open 24 hours.


The home fuelers are very convenient but they basically just compress gas from your home utility into your vehicles tanks...this will take hours. The fast-fill stations work just like gas stations. If you don't have a 24-hour fast-fill station you will need to plan your travels around fueling (or use gasoline).

CNG=Extreme BLEVE hazards

Natural Gas is the way to go in this country...we have lots of it, it will somewhat reduce our demand for foreign oil.

Let's move over to more wind power, as well as some some solar as well. Texas to the Dakotas w/ wind, Texas to California w/ Solar (I know Cali has wind, solar would be even better).

More offshore drilling is like giving a coke addict more coke. Does nothing but make addiction stronger. We're at the end of the road here, might as well stay ahead by at least trying to transition to more alternative forms of energy. Extra offshore drilling just burndens our children and grandchildren w/ the same problems, let's make it a better world for them by starting the transition now!

Better yet, let's just announce we're planning to drill in ANWR and that we're going to "Manhattan Project" a national effort to convert all the oil-shale in Colorado to petroleum.

This'll cause a massive panic amongst the speculators, the concomitant sell-off will cause the price-per-barrel to plummet, and life will again be good :)

Not CNG. It is a gas, not a liquid, and if it escapes it disipates rapidly because it is lighter than air. Also it has a very narrow combustion range...it won't even burn accidently unless you get a very unlucky fuel/air mixture ratio. That's why we use it in all of our houses, and why gas leaks rarely result in an explosion. Also the CNG tanks certified for vehicle use are so tough that the impact needed to rupture one would kill you anyway.

Gasoline vapors are heavier-than-air, and tend to sink to the ground and linger. Gasoline vapors are highly fammable compared to NG. That's why we are supposed to store gasoline in the shed, not the garage where water heaters and electrical gadgets can ignite the vapors.

On my commute home a few weeks back I was sitting next to the CEO of Laclede Gas in St. Louis. I asked him why CNG wasn't being explored more as it's already used in a number of fleet vehicle applications. It's also cheap, low emission and widely used in other applications.

His response: It's hard to compete when only honda and a couple others are producing a CNG vehicle. He's also convinced that oil companies are doing a pretty good job keeping it down.

No respect, of course, I haven't earned any, but did anyone else notice that this thread was stolen by:

Pilot SkidMark with
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...ad.php?t=27742

???

If not for our airplanes,

Let's drill for the 8+ million U.S. homes that are heated by oil.

Winter will be here soon...

Sorry if this sounds naive, but would it help our gas prices if we banned the export of Alaskan oil to Asia and other countries? From what I've heard most of the oil we drill in Alaska goes to other countries, and we get hosed here in the US by the Saudis.