Green Energy News | April 19, 1998

April 19, 1998 – Vol.3 No.3

ENERGIES... week of April 19,1998

BITS FROM EARTH DAY. An admittedly unscientific study from John C. Herold Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut (business analysts) found that...

A 42 gallon barrel of crude oil today costs roughly $15.25, a barrel of gasoline $45.36. In the same quantity, Coca-Cola would be $78.38; milk $126.00; Evian bottled spring water $189.80; orange juice $251.16; Budweiser beer $342.72; Jack Daniels bourbon $4133.26; Remy Martin cognac $7841.51; Visine eye drops $238,133.21.

Gasoline costs about 5 cents per mile. A trip across the U.S, including side trips would be about $150 in petrol. Financing and insuring a car cost 10 - 25 cents per mile.

Herold also determined (more scientifically) that the historically low cost of crude oil will save U.S. consumers $50 billion dollars in 1998, if the cost per barrel stays where it is. (Other costs, such as the environmental impact from increased fuel consumption, weren’t considered as part of the study.)

In the EarthView survey, a proper national opinion poll of teenagers and baby boomers, sponsored by the National 4-H Council and Honda, found among other things, that ...

Boomers and teens agree that we are running out of time to save the world’s environment from permanent damage. Teens: 77%, Boomers: 67%

Both agree that breakthroughs in technology will help solve environmental problems. Teens: 81%, Boomers: 76%

Both teens and boomers think that governmental leaders should do more to control pollution from the oil and chemical industries, even if that increases the price of gas and oil. Teens: 82%, Boomers: 76%

Both agree that today’s teens will have the greatest impact on the future environment. Teens: 86%, Boomers 71%

The complete survey is available at http://www.fourhcouncil.edu .

(Editor’s note; When we babyboomers were teens and college students in the 60’s and 70’s, we were going to save the world. The ideology of our youth seems to have faded with time.)

PLANNING FOR DECADES AHEAD. The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a report “Technology Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” discussing 48 technology pathways that could eliminate hundreds of millions of tons of carbon in the atmosphere each year. The report recommends those technologies that should be pursued over the next three decades.

In the first ten years hybrid cars, efficient lighting, super insulating windows, and passive solar heating and cooling would be implemented. The next decade would bring fuel cells, microturbines, broad use of biomass and hydrogen fuels and wind and solar energy into fruition. By about 2030 research into carbon sequestration storage, absorption and removal by the oceans, forests and soils should be fully in gear. The study is available at http://www.ornl.gov/climate_change/climate.htm .