Most people do not realize how long it takes to drill and start producing. 5 years from now everyone will be screaming why wasn't drilling started in 08.
Natural gas will start kicking your ass, via utility bills which will be delivered with a bottle of lube soon.
We need to implement alternative energy plans before we start drilling. Otherwise we just use the offshore resources up and then what?
Actually I would feel that both needs to be concurrent, the active development of alternative energy as well as offshore drilling. Both takes time and lots of money and the sooner they can be accomplished, in whatever order, the greater will be the benefits for us.
It seems we can't do both without arguing. The reserves off shore if we started today would take 5 to 10 years to reap the benefits. Alternative energy will be the ultimate answer. I think universities and private companies should take the lead on research and solve the problems.
According to the offical site there are 705 million barrels in the reserve. http://www.spr.doe.gov/dir/dir.html According to the World Factbook, the United States imports a net 12 million barrels of oil a day (MMbd), so the SPR holds about a 58-day supply. However, the maximum total withdrawal capability from the SPR is only 4.4 million barrels per day, making it a 160 + day supply. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Petroleum_Reserve
Personally I think it's a great idea. But that will eventually run out too. So I think we still need to be developing the electric and hydrogen vehicles.
That's the problem with the offshore drilling. It will run out too. At the least we need to start building some new nuclear plants asap.
Fusion ones would be better but pity it is still in prototype stage or it will be much cleaner and less likely to be opposed by the environmentalists.
Nuclear Fusion Reactor being built in France won't come online before 2025... So, maybe we are too late, according to [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Matt Savinar[/FONT] and Mike Rupert. The human race wold soon descend into post-industrial stone age. But there is a solution... It is called "Permatopia" http://www.permatopia.com/levels.htm A.K.A. The One World Government...
No thanks, reminds me of Star Wars, and we do not yet have the means for space travel, we would be forever tripped in the tyranny of a One World government.
You know, these peak oil folks have some really weird ideas, about dealing with this "disaster", proposing a "Malthusian Catastrophe" as a solution to the problem. Please check out http://home.comcast.net/~olimar/c2c-6-23.mp3
Those were the good old days of doom: "Oil Jumps to Record $52.02 as Supplies Rise Less Than Expected " http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aV2Jo7q5DEuI&refer=home