Why does America spend billions on war to get cheaper oil instead of investing in solar power?

Question

I mean come on.

For people who disagree on motives for the war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle

And by solar power I mean all forms of green energy. For example this plant In the mojave desert: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_plants_in_the_Mojave_Desert

And for those who question the power of green cars: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle

The motive for war link is this:
http://www.thedebate.org/thedebate/iraq.asp

Answer 1

Stop listening to the liberal BS. If it was about oil then gas would be 5000 dollars a gallon. Get a grip on reality.

Answer 2

Solar energy cannot keep the cars that Americans drive moving. Americans like their cars big and fast. So far, the electric carmakers have produced small cars that don't meet the expectations that Americans have. Give them a choice, oil and high price and keep the big car or solar and potential low cost energy and lose the big car, then the American will go for oil.

Also, even if we spent all of those billions on solar, we would not be able to convert the US so solar. The cost is still too high for the entire country to convert. It would help if some of the states worked harder to promote individual use of solar power. That might be a boost to the companies that provide solar panels to create a product with lower prices.


Did you bother to read the stuff you posted? The wiki article that you listed to back the power of green cars says that fuel cells have problems that make them weaker than gasoline. Low volumetric energy. That part specifically says that the energy density fuel cells is small relative to that of gasoline. Also, you have the problem of producing and maintaining the fuel cells. They are fragile and cannot take the abuse that a gas powered engine can. The same article also talks about how hydrogen is not harvestable energy. You have to spend more energy to get hydrogen than the amount of energy you need to get oil and gas. Also, the conversion will not happen overnight. If the US started to go hydrogen today, then it would take decades before we were able to stop using oil. The article also talks about the life of fuel cells. They do not last as long as a gas powered engine. The cost of continually replacing the burned out fuel cells would be gigantic.

If you are going to use an article to support your argument, you might want to read the article to make sure that it does not undermine your argument.

Answer 3

One user, accssdenyed, seems frustrated that everbody says that this war is about oil. Well, guess what... That is true.
Here is how. We all know that our current leaders are big players in the oil monopoly. While it may be true that we haven't gotten any oil from the middle east, we (not me) have made and stand to make, LOTS of money by keeping the war going. Not the least of which is keeping the THREAT of oil shortage (because of the war) in place so the oil companies can rape us. How do they justify the cost of gas? Think about it, it is ALL based on the POTENTIAL shortage, because of the war. The technology for refining gas has gotten better and the cars are more efficient (so consumption is down). That is one way oil is tied to the continuing war in an oil rich area.
Then there is the military budget - WHO is profiting? And who are the stock holders of the defense contractors? We already know about Haliburton - that is just the tip of the iceburg.
It is all part of the big picture, folks. We "common people" are NOT going to benefit, and neither is America, in the long run.
I just ran across something REALLY INTERESTING on the net that gives some real insight into a lot of what is going on. Look up Psychopolitics and read the manual on how you can destroy and take over a country, without force. It was written in 1955 and I can see every single facet of it happening in our society today. There is a link below.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7006/psychopolitics.html

Answer 4

1. If Govt Rebates are put aside, the polycrystiline panels dont recover their price in whole life even.

2. I think Govt has to do nothing with solar power as some people say here. LCD TVs are not made cheaper bec of Govt

3. High complexity computers are made cheaper because of Private companies and not Govt. agian

4, Of course the oil companies dont want the alternate energy to florish, bec in that case the energy market will go into the hands of multiple people.

5. No body is stopping private companies and Universities to do reasearch on solar power.

6. It is only that , because of global warming solar got attention, else energy from coal is 3 times cheaper than solar so there was no incentive to go for solar.

Answer 5

Isn't it obvious by now? The Bush Administration and all the riffraff pulling the strings behind the scenes have invested interests in the oil industry and until this changes for some miraculous reason we are stuck with carbon-based energy production as the dominant feature. Green energy doesn't produce enough profit for these blind neoconservative monsters. Unfortunately for the Iraqis and the rest of the world's population there are still several billion barrels of cheaply attained oil under the sands of the Iraqi desert and these same greedy people are going to extract every drop to make as much profit as they can before it's all gone...

Answer 6

Well the big reason is that there isn't an easy way to convert solar power into transportation or electricity. It does a great job heating hot water for home systems but you can't go anywhere with hot water.

The best way to get America to stop future wars, ease geopolitical tension? Stop using oil. Turn off the lights, walk, ride a bike. With Gasoline over $3 a gallon, demand for gasoline keeps increasing. For all of those economics majors out there, demand keeps increasing and supply is flat to down. The

Answer 7

It's all about money. The United States government has, for the past six long years, been in the hands of men with ties to the oil industry. The oil industry, in turn, has a huge hand in the energy business and the auto industry.

I agree that solar is one of many ways to go. If you think I'm crazy, think about, for example, the International Space Station - it's run almost exclusively on solar power. Think about the solar calculators you might have used in school. The technology's there for us to use.

Answer 8

Because Daddy Bush is in the oil business. Junior Bush killed at least 3 oil companies himself. Invaded Iraq and said....ahhhh black gold,,,Texas tea. JR Ewing wanna be but without the charm and brainpower. Cheney found his own gold with the Halliburton profits.
Besides, solar power would give people the idea that these foolish scientists would know what they are talking about with the global warming crap that the Neocons say is some liberal plot.
There are none so blind as those who choose not to see.

Answer 9

Do the arithmetic. To collect as much energy from the sun as would be needed to make fuel for our cars and trucks would require a solar panel having an area equal to that of the state of Utah. Solar panelling takes a lot of energy to create, and it degrades over time; i.e., there would be an enormous overhead investment of energy to create a solar system of the necessary size and a constant stream of maintenance costs as older panels went bad and had to be replace by new ones.

Answer 10

Watch the documentary "Who Killed The Electric Car". You will find your answers there.

Any significant improvements in solar cell, or battery technology, are bought up by the oil companies. What would you do if you had billions in profits?

If the earth has a trillion barrels of oil left, and you can average the price per barrel... that cow has not quite been milked fully yet, has it?

Answer 11

I'm all for solar power (and against the war), but I'm tired of people (usually from other countries) suggesting that this war was all about oil. For the last time...America has not received even one barrel of oil from Iraq since the invasion. Give me a break.