This may seem like a dumb question, but I look at it like leaded gas. At one time we all drove cars with leaded gas. Many people found out that it was bad for the environment and we moved to unleaded gas. Not over night but it happened. We now know that fossil fuel is bad for the environment. Why have we not at the very least moved to Bio-diesel or ethanol? Alternatives that we have today, that would greatly reduce harmful emissions.
Plus we won't get started on the wars and political games fought over the stuff in the ground versus giving our farmers work.
2007-08-29 17:26:56 · 9 answers · asked by goodfriend3030 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
One word. MONEY.
2007-08-29 17:34:58 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
As it has been stated, oil is used in pretty much every process in the modern world. I am all for finding alternative fuels, but as of right now, they are not as efficient as fossil fuels are. The Western world has been regularly using petrolium products since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Steam engines (both land and nautical) require vast amounts of lubrication, and eventually the shoveling of coal about dissapeared in the United States with the development of oil driven locomotives.
Alternative fuels are an excellent idea, but the bottom line is that they are not developed enough to replace petrolium. Ethonal does not have the endurance yet, hydrogen can still go boom, the electric car is about pointless sine it still requires the fossil fuel from the power plant to charge it. So once the technology is made safer and more effective, we're stuck with fossil fuel.
Some people have been talking about the oil industry having a large say in it, and yes it's true, they are a very large and powerful lobby, but they don't directly run the country (Yes, I know the Bush family made their money from oil). The proclaimed "War for Oil" simply does not exist, Chlorine chemical weapons were found in Iraq and are being used against the coalitions (there's your WMD's) it just so happens that Iraq is full of the stuff and yes the new government will be a welcome trading partner once the refineries have been stripped of all the Soviet era refining equipment.
2007-08-29 20:21:57 · answer #2 · answered by thechief66 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We need oil because our oil and auto industries have a lot to say about our foreign policies.
I think we'd actually have more domestic oil than we need, if we were just using it for lubrication, plastic, tarring roads and fueling airplanes.
What we don't have enough domestic oil for is, so a hundred million middle managers can pretend they're cattle ranchers on their 40 mile commutes from the suburbs to their office jobs, in gas powered 4x4 trucks.
That's a luxury demand, and a huge one. That's the demand that's driving our auto industry, our oil industry, and through them, our foreign policy in the middle east.
That's what all those people over there are dying for, whether
we kill them or they kill each other trying to drive us out.
Aside from the moral obscenity of that position, I think there is a great deal of actual risk to the nation, long term, in carrying out such policies.
Yes I agree, domestic policy should be created to deal with that demand in some other way, though I don't think turning corn into ethanol, specifically, is a good idea.
2007-08-29 17:42:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Changing to another fuel source is a splendid idea. There just are not suitable sources yet. Bio-diesel is too limited in quantity and increasing the quantity too expensive. Ethanol is made from corn which is the main food staple in the world. Using your food to make fuel is a dopey idea. It is already forcing food prices up. Even cattle and dairy cows feed on corn.
We need to find a cheap, clean easy to use alternative that uses something we do not need elsewhere. Current technology falls short. Someone will come up with something and will change the world.
.
2007-08-29 17:40:36 · answer #4 · answered by Jacob W 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Like "YOU Asked" said. Oil is used in thousands of products. Not just to power our vehicles.
YOU Asked, you forgot more efficient fuel, especially when compared to ethanol!
A lot of those wars and political games could be curtailed if we were allowed to drill offshore and in Alaska, and build more refineries! But the extreme left environmental wackos seem to shout louder than those with logic and reason!
2007-08-29 17:39:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
You could use all of the food American farmers grow to make bio-diesel and/or ethanol and you wouldn't come close to replacing the amount of gasoline that is consumed in automobiles, and ... you would have zero food to eat! (Just look at what has happened to the price of corn in the last year as more of it has been used to produce ethanol.) These alternative fuels are fantasies and not real solutions.
2007-08-29 17:34:59 · answer #6 · answered by Doctor J 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
oil is used for everything from making your car go to making plastics...it's not just about a better cheaper fuel.
2007-08-29 17:32:00 · answer #7 · answered by Erinyes 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I'm sure we'll find out just how much we need it when we run out of it.
2007-08-29 17:37:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
oil is very important for us. but, it does mean we should start war every time for it.
2007-08-29 17:46:10 · answer #9 · answered by sean paul 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋