MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
US moves into the Caribbean to replace Venezuela as cheap gas supplier
The United States Monday rolled out a new initiative for Caribbean countries to ensure energy security in a move widely seen as distancing the Caribbean from Venezuela for their oil and energy needs. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesAt last!
Jan 28th, 2015 - 10:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0Obuma is moving in the right direction and Venezuela are going to be left out in the cold.
Stand by for lashing out at the 'enemies of the state' by MADuro, but only those within Venezuela.
Good move from the Yanks, the only thing is whether the dead heads in charge of the other countries will put ideological claptrap before there own citizens.
There can be little doubt that NORTH America is the place to look for energy. But that's not all. NORTH America will combine with the rest of the freedom-loving West to deny the southern and eastern dictatorships. The dictatorships of the south, argieland, bolivia, brazil, ecuador, peru and uruguay have had their day. In the east, Russia is already suffering. China is restricted. India has nothing worth having except labour.
Jan 28th, 2015 - 01:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's a dynamic situation. But China, India and Russia don't understand dynamics. They believe in massive state ownership. Always slow to respond. Russia is already under sanctions. China and India can easily be made to follow. The West is always the best!
An interesting attempt by the USA to destabilise VE, cause it to default and fall more fully into the arms of China, collapse the Maduro 'government', military dictatorship, etc., etc.
Jan 28th, 2015 - 06:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0All inevitable, considering the glut of US fracked fuel and the Saudi tactic of keeping OPEC's fuel flowing.
'Killing a number of birds with the cheaper barrel' - to mix a metaphor.
....
Meanwhile, Joe Biden is poorly briefed when he claims that 'North America' now rules the energy world (see article).
He has clearly failed to understand the unit cost of extracting his shale hydrocarbons and the unit cost of extracting fine oils from the Arab sands.
I'm sure he knows the “unit cost”. One thing is ceretain, if oil goes too high, frackers return to the numbers they once held, until the technology once again decreases costs, which is inevitable. Personally myself I would prefer to see the USA fund research to make the combustion engine a relic as we know it. Shit we put man on the moon and shoot rockets at targets that take years to get there and we can't find a replacement to the combustion engine?
Jan 28th, 2015 - 07:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@4 Due to the laws of physics a proper replacement for the combustion engine for small stuff like cars is impossible. For large scale electricity consumption our only hope is a way for storing very large amounts of electricity so that solar is viable.
Jan 29th, 2015 - 04:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0@ 4 Captain Poppy; @ 5 MagnusMaster
Jan 29th, 2015 - 05:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Fuel cell technology is now becoming smaller, cheaper and more efficient.
Only problem of course is the perceived public safety one that hydrogen brings to mind but the latest scheme developed by the Germans seems to have overcome that.
Cue better range, refuelling on the fly and immense performance from the car.
The investment on IC technology will enevitably mean it's retention for decades yet, at least at the “economic” end of the market and emerging countries.
I still firmly believe, albeit partly of ignorance, with the amount we put into the military and what we invested in the old space race, there must be a way to toss the combustion engine, as we know it, to the side.
Jan 29th, 2015 - 08:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I've read that Telsa has made incredible progress in charge rates to their batteries.
Cost of Supply Curves, 2020 projection:
Jan 30th, 2015 - 11:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.ogfj.com/content/dam/ogfj/print-articles/Volume-10/issue-10/z1310OGFJfny06.jpg
Poppy,
check out the overall curve and the cost-contributions of major world-wide stocks.
It's the dynamics of ALL the extraction and production costs (and their ultimate declining availabilities) that determine the fracking econometrics.
[In the UK, local councillors, celebs., and the Green lobby are given the task of legally promoting/destroying the fracking 'revolution'.
Only the GMB union seems to be FOR it. “We need ALL politicians to unify behind fracking” says their National Secretary, Gary Smith
(sometimes the most unlikely people can see needs most clearly).
Politicians and our UK Governments are keeping their heads down behind the parapets, “Elections, dear boy, elections”.]
@ 7 Captain Poppy
Jan 30th, 2015 - 11:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0I have great sympathy for your view. After all, IC engines develop far more horsepower than they ever deliver due to the rotating and reciprocating nature of their components.
BUT, the BIG problem is the specific energy of what is available (the power intrinsic to the materials) just does not allow much of a change and will not change until miniature nuclear reactors are developed. To see the problem for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density
Take diesel fuel for example, it delivers 96.75 hp/l assuming unity efficiency :o) whereas lead acid batteries are at the bottom of the list and not worth calculating.
The Tesla car is a thing of beauty and has one of the furthest miles to exhaustion for that technology BUT it still takes five hours to recharge whilst hydrogen in a fuel cell is almost the same technique to fill as petrol, so no waiting. Totally emissions free (except for water) and has greater energy discharge than most of the battery equivalents (can dump energy into the motors with virtually zero volts drop) which ensures blistering performance far in excess of IC engines.
I am sure we'll get there. But....then again I have hope for humanity so what do I know. :-)
Jan 30th, 2015 - 01:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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