Comments on: Watching the Numbers Go By

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:01:19 +0000

I’m not sure making noise will make any difference. Exxon Valdez filled the news cycles with terrible images of the symbol of our nation, the bald eagle, drenched in oil. That was 1989. The next 20 years were the heyday of the SUV and a housing boom that made hour long commutes sound normal.

Making noise only helps if the people listening don’t have their heads buried in troughs full of money.

By: Dale Basler

Dale Basler — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:16:14 +0000

You’ll need to cut these numbers down a bit since your car doesn’t run on crude oil.
Consider:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining2.htm

Perhaps a better way to go is to use Barrel of Oil Equivalents (BOE). Every 42 gallons is one BOE. At the current USGS estimate (84,000 gallons or 20,000 BOE/day) we see the gulf is spilling energy at a rate of 1410 Megawatts.

Wolfram Alpha gives us some comparisons:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=20000+BOE%2Fday+to+MW

By: T.J.

T.J. — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:04:09 +0000

I was just wondering if you’d seen this site: http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

Really puts the spill in perspective….

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:44:26 +0000

For years we have tried the approach of scaring the industries into reducing our need for oil. We pass laws telling them, “you better make cars with high MPG or else.” When are we going to try positive reinforcement?

When are we going to go out and and have our, “our man on the moon?” Why don’t we way to the car industries, the first company to 25K cars in one year with 40mpg, get a 2% tax break.

The oil spill is tragic, but I believe will result in more tragedy. BP needs to be held accountable, but we are going to ultimately pay for this. No matter what law is passed, lawsuit is filed, or action is taken, consumers are going to pay for it.

Lets pass laws that give companies incentive to invest in real technologies to get us off of oil. Lets put incentives in place which spark innovation, not just threaten into submission.

Positive reinforcement works on Kids, employees, little companies and even the big Companies. Lets pass some laws that will give companies the reason to take that chance and invest in new technology to do something good. Not threaten them into it.

We have tried to scare the world into doing better for 30 years now and have not made real steps forward. Lets try something new, before the next big disaster or war.

By: DataJack

DataJack — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:56:04 +0000

It probably won’t do any good, but if you are American, you can write, phone, or email your congress critters. There is going to be a lot of ecosystem damage to the gulf for many, many years. Millions of dead sea, marsh, and shore creatures. It is so sad.