“Today the President articulated the national security and economic threats associated with our escalating dependence on foreign oil. With the increasing price of gasoline, natural gas is an important domestic fuel at our disposal that can replace foreign oil to power heavy-duty fleet vehicles. Converting heavy-duty trucks and high-fuel use commercial fleet vehicles to natural gas can reduce our OPEC dependence now while we wait for technology to power the vehicles of tomorrow. It is clear President Obama is committed to weaning America off Middle Eastern oil, securing our own energy future and recognizes the role natural gas can play as a domestic transportation fuel. Recent unrest in the Middle East underscores the need to take action now and I’m encouraged by the President’s promise to secure America’s energy future and national security by reducing our dependence on OPEC oil.”

The Pickens Plan to encourage more heavy duty fleet vehicles to run on domestic resources is included in the NAT GAS Act, which is being prepared for introduction next week in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman John Sullivan (R-OK), Congressman Dan Boren (D-OK), Congressman John Larson (D-CT) and Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX). The pending legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support.

1. Increasing our domestic production of oil in a responsible and sound manner

2. Increasing our investment and production of next generation biofuels

Watch the video and learn more about Obama’s plans to help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil to make our country more secure.

Methanol as a Transportation Fuel

In our quest to find sources of energy to replace petroleum, it is hard not to look at other fossil-based resources that haven’t been over-utilized and are abundant in the United States and the Americas. Natural gas definitely fits the bill.  Natural gas is an excellent energy carrier and is available domestically. However, transporting the fuel and retrofitting vehicles to use it as a primary fuel source is labor intensive.  When you compare the issues surrounding acquiring and transporting petroleum from the Middle East, the vehicle conversion and transport efforts seem worth pursuing.

When investigating a project of this magnitude, looking at scale and efficiency through picking a path with the least amount of changes to affect the largest number of outputs can make the difference between success and failure.  In this light, the idea of retrofitting every single transport vehicle seems very labor intensive if the changes are significant. A more effective solution would be to transform the energy source into a fuel that can be consumed in existing vehicles with little or no modification. You make a change to the fuel that can be used in an infinite number of vehicles. This seems like the better option but is it possible?

Natural Gas is made up of more than 80% methane. Methane can be transformed into a liquid fuel called methanol. Methanol is a simple alcohol that is more energy dense than ethanol and is less likely to absorb moisture. It is, therefore, able to be transported in existing pipelines and tankers and can be stored in the same underground tanks as gasoline and petroleum.

A Sustainable Methanol Cycle

Gasoline vehicles can use methanol as a fuel with small modifications to the engine computer and by replacing fuel hoses with an alcohol-resistant, fluoroelastomer equivalent.  Diesel vehicles can use a dehydrated form of methanol called Dimethyl Ether (DME) with similar modifications to engine control and fuel hoses.  While this isn’t zero modifications to existing vehicles, the changes are minimal.

Retrofitting our transportation infrastructure to use methanol has future renewable implications as well. Methanol can be manufactured from renewable feedstocks such as biomass and can be formed through chemical recycling of carbon dioxide through selective absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere! Yes, we can make fuel from CO2 and help solve the issue of carbon pollution!

How can you help with the transition?

1. Read the “Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy” by nobel laureate George Olah to learn more about methanol and its use as a petroleum alternative.
2. Educate your friends, neighbors, coworkers and children about the benefits of methanol as a road fuel
3. Contact your state and federal Congressional representative and ask them to push for funding research for methanol.

Beyond Thunderdome

I’m a Mad Max movie buff so I couldn’t resist writing a post comparing the energy embargo scene in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome to our current world oil addiction.  Beyond Thunderdome is set in a post-apocalyptic world where we’ve destroyed civilization and a few survivors struggle to live on the leftovers of mankind.  Bartertown is one of the towns where people have gathered to live.  Deep underground, there is a large pig farm where workers feed and raise pigs to produce methane to power the generators that provide electricity to Bartertown.

Tina Turner is the leader of Bartertown on the surface but Master Blaster, the leader of the pig farmers underground, demonstrates that he has the real control.  He controls the energy supply.  At one of the key scenes of the movie, Master Blaster turns off the power and makes Tina Turner announce to the whole town that, “Master Blaster runs Bartertown.” After she submits to him, he turns the power back on.

I can’t help but call out the similarities between the United States and Bartertown.  We are addicted to oil.  Everything we do and use is somehow tied to oil.  From transportation to plastics; from fertilizers to animal feed.  They are all directly tied to petroleum.

Unfortunately, we cannot produce enough of our own oil to meet demand.  We purchase it from countries and regions that mostly do not like America.  Now that China and India are industrializing, these oil producing countries will soon not need the United States to sell their product.  As world demand for oil continues to grow and supplies become more difficult to extract and process, these oil producers will be able to pull the strings and hold our economy hostage.

You don’t think this could happen to the US? Think again. In October of 1973, some of the Arab members of OPEC proclaimed an oil embargo in reponse to the US resupplying Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo was lifted only after the US helped negotiate the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Golan Heights. I remember the lines at gas stations and only being able to fill up on odd or even days.

Who runs Bartertown?  Who controls the United States?  OPEC will… if we don’t do something about it soon.

For those of you who haven’t seen the Mad Max movies, here is the embargo clip from Beyond Thunderdome.

Voter's Guide

Before you go to the voting booth this year, make sure you do a little research on the candidates and understand where they stand on reducing our dependence on petroleum.  If asked, all candidates will answer, “I support reducing our nation’s dependence on oil.”  However, you need to look at a more granular level to see how they will act on specific programs to help promote this initiative.  Here are a few specific issues to research before choosing a candidate:

Do you support increasing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard to 40 miles per gallon?
This would save our country between 2 and 3 million barrels of oil per day.  Supporting legislation to increase this standard is the number one issue that could affect our dependence on oil.  Even a phased in approach that reaches 40 mpg over the next ten years would make a huge dent in our oil consumption.

Do you support the Pickens Plan for converting big rig trucks to natural gas?
If you are not familiar with T. Boone Pickens and his Pickens Plan, it is worth reading about his initiatives.  We have abundant natural gas resources in the US that could help us reduce our petroleum usage and reduce our imports of foreign oil.

Will you support reinstating the Biodiesel Tax Credit and will you support initiatives and incentives that promote the production and use of ALL biofuels?
Congress let the $1 per gallon tax credit for biodiesel expire in December of 2009.  Most biodiesel refineries have shut down and the investors who made big investment risks in the future of our country have lost their investment.

There is much debate over whether first generation biofuels are good for our country and whether we should wait for second generation biofuels.  If you were an investor in first generation biofuels and the government pulls support of your initiative and you lose your investment, what is the likelihood that you will invest in a second generation biofuel initiative?  Smart money will look elsewhere.

If we want to get to second or even third generation biofuels, we need to support the risk-takers who will invest and get us there.

Will you support Renewable Energy tax incentives to help foster residential and commercial conversion to renewable sources for heat generation?
In colder climates that use heating oil as a fuel, renewable alternatives such as biofuels, solar and biomass are viable replacements.  However, they need incentives to help them reach critical mass and bring costs down.  We need politicians that will pass legislation to put solid incentives in place to help reduce our dependence on heating oil as a fuel.

Do some digging and see what you can find out about how candidates stand on these issues.  If you get a chance to attend a debate or town hall meeting, try to ask these questions yourself.  You can also try stopping by a candidate’s local election office, call or email to get answers.

Good luck and most important of all, make sure to get out and vote.  It’s a freedom that many people in this world don’t have!