The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Free market....are you suggesting there is no monetary incentive to inventors and innovators at present to come up with the practical hydrogen fuel cell? They would get rich regardless of the current oil price. $10/gallon doesn't change that.

Considering that right now oil can be (and is being) extracted from the nearly limitless supply of shale in the rocky mountains at a cost of about $90/barrel, it is not practical to think that oil will ever get much above that. As the price of oil increases and the processes to extract that oil become more efficient and economical, more and more of our domestic supply will come from that source (until radical environmentalists stop it ).

I'm suggesting there would be a MUCH larger market for fuel cell's and thus much more development if economic conditions changed to favor it.

So if we have ~$3.00/Gallon with oil at ~$70 per barrel then is it safe to assume we would see something like just over $4.00/Gallon if the price went to $90? Humm, you're right. That's not enough. Of course I doubt we have the production capacity to turn enough shale into gas for every car,truck,van,ship,plane,etc.. in the country.. It would take years to build that. By then we should have some real solutions.

(Edited to add: Damn you GD and your fast typing fingers too for getting this same basic argument out faster... )


Oh, and on a techie side note, the part of the equation that is missing is not efficient/affordable fuel cells, it's separating massive amounts of hydrogen from water cheaply/cleanly.