Where innovators discuss world events and issues like alternative energy

Offshore Drilling Facts....so let's talk realistically

About 70 percent of the world’s oil discoveries in the past two years have been offshore
With global demand expected to rise as much as 18 percent in the next 10 years, energy producers will have no choice but to exploit oil deposits under thousands of feet of water and hundreds of miles from shore
Cobalt International Energy Inc., the oil explorer whose largest shareholders are Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and a First Reserve Corp. fund, plans to drill 10 exploration wells in the Gulf of Mexico during the next two years, and four or five such wells in West Africa, said Jim Farnsworth, chief exploration officer.
Since its founding four years ago, Cobalt has accrued 200 exploration leases in the Gulf and four in West Africa, all of them in deep water, Farnsworth said today at the offshore conference in Houston. Cobalt has fallen 18 percent since the BP spill.
According to the EIA (2007 data rounded to billions), total US proven reserves of conventional oil are about 21 billion barrels, of which 4 billion are proved offshore reserves
US demand is currently about 6.7 billion barrels per year
The EIA estimates that “technically recoverable undiscovered” offshore oil in the US is in the range of 59 billion barrels—nearly three times as much as our remaining “proved reserves.” Most of it, about 45 billion barrels, is expected to lie in the Gulf of Mexico.
Algae might be the best alternative to oil. Consider that this man says he can produce 100,000 gallons of biofuel per acre per year. Compare that to the yield on corn ethanol of 20-30 gallons of fuel per acre per year. He says that if we convert 1/10th New Mexico into warehouses for this algae, we could meet all of America's transportation energy needs.
Alcohol as a fuel. David Blume gives a great interview on Alcohol as a fuel. He points out Alcohol is %98 pollution free, renewable because it comes from the sugar and starches of plants like corn or sugar cane. It's a proven concept because Brazil is using it as a main transportation fuel, and Sweden and India are following.

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Tags: alternative, biodiesel, biofuel, energy, oil

Comment by Morgan Zuckerman on May 17, 2010 at 1:34pm: I like to believe it's only a matter of time before our country truly goes green. This means shedding ourselves of our addiction to oil. The big oil companies have a lot of power, and a LOT of money, but they can only fight it for so long. And they have put up a good fight. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us) the technology is there, and the public is ready for it. Yes, it will take time. It will take a good fight from us. But the demand is there, and that's a start. It's becoming more and more popular to be green. We will get there one day. We just have to focus. We have to bring these great ideas together to find the best way to rid ourselves of the need for oil. We have already started the journey. Just remember as someone wise once said, "It's not easy being green." ;)

Comment by Nicholas Nagao on May 17, 2010 at 1:53pm: Well said Morgan, we have to be sure to vote with our money! Did you see the new topic for this week? I found a lot of big corporations that are leading the way to a green future.