Does anyone else feel like people are being too hard on BP?

[CLite]

We can currently support a sizable number of PHEVs with our current infrastructure. Since cars are by far the largest consumers of petroleum fuel the effect would be sizable. The key is to add incentives to purchasing them over traditional engined cars.

Until batteries undergo a complete revolution in capacity electric cars will only be a novelty for city drivers. I can just imagine the line of a couple hundred cars at a turnpike rest stop waiting a couple hours to recharge their car. You mention "average range", and my average commute is 32 miles, but my "desired range" is at least a thousand miles if not more, which is possible with a few short 10 minute fill-ups. A car without such a range would not be something I'd ever consider buying as a primary car.

I see two paths forward for emission-less cars, developing batteries with larger capacities/building more nukes and also more efficient extraction of hydrogen and developing sturdier fuel cells. Some of the gen 4 nuclear reactors are designed to purely pump out waste heat which can be used to produce hydrogen (using petrochemicals unfortunately, but far more efficient than electrolysis).

While you mention Solar the problem of course is off-peak consumption coincides with off-peak electrical production for Solar. I see Solar / Wind as always being a novelty as well until we find better storage devices. I believe Canada uses gravity pumps to store off-peak power, but this isn't terribly efficient.

 

[charrison]

ohh ok so tankers DONT have as much risk as this spill today. Thank you for being honest.

But guess what, we are still not safe from a drunk captain. Risk is always there. We do out best to mitigate risk and move on. We did not stop tankers from delivering their cargo so it is reasonable we should allow off shore drilling to continue. But we of course must learn this failure and move on.

 

[K1052]

Until batteries undergo a complete revolution in capacity electric cars will only be a novelty for city drivers. I can just imagine the line of a couple hundred cars at a turnpike rest stop waiting a couple hours to recharge their car. You mention "average range", and my average commute is 32 miles, but my "desired range" is at least a thousand miles if not more, which is possible with a few short 10 minute fill-ups. A car without such a range would not be something I'd ever consider buying as a primary car.

I see two paths forward for emission-less cars, developing batteries with larger capacities/building more nukes and also more efficient extraction of hydrogen and developing sturdier fuel cells. Some of the gen 4 nuclear reactors are designed to purely pump out waste heat which can be used to produce hydrogen (using petrochemicals unfortunately, but far more efficient than electrolysis).

While you mention Solar the problem of course is off-peak consumption coincides with off-peak electrical production for Solar. I see Solar / Wind as always being a novelty as well until we find better storage devices. I believe Canada uses gravity pumps to store off-peak power, but this isn't terribly efficient.

I said PHEV vehicles, which switch over to their ICE when the battery is depleted. It would be entirely possible to complete such a long trip, you'd just be using the engine most of the way. Most people's daily needs would still be covered by the battery capacity without the need to use fuel.

When the prices for solar power are reduced enough to make it practical it would be simple enough just to dump the excess generation capacity into electrolysis for hydrogen, which could then be stored and used for peaking power or recombined at will in fuel cells when the technology matures. Nuclear would be the primary avenue of interest at this time though.

 

[Darwin333]

We can currently support a sizable number of PHEVs with our current infrastructure. Since cars are by far the largest consumers of petroleum fuel the effect would be sizable. The key is to add incentives to purchasing them over traditional engined cars.

The last article I read stated we could feasibly move a few percent of current consumer vehicles to the grid with our current power generation and grid. More if we could somehow convince everyone to only plug them in at night but thats hard to count on. A smart grid would solve that problem but we don't have one and I doubt we will be getting one anytime soon. The difference in our oil use probably wouldn't be enough to offset our increases over the next few years. All electric vehicles simply aren't feasible at all at this point because currently most people would require daytime charging which we simply don't have the capacity for. You also have to take into account normal increase in energy demand as our population grows and our economy (hopefully) grows as well and the fact that we don't seem to want to build any type of power plants in this country.

I agree with your premise but we have a lot of work to do if we want to move away from oil based fuels for transportation. As of yet we aren't even seriously discussing starting (or even planning) most of that work.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Are you fucking kidding me? Too hard on bp? Not nearly hard enough, they should be spending every single dime they have getting this issue resolved. Along with the govt oversight committee, haliburton, etc.
Too hard on bp.... LOL.. that's the funniest thing I've seen in months.

 

[Xellos2099]

A lot of what they did the first week was damage control and not on the well site. They knew there were thousands of barrels of oil pouring out of 3 different locations and they told the public it was nothing to worry about and even coerced the coast guard into keeping information private. Then the CEO has the nerve to make statements that if the workers, the dead workers, had followed procedure it could have been prevented. Accuse the dead people they can't defend themselves. Nothing redeemable about the company. The CEO should be fired.

Say what you want, but the truth is: Someone didn't follow the correct protocol when it come to contract with the natural gas bubble. Shit hit the fan and now. we need to fix it. End of question.

 

[Modelworks]

BP put dollars first and everything else second.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7129225.ece

Mr Williams said that shortly before the explosion workers were conducting a test on the blowout preventer. While it was shut a crewman accidentally nudged a joystick, which sent 15ft of the oil pipe through the closed device, whose key component is a rubber gasket that can close tightly around the well head, sealing it off in the event of an explosion.

Mr Williams added that a crewman “discovered chunks of rubber in the drilling fluid”. He thought that it was important enough to bring them into the driller shack. “I recall asking the supervisor if this was out of the ordinary. And he says, ‘Oh, it’s no big deal’. I thought, how can it not be a big deal? Chunks of our seal is now missing,” Mr Williams told 60 Minutes on CBS.

He added that one of the two control pods that operate the blowout preventer had lost some of its function weeks before the explosion, and the batteries on the device were weak. With the schedule slipping, Mr Williams said that a BP manager ordered a quicker pace. The faster drilling had caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools. “There’s always pressure [on the crew], but yes, the pressure was increased,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/us/27rig.html

BP applied to use the Deepwater rig to drill in another oil field by March 8, said Jason Mathews, a petroleum engineer for the Minerals Management Service.

Based on an estimate of $500,000 per day to drill on the site, the delay of 43 days had cost BP more than $21 million by the day of the explosion on April 20, Mr. Mathews estimated.

A Transocean official — Adrian Rose, the company’s health, safety and environmental manager — confirmed that BP leased the rig for $533,000 per day. He could not confirm where the Deepwater Horizon was planning to go next, but he said it was going to undertake another drill, probably for BP.

 

[sandorski]

Dude, your sarcasm meter is apparently a two by four covered in tin foil with a dead mouse for a pointer and a rat turd for a light. Next time, caveat emptor and try before you buy. Not only was that clearly sarcasm, but it was clever and damned funny.

Looks over at his Sarcasm Meter, must have been a popular Model.

 

[charrison]

Say what you want, but the truth is: Someone didn't follow the correct protocol when it come to contract with the natural gas bubble. Shit hit the fan and now. we need to fix it. End of question.

and the govt may have approved a drill plan was not engineered well enough.

 

[Nemesis 1]

When this is all over BP won't exist . This isn't about billions of dollars but trillion of dollars . Wish all you want . 1/3 of the worlds oceans are turned to blood red . What part don't ya get . Is it the part were the frogs come inland and the flees and other insects . and the poisioning of the ground water . Than the the sickness sets in . what part don't you understand . No man here can say he wasn't warned of the choices he makes . Everyone on this board was . The trueth was witnessed here . deny it all you want . Your fate is in the hands of a man who obeys Gods will .

His work is done now. the only thing left is the dieing