Originally posted by: rahvin
Originally posted by: jumpr
Fuel is also needed to heat homes, run power plants, produce food, power TV stations (for news) and other valuable civilian activities. I don't know of any studies on this, but I'd be interested to see if the U.S.' refining stations could REALLY support a full-scale war.
Lets go through these one by one. For heating home most use Number 2 fuel oil, this is equivalent to diesel fuel, diesel and gasoline are both refined from crude oil. Less than 3% of US power production is by oil, over 50% is coal, and the US has plenty of coal, the remainder is comprised of nuclear, hydro, wind and NG.
The vast majority of US refining capacity is used so that you and others can put gas in your car. In time of full scale war gas for personal automobiles is going to be rationed with priority production going to the millitary and millitary production. But don't worry about driving your car because you will be in the millitary unless you have a medical condition that prohibits it.