What does energy independence mean anyway ?

I have been interested in Energy ( as used by mankind ) for decades, and am attempting to get our current energy situation here in the United States into perspective, for my own edification and for others who may be interested.

I also have a question or two about the Chevy Volt.

Energy: It was allot simpler thinking about this subject before the carbon concerns surfaced. If you remove that issue, we in the U.S. are sitting pretty: on top of vast resources of coal.

Natural Gas: It now appears that the U.S. also has a vast amount of Natural Gas, while still a carbon emitter, is less so than Coal, and is cleaner in other ways also.

The difference between the two is cost. Cost now and in the future. What I understand: Coal is there, it’s  price is stable and predictable as compared to Natural gas, the price of which is not. The reason I suspect why if you are in the electrical power generation business, coal is an easier choice from  purely financial considerations.

Nuclear Energy: If anyone out there can tell me about the present day cost of nuclear fuel, if there is enough within Canada and the U.S. to supply fuel at a stable cost, and what the cost per kilowatt from new nuclear plants would be, I would appreciate it.
Nuclear does not have the carbon issues of the other two, but the waste issue seems to be the sticking point. ( as well as the safety concerns ) I have strong views on the nuclear waste and safety issues, but will save that for another time.

I read a book years ago written by Edward Teller, a nuclear physicist involved with developing the Hydrogen Bomb. It was titled “ENERGY”.
If I remember correctly, he advocated building nuclear plants hundreds of feet underground, so that if an accident occurs, nothing would get into the atmosphere. How good of an idea that is, I do not know of course. What impacted me the most was his explanation of the term  ” known resources”. For many resources, it always seems as if there is very little left, and the reason was he explained: because it cost money to go look, and people do not look until it makes financial sense to do so.

The Oil industry is an example; they keep finding more, but they stop looking if they think it will not pay. That happened in the US in the 80’s and 90’s. There was a severe and long shrinking of  our oil exploration industry due to the low price of oil.

And now I can tie this together with the Chevy Volt: In some areas of the world, it costs very little to find and get the oil out of the ground. In the U.S. onshore and off (especially offshore ) it costs allot more. I am not positive at what price per barrel it becomes not worth the bother, as it would depend if it is deep water or shallow and other factors. If anyone has some solid data on this, please share. I would also imagine the average cost to explore and produce onshore in the U.S. is also allot higher than in the Mid East and other low cost oil regions .

As we switch to electric vehicles, the demand for oil will go down. If it goes down enough for long enough, the price will decline, and as it declines, high cost production will start to disappear ( deep water offshore first, then shallow water, then on land) and the U.S. and other similar areas of the world will only have a few of the older wells in certain areas producing oil.  ( the maintenance of offshore production facilities are costly, and so those wells could be capped off if the price gets to low.)

So guess what? the only oil producing industry to survive will be in the Middle East (and other similar areas I do not know about ) We will still be dependent on MIDEAST OIL. We need Oil for many reasons, so even if we switched to electric or natural gas vehicles, we would be still be importing Mideast oil, though of course at considerably reduced volumes.

If eventually we reduce our use of oil to propel vehicles,   who is going to pay for road upkeep?  How many liquid fuel stations will stay  economically  viable?

I speculate that wide scale use of  electric cars / extended range electric cars will only happen when batteries are cost effective without subsidy,  and they are able to be re-charged quick enough to be practical for  service stations or other concepts to be  viable selling electricity.  I am wondering though,  if that battery breakthrough happens,  and   the volume of liquid fuel demand gets to a certain point, that the cost of upkeep for the fuel stations,  and the transportation infrastructure for fuel becomes  not economically viable.   I suspect there will be a tipping point when liquid fuel just  disappears  because of competition in the marketplace.

I am aware I am committing a gross oversimplification, and may even be lacking some elemental facts ( such as how much low cost oil production in the U.S. would survive) as to make my words considerably off the mark. Any respectfully worded knowledgeable comments would be greatly appreciated. I am interested in knowing more, and I am sure there are many others out there would like to know more also.

The Chevy Volt: There seems to be some confusion ( due partly to mistakes made by some automotive publications ) about the Volt’s operation after the battery gets to the charge sustaining mode.

What I would like to know: when it gets to that stage, and the ICE starts to work, ( I understand about it’s output varying a bit, and even going off at times ) when I step on the pedal, do I have the same HP available as when I am above the charge sustaining mode ( using just the battery ) ?

From what I could glean from the various articles, I think I will have the same HP on tap, as the control system will take from the battery as needed, and the ICE will increase to its programed high output mode.

I understand about not recharging the battery fully with the ICE, keeping it around 30% so that you can get the max benefit of the electrical energy at home.

But I live In the Seattle area, I go to the mountains now and again, the grade begins for me just about at 40 miles, and I do not think the little bit of battery reserve will be enough to climb the grade at the charge sustaining stage I would be in the slow lane concerned about getting clobbered by overtaking vehicles.

If the last paragraph has validity, then will there be the option of setting the Volts power control computer tailored for the type of terrain and travel plans I will be going on, and will there be the ability to have the ICE charge the battery when the car is not being operated, such as when I am taking a rest?

Sincerely

Mark

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