Investing in a Dead End

[margotb822]

That is what I think of when I think about drilling for oil in ANWR or offshore.

We all know that petroleum is a dead end, and that some time soon, maybe even in our life times, there will be no more accessable oil.

So, my question is, knowing that it's going to be over anyways, why even waste the money getting into it? People don't normally invest in something that they know is not going to last. That would be self-defeating. Why not take that money and invest it in renewable/alternative energy?

Am I the only one that thinks this way? Does this not make sense to other people?

[anigbrowl]

1. No. It's not a ded end for quite a while yet

That's kind of like saying there's no point in build airplanes, we should just go straight to spaceships. I share your view about oil not being good in the long term, but it's going to take a whole generation to retool so meantime that's a lot of oil to be supplied and money to be made.

[lonestarnot]

2. Bullshit! You doubt the ingenuity of Americans! WTF is wrong with you?

There is no time like the present, especially THIS presen to become energy independent and stop killing the environment!

[anigbrowl]

6. Have fun waving your magic wand there

With the best will in the world, it's still going to take 20 or 30 years to wean ourselves off a dependence on oil and it makes no sense to think research into better ways of extracting it will halt.

[margotb822]

3. I have to disagree with your analogy

It really makes no sense. I'm talking about investing in the infrastructure that would be necessary to reach a miniscule amount of oil. I didn't say we should stop building gasoline engine cars. While necessity is the mother of all invention, we'd better get to inventing before it becomes literally life or death.

[anigbrowl]

7. Because some oil deposits are worth drilling in

I'm not completely hostile to the idea of drilling in some places if it's economical to do so, and chances are it will be. I just don't expect it to magically lower the price of oil either. I think that deciding to stop putting any money at all into exploration and extraction efforts around the US would probably create problems of its own.

[lonestarnot]

9. They haven't bothered to drill in the places that they already have permits/whatevers to drill in,

so bullshit again.

[anigbrowl]

10. They haven't drilled in allof them; that's not the same as not drilling in any of them

Please try your rudeness out on someone else.

[lonestarnot]

11. any/ all

quibble much?

[anigbrowl]

12. It's a major difference, and you know it too. /nt

[InternalDialogue]

4. At some point, you have to stop burning the furniture to heat the house.

You are not alone in your thinking.

[CK_John]

5. Buy, build or invest in rickshaws and learn to weld. n/t

[WhiteTara]

8. that's what I think about CFL technology n/t