The Problem: How much gasoline do oil companies sell?

 In the nation.

DOE says we use 140 billion gallons gasoline each year.

In Idaho 

In Lemhi County where the median family income is $35,261

Data from excel file.

What part of this expenditure stays in the town?

Gas Station owners get about three cents per gallon, which accounts for $109,824 of the $10,506,496.  The remainder ($10,396,672) of this expenditure goes for imported oil.

U.S. Spent Over $25 Billion (355 million barrels, $70.42 per barrel) on Imported Oil in August (Reuters September 10)

The Solution: Use Science, not Politics, to solve the energy problem and to solve the carbon dioxide problem.

Chris Somerville  Biochemist   Nathan Lewis  Chemist

Ralph Keeling    Oceanographer 

Mark Z. Jacobson

engineer

 Getting energy is one problem; carbon dioxide is the other problem.

 We are constrained:

1. To use carbon-free energy or carbon-neutral energy.              Nuclear, Hydro, Wind, Geothermal, and Photo-votaic are carbon-free energy sources.  Photosynthetic plants are carbon-neutral energy. 

2. To conserve, even though we won’t run out of oil, gas, or coal for a long time, 40-78 years of oil, 68-176 years of gas, 224 years of coal.

3. To be efficient and economical, so we compete with fossil fuel economically, by using bio-fuels.

Notes on power we can use:

• Because the world needs 10 TW, at minimum, 10,000 nuclear reactors would need to be built. In other words, we would need to build a new nuclear power plant somewhere in the world every other day, continuously, for the next 50 straight years.

• The amount of technically feasible hydroelectric power globally is about 1.5 TW. Economically feasible hydro is only about 0.9 TW.  Already, 0.6 TW capacity has been installed.

•  Wind energy could eventually produce 10% of our total energy needs, about 1 TW.

• Geothermal can produce less than a few terawatts sustainably.

• Putting 10% efficient solar energy conversion units on every U.S. home rooftop would generate about  0.25 TW.  To provide the land to produce 3 TW of carbon-free power from solar energy, the U.S. would have to install a half-million (2 kW peak power) solar roof systems every day, from now until 2050. Photo voltaic power can produce electric power for 25-35 cents per KW hour.  Area needed for 3 TW of photovoltaic electricity is 1.7% of the USA, about the area of Utah.

• Even though the sun gives 120,000 TW, photosynthetic plants can process less than 1% of all the sunlight that hits them and can store only 0.3% of that sunlight.  More energy from the sun hits the earth in one hour than all of the energy consumed in the world in one year. Plant energy is carbon-neutral and could meet the energy needs of the world.

Our plan for each town to make and use its own fuel is consistent with these constraints and uses the only fuel source that has enough energy for the world: photosynthesis.

Cost of production:

We use the same process as USDA did in their 2006 report and University of Washington did in their 2009 report.  They both said ethanol cost is $2.40.

We assume $1000 to the farmer for each acre of beets that produces 883 gallons/acre and $.51 per gallon for distill and fermentation cost.  This gives a total cost per gallon of $1.65.  For 300 acres at264,900 gallons, the profit is $189,750 (pays investment and bonus to people), if the cost per gallon is $2.36.  This would put $729,800 into the local economy and $129,801 into household income of the town making their own fuel and create 5 new jobs.

If the $10,506,496 that goes out of Lemhi County each year now stayed in Lemhi county, the local economy would increase $28,955,050 and the household income would increase $5,149,500 and create 182 new jobs.

Question:

Why are Salmon and other small towns not making their own fuel?

Answer:

Oil companies and auto companies flood the media with information that is not correct.  Many elected officials are not scientists and cannot distinguish scientifically correct information from incorrect information.

These industries are creating short-term profits for themselves, with no regard to the wellbeing of ordinary people.  Our energy problem and our carbon dioxide problem are examples.

 That the productivity of workers has been increasing since 1970, while the pay they get has not changed, is another aspect of the failure of industry and of government to help the people. 

The people are doing the work and the people are electing our legislators.  And the people are not getting fair treatment from industry or from government, in many situations.

Other industry failures:

• Flex-fuel engines are the same low-compression engines that the auto industry has been selling for 100 years. These engines don't run either fuel efficientlly.  That is why they get 29% fewer miles per gallon with ethanol, compared to gasoline engines, in some cases.  Sweden doesn't have this problem.

• E85 was pushed through congress by the auto companies so they did not have to put a $50 heater in the engine to start in cold weather.  And that keeps the oil companies in the fuel business, even when there is enough ethanol, as there is in Nebraska and in Iowa.

• Oil companies are investing in alternative energy, (BP in biosciences, Exxon in Algae) as they try to hold their market monopoly on transportation fuel.

• The financial system has been concentrating wealth, with government support,  in the top 1% for 35 years, according to a CBO report.  The dot-com, leverage-finance, Enron and energy trading, real estate bubbles, and crashes are products of this deregulation.  The people had to bail out the institutions that caused the problem.  Concentrating wealth in the top wage earners is not sustainable now and never has been. Finance is inherently fragile.  Conflict of interest is prevalent if not regulated.  People and financial institutions must trust and have confidence in those they do business with. 

•     Sony Kapoor explains how the banks failed.  The Real News has a series.

• The people who live in small towns must make their own fuel and they must make these high-compression engines with fuel heaters to run on hydrous ethanol and start when it is cold, because industry is not doing this.  Neither of these projects is rocket-science.  Race cars and airplanes have been running ethanol for years with high-compression engines and advanced timing.

How can the government help the people to help themselves?

                                                                           OUR Problem

Since 1973 our government has realized that gasoline and fossil fuels would one day be phased out. The policy choice then was to support development of technology to find new sources of oil. This included protecting oil resources all over the world, by our military, and staying away from renewable transportation fuels. Today, with the help of other countries, the US has finally realized that the only way to keep our world moving into the future profitably is to develop renewable fuel from the power of the sun. Scientists know this and oil companies have realized this and are now investing in renewable fuel technology at an alarming rate. If they continue with just petroleum base fuel, they will lose their market share and the profits they enjoy today.

This is where the problem with the future exists.  In the last 35 years, supporting big business has not improved these issues with our energy or environment at all. Policy has created oil industry profits at the expense of the people. Wealth has moved farther away from the majority and into the hands of the few at the top of the pay scale. The average American doesn’t have the money to build a facility to prove that we can be a large part of the solution to our energy and environment needs. By developing a renewable source of energy, to be consumed within our communities, we can create a more stable economy for the towns and for the people who live in these towns. The benefits of this idea extend beyond fuel alone. Our idea will (1) have a positive impact on social programs, (2) provide support for educational development, (3) support value-added businesses, and (4) increase local tax revenues at the expense of a profit-driven agenda of people who live far from here. 

Policy change in the last 25 years has increased poverty and has greatly reduced communities like ours. Jobs have moved away to never be replaced. Federal monies have been invested into areas that do not continue to regenerate jobs for the citizens at a local level beyond implementation. Projects that have been funded stand dormant and put expense on the community to continue to maintain them. The Sacajawea Park and the Salmon Valley Innovation Center are examples.  All the past investments promised success from a tourism trade, which is limited to seasons resulting in a part-time industry, which has a negative effect on small businesses’ sustainability in our community.

The solution to renewable energy and healthy environment starts with the consumer. When the consumer realizes the benefits to the environment and to the local economy, the use of bio-fuels developed within their communities will increase dramatically. Bio-fuels reduce global warming by consuming more carbon dioxide than is produced in the production process. A small bio-fuels facility will support businesses, like a dairy and cheese factory, a commercial greenhouse, a research and development facility, and all supporting jobs associated with them. More income will be available to create more tax base for our city, our county and our state governments.

For generations people have moved away from using the land. Farms are disappearing at a rapid rate.  Most of industry today, whether it be food or services, this industry is fixed on growing profits that benefit only a few people at the top, who live far from here. We have a lot of waste filling our landfills that can be used to decrease costs in operating these facilities. Researching better methods and materials in the production of fuels, negotiations between all parties involved, and understanding the impact of transportation fuel on our community can maximize profit here, by eliminating the middle man and regenerating an agriculturally based economy.

Our Solution

We are not asking for a handout, we are asking for the chance to prove that small communities around our country, with the proper support can contribute to the resolution of our world energy and environment needs. By supporting a bio-fuel facility’s development, our government can give back directly to rural areas that have been hardest hit, it will give life to struggling small business, create a stable self sustaining market for our goods and services, let small communities compete in a rapidly changing world economy, reduce poverty to the lowest levels, and bring back pride to the American people.

Our Federal Legislators

 Mike Simpson

Jim Risch

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, I am committed to developing an energy policy that provides clean, reliable and affordable energy for all Americans.

http://risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Energy, Sept 14, 2009