Congressman Roscoe Bartlett and Dr. Robert Hirsch presented background and lead a discussion about peak oil and its ramifications for liquid fuels that are vital for transportation worldwide and the feedstock for plastics, pharmaceuticals and other essentials. The era of plentiful, low-cost conventional oil is approaching an end because production will soon reach its maximum capacity – a peak. Most experts predict peak within this decade or the next. Peak will impose a sudden limit on the supply of a commodity that is essential to the functioning of the world economy.
With over 260 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, a quarter of the world's total, Saudi Arabia is not only the top foreign supplier to the world's largest energy consumer – the United States -- but also essentially the sole source of liquidity in the world oil market. According to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA), the world will become more dependent upon Saudi Arabian oil in the next two decades. To meet global demand for oil, Saudi Arabia will need to produce 13.6 million barrels a day (mbd) by 2010 and 19.5 mbd by 2020.
Biomass derived from plants or animal waste is a renewable source of energy. Liquid biofuels for transportation such as biodiesel, methanol, or ethanol can be produced from biomass. Heat can be obtained by reprocessing organic waste. There are disputes concerning the potential for biomass to replace petroleum and other fossil fuels as a sustainable source of energy and also about the environmental impacts of energy from biomass.
Retired Navy Admiral Frank L. (Skip) Bowman, currently the President and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the policy organization for the U.S. nuclear industry, illustrated the performance and benefits of today’s 103 commercial reactors in the United States; examined the prospect for growth in the nuclear energy sector; and reviewed important used fuel policy issues on the federal and state level. Wall Street, congressional and other decision-maker perspectives regarding new nuclear plant construction were presented while emphasizing the need for expanded U.S.
Changing World Technologies, Inc. (CWT) is a company that has developed a technology and business which converts a variety of organic wastes into oil. The patented Thermal Conversion Process (TCP) breaks down waste by using water, heat and pressure to produce a Renewable Diesel fuel and other valuable co-products. The technology not only produces a clean-burning fuel, it also promises to alleviate dependence on landfills and incinerators. It contributes to global objectives of moving to a more sustainable environment and reduces dependency on fossil energy.
