PEAK OIL AND JIMMY CRACKED COAL BUT DO WE CARE? | 2008-03-13
Turning coal into oil, "cracking" coal, was Germany's main oil source during WWII and was South Africa's only oil source when it was cut off during apartheid. Now it is a growing source of oil in India and China.
I have been TOLD that cracking is now cheaper than buying oil.
Our rulers have the usual problem of contradictions here. They are bitching that coal cracking is worse on global warming than oil. On the other hand, the Kyoto Treaty would allow countries who use cracking more and more, like India, to grow wildly, while only developed countries would be restricted.
I have been TOLD that cracking, even before the improvements that will inevitably take place, is already cheaper than buying oil on the world market.
America has more coal than anybody else on earth. Coal cracking would make America an oil source that would put the Middle East to shame. Fighting it will be next big push of the Jane Fondas, in tandem, as before, with the oil companies.
In our lifetime, coal cracking could take care of Peak Oil.
Will the crisis be enough to silence the Fondas?