Interesting People mailing list archives
more on Oil Independence?
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 07:54:20 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Jack Holleran <jholleran () comcast net> Date: September 12, 2005 10:36:16 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: RE: [IP] Oil Independence? Dave, For IP: I'm using the following numbers according to the article below. 1 billion barrels in a square mile. One URL defined a barrel as being 34 inches high with a diameter of 24 inches. (I'm not sure if this is right or wrong, but for the purpose of calculations, I used it.) One mile is 5280 feet. Using a spread sheet, a barrel produces a volume of 8.901 cubic feet. (height(34) x radius(12) x radius * PI) A billion barrels would then produce 8,901,000,000 cubic feet of oil. A square mile is 5280 x 5280 = 27,878,400 square feet. The volume equals length x width x depth AND the length x width is27,878,400 feet; there is an implication that the depth is 319 feet (typical two story house is probably 25 feet high, including a peaked roof; so depth is 12-13 houses stacked or a 32 story building). Now if the dimensions of the barrel are larger, the depth will be deeper; correspondingly, smaller
dimensions, less depth. My question is will the ground collapse since 8.9 billion cubic feet of material has been removed in that square mile. Jack Holleran CISSP -----Original Message----- From: "Robert C. Atkinson" <rca53 () columbia edu> Date: September 12, 2005 6:40:44 PM EDT To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Oil Independence? This is a promising development. Excerpts below, full link: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/ 0,1299,DRMN_86_4051709,00.html What do IP skeptics say?
Shell's method, which it calls "in situ conversion," is simplicity itself in concept but exquisitely ingenious in execution. Terry O'Connor, a vice president for external and regulatory affairs at Shell Exploration and Production, explained how it's done (and they have done it, in several test projects): Drill shafts into the oil-bearing rock. Drop heaters down the shaft. Cook the rock until the hydrocarbons boil off, the lightest and most desirable first. Collect them. Please note, you don't have to go looking for oil fields when you're brewing your own.
.
Upwards of a million barrels an acre, a billion barrels a square mile. And the oil shale formation in the Green River Basin, most of which is in Colorado, covers more than a thousand square miles - the largest fossil fuel deposits in the world. Wow. They don't need subsidies; the process should be commercially feasible with world oil prices at $30 a barrel. The energy balance is favorable; under a conservative life-cycle analysis, it should yield 3.5 units of energy for every 1 unit used in production. The process recovers about 10 times as much oil as mining the rock and crushing and cooking it at the surface, and it's a more desirable grade. Reclamation is easier because the only thing that comes to the surface is the oil you want.
-- *************************************** Robert C. Atkinson Director of Policy Research Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) 1A Uris Hall, Columbia Business School 3022 Broadway New York, NY 10027-6902 212-854-7576 cell: 908-447-4201 *************************************** ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- more on Oil Independence? David Farber (Sep 13)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- more on Oil Independence? David Farber (Sep 13)