An "Energy Rush" in the Arctic

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by Der Spiegel
Climate Change Sparks Scrap for Arctic Resources

While scientists and conservationists worry about the potentially dire consequences of global warming, politicians and businessmen are already battling over how to reap the economic benefits from the Arctic thaw.

Carving up the frosty Arctic is a hot topic right now for many countries. At stake are the sovereign rights to enormous reserves of natural resources, as well the control of seafaring routes which have until now been blocked by ice....

While biologists and climate researchers fear melting icecaps, rising floodwaters and extinctions of several species, oil and gas companies are hoping the Artic thaw will enable them to access vast new energy sources....

But more than anything else, it is the earth's riches under the rapidly disappearing ice that spark the imagination of many. The US Geological Survey estimates that a quarter of the world's oil and natural gas reserves lie hidden under the Arctic Ocean. If the thaw continues, then excavation could soon become financially viable.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/internatio...,409001,00.html (http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,409001,00.html)

What "energy crisis"?

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[Entrails Konfetti]

Off topic: But it just seems no matter what form of fuel is used; renewable, conventional, or unconventional; it all is used at the expense of the environment.

Thats how fuel supplies work: They compromise over areas of the evironment.
Hydrogen results in a lower water supply, Biomass results in a polluted atmosphere, Ethanol results in fewer wildlife areas. If you could use oxygen to fuel jets, there would be fewer oxygen.

There needs to be some sort of energy policy that defines the boundaries for land development, and the discarding of used resources. However, there will always be environmentalists opposing any form of development.

It seems to me like it's white-liberal guilt; *****ing about a pressing issue when really nothing can be done, but you feel like your doing something good.

[bunk]

There is an energy crisis ahead. Such as that i wonder how much of the oil and gas will end up being extracted.

Similar big oil discoveries are being dwarfed when you look at how many days of oil consumption the whole field actually contains.