The Conversation on Energy held at UTSA

November 8, 2007

ConocoPhillips sponsored A Conversation on Energy in several cities across America, and San Anotio was host to one of the presentations. They had panelists composed of Company representatives and University faculty to give views on the future of Energy in America. Each of the panelists gave a 3 to 4 minute talk on their area of interest, and what they did.
These are my notes from the meeting.

Bob Ridge, Conoco-Phillips
Energy Policy today is not enough.
Every American has a stake.
Consumption of Oil is now at 85 mill Barrels per day, which is 3 billion gallons per day.
Oil industry has Credibility rating less than that of the cigarette industry.
Market has an effect on prices.
Government controls the oil in Venezuela.
U.S. consumes 25% of all the world's energy, but only has 4% of the reserves.
    Solutions
  1. Diversification  Oil, Gas, nuclear, bio-fuels, solar, and wind.
      (no mention of Hydrogen :-))
  2. Greater efficiency on the part of consumers
  3. More research into climate change, and make sure water is treated as a resource.
                (Referring to tar sand extractions which take lots of water)


Dr. Stathis Michaelides, UTSA

Responsible actions are needed.
Energy Policy is not enough.
We have a Basket of Choices, such as Renewable energy sources.
HydroElectric – dams, etc.
Solar Power – we should be using more.
Wind Energy
Mentioned Heironimous at Amhearst study on Windmill Power in the 60’s.
Biofuels – Don’t burn what you can eat.
Wind Power is nice, but you can’t store it.


Collette Reynolds, ConocoPhillips

Represents Engineers and scientists at ConocoPhillips.
They Doubled Research and Development expenses this year.
Investigating Renewable Energy.
Investigating Unconventional Oil and gas, like Ethanol, working with ADM for alternate source of ethanol.
Tar Sands – tough to get with the energy it takes to extract.


Robert Potts, Water Dixon Foundation

Earth – Wind – Water
Earth:There is drilling done well, and drilling done not so well.
Need envasive Techniquest.
Wind: – air. Reduce carbon emissions.
How to mitigate past years of carbon emissions.
Water: – be careful of water intensive processes.

Diane Rahm, UTSA

What Government can do.
Stop making decisions on Political and Market based policies.
Focus on Security. Need Secure sources of Entergy.
We continue to have wars for obtaining energy sources.
Economics:
In a civilized world, government must develop a climate policy as well.
The Energy policy of the last 50 years has been “Cheap and Abundant”.
Since the 1970’s we have not integrated our policies. The current administration is in denial.
Regulating companies. Most companies would welcome Federal rules, so that they wouldn’t have to deal with different rules in each state.
We need a “Manhattan Project” type of effort to get some new things developed.

These were followed by a question and answer period.
The first question was “What was the Manhattan Project?”.
Another “question” was read by Bill Parker of Solar SA. Sounded more like an advertisement to me.
I went over and chatted with him after the meeting.
I asked him why it cost so much to be green. He just shrugged and said that the prices are coming down.
Then I asked him if he knew how CPS could direct only the wind generated electricity to my house while delivering coal generated electricity to my neighbor. Is that why it costs more? He just smiled.

A few of the other people who were given the microphone read long statement paragraphs, and frankly, I didn’t write down the questions, because they never really asked the panel questions.

But, I do have these questions, which I wrote down on their form, and dropped into the pile on my way out.

1) Was this tour inspired by the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?”

2) Have they considered using Hill Country Cedar to make Cellulosic Ethanol.

3) When the last oil well runs dry in 2036, where will they go for energy?

4) Is the reason most energy policies have deadlines set decades into the future is so that the Politian can make it to the end of his term without the effects of the policy turning his funding away?

5) Why do solar panels cost so much. Is it because they are sold for “what they do” instead of a cost plus basis like most other goods? If 25 percent profit is good enough for H.E.B., why wouldn’t it be good for Ovshinsky?

6) The book, “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman mentions that Bush could make the effort to find alternate energy the equivalent of Kennedy’s Moon Shot challenge is a great book. It is also a good source of some staggering information on what 1.3 billion people in China will mean to our future oil supplies. I see danger there. Do you?