This comment, posted by sarnian on Tuesday, 2 November 2010 at 9:09:55 AM, serves to highlight what I see as a conundrum with respect to 'peak oil' and projected subsequent decline in crude oil production, especially as it may relate to Australia:

"Good article Jennie but I fear that
it will fall on deaf ears. I wonder
why the major parties ignore it or
they really do not know about it?"

Sarnian's comment is seemingly supported from within the article itself, where it concludes:


"Australia imports 40 per cent of its oil.
We are not immune from the coming oil crunch.
Perhaps it was apocryphal, but the story goes
that Opposition leader Tony Abbott was
overheard saying to an adviser at the beginning
of the year: "Peak Oil? Do we know about Peak Oil?"

Let's hope our new Prime Minister does know
and acts accordingly."


The conundrum of which I speak is revealed by this quote from the Underground Coal Gasification - Gas to Liquids Information website home page, http://www.ucg-gtl.com/ , which inter alia states:

"The rapid roll out of UCG-GTL will see Australia
become a net oil exporter and a dominant, long term,
supplier of ultra clean, relatively cheap, liquid fuels
to Asia and pleasingly many of our Government's
senior ministers "get it"."

It is encouraging to see the article author, Jennie Goldie, engaging in this discussion under the OLO userID of 'popnperish'. Jennie, have you any explanation for what appears to have been the blanket of silence that has covered both the Linc Energy UCG-GTL production plans, and the arguably world-significance (a tripling of world reserves) of the central Australian Pedirka Basin deep coal seams revealed by Central Petroleum over the last couple of years?

I might add that I recall seeing projected GTL production costs of the order of $60/barrel crude oil equivalence for one of the UCG-GTL proposed central Australian developments, but have temporarily lost sight of the reference.

Am I correct in thinking the Australian public is being kept very much in the dark on this?

Forrest Gump, we had a coal to oil pilot plant at Morwell. As I understand it, when the research was finished, the plant was dismantled and the technology was taken overseas, if I remember rightly to somewhere in South America, so we don't own the technology any longer.

Just down the road from there we also once had a Lurgi gas plant. This technology can also be used to produce methanol, which with a bit of modification could be used to run motor cars. If you can produce methanol, I suspect you could also produce ethanol.

One needs to understand the laws of thermodynamics to appreciate the niceties of all this, as the production of portable energy sources from basic materials takes somewhat more energy than gets liberated in the machines in which it is used, so it isn't all beer and skittles.

The production of hydrogen from water is an interesting case,as it also produces half a molecular equivalent of oxygen which doesn't need to carried around as it is available free from the atmosphere, so that your oxygen can be used somewhere else. However, as has been pointed out previously, you still need to put energy in to get energy out, in fact somewhat more in than you get out due to inefficiencies.

David

The Rundle shale oil pilot plant near Gladstone was producing crude oil equivalent viably with crude prices at A$70 a barrel. The oil companies wouldn’t buy it, preferring to import refinery stock.

I never have been able to figure why they were allowed to refuse this local production, but I’m sure there was some perceived strategic reason. I hope it wasn’t fear of greenie reaction.

This process is proven, & could be in production in a very short time, when required.

I suppose the liquidation of coal could be brought on quite quickly. The technology is in economic production in South Africa.

Poirot, as a lover of the ocean, particularly of coral atolls & reefs, I will hate to see the day when we drill for the mountain of oil under the Great Barrier Reef. I would much prefer we use almost any other source for our fuel. However, don’t kid your self, if our urban structures are crumbling because of lack of transport fuel to supply city dwellers, it will be exploited.

I am not too sure of the current coal seam gas project however. The technology seems to be far from proven compatible with existing land use.

I spent a number of years in the Pacific, where my total fuel consumption was less than 4 Lbs of liquid petroleum gas & 2 gallons of petrol per week. When you can equal that, start lecturing.

geoffc
Quite right, everything will become more expensive. There is no possibility of oil running out however. Conventional oil may become more expensive, opening the way for the non-conventionals.

Hasbeen - I looked a that shale oil project briefly. It was a pilot plant which produced about a million something barrels before they shut it down, but it was just a pilot plant. A Canadian company, Suncor, I think, was investing in that area but advances in the tar sands technology resulted in it deciding to concentrate on the Canadian fields.

Abgain, I emphasise that there is no real chance of oil as such running out, although it may become more expensive.

However, that fields remains a good benchmark. If they seriously start to exploit it then you'll know oil prices really are high and going to stay that way.

The Joe/Energy_Cell...is..*NOT*..a hydrogen fuel cell.

It's an Orgone/Energy Accumulator..in which water
is acting as..the medium*

..which captures*the orgone
and allows it..to be transduced*..into*the engine

the Energy/Cell does*..not..deplete its*water..while in operation.

*The water is acting..in the role*..of a catalyst*..in the transference*..of a special form of energy..*from the surrounding atmosphere*..into the engine

and the*..water..itself is*..not consumed*..in the process.

From all outward appearances,an engine operating with this cell seems to be functioning on the Implosion principle,..

a phenomena explored in the writings and patents of inventors Viktor Schauberger,John Keeley,and others.

The following characteristics
have been observed with...the phenomena of*..Implosion*:

The energy..is manifested*..as a suction force,
not an explosion force.

In the presence of*..implosion,..the ambient temperature declines.. rather than expands,..to what is called..the Point*of Anomaly...

For water,..the Point of Anomaly..is 4 degrees Celsius.

There is an absence*..of resistance..and friction.
The power plant..can produce enough energy..to sustain itself
and can operate continuously. .

There are no exhaust by-products.

Dia-magnetic materials..are required..for implosion.
Diamagnetic materials..exhibit properties that are opposite that of magnetic materials...

For example,..a magnetic material..will align..in parallel to the magnetic lines of force..from a magnetic field,..while a diamagnetic metal..(E.g. copper)..will align..at right angles to the magnetic lines of force.

Some people..react with immediate disbelief..when first confronted with information..about the Joe Cell...Such individuals find skepticism..a comfortable refuge...It's easy to..be a skeptic.

There are always those..with flaccid minds..who delude themselves onto thinking..that scoffing at new ideas..or theories that run counter..to conventional wisdom..is an affirmation of intellectual maturity..and sophistication,

but these individuals..are too often..intellectually lazy,..hopelessly self satisfied..and arrogant.

Almost without exception,..a skeptic jumps to the simplistic conclusion..that if..*he hasn't heard about it..or if the new information opposes ideas..which he has been*taught in school,..then the concept being offered must*be invalid!

Of course,..a skeptic will never actually build..the cell..and determine..through observation..whether the cell functions*..as described.

Skeptical sermons..are usually delivered
from the ease of..an arm chair.

Rigidly obedient..to established dogma,..skeptics routinely dismiss new..or revolutionary concepts..out of hand...The refusal to examine empirical evidence..offered by hands-on experimentation..is seen most often..in skeptical professionals..of the pyrly"academic"..persuasion.

Most physics professors are solidly married..to their ego..and 'woe be'..to anyone..who attempts to question..their consecrated,..self-anointed..opinions of the universe.

Three Gases
Joe's cell is capable of producing..three different types of "gas", depending on the "alignment" (Joe's term) of the cell. Joe can change the cell's alignment in a number of ways.

Some alignment changes include: 1) reversing the polarity of the battery's connections; 2) changing the location of the battery connections to different plates; 3) raising or lowering the plate assembly within the charging vat, or 4) using different sources of water. Other possibilities exist as well.

In the videos,..Joe activates the Energy Cell by applying 12 DC voltage from a car battery. Bubbles quickly begin to come off the Energy Cell's plates within 30 seconds.

A Brown Scum or sludge begins to form on the top of the water to which some of the bubbles adhere and coalesce into larger bubbles. Joe then demonstrates the explosive effect of the gas produced by lighting a match to the bubbles adhering to the brown scum floating on top of the water cell.

Each different..type of gas produced..demonstrates a different reaction..when ignited with a match.

A description of the gases follows:

1. Hydrogen gas comes off the cell as very small bubbles and will produce a yellow flame when lit by a match. Igniting the hydrogen bubbles with a match will produce a moderate crack or snap, similar to the sound of a cap gun.

2. After adjusting the alignment, Joe produces a second type of gas (name unknown. Some have speculated that it's Brown's Gas, but I'm not sure )...Holding a match to this gas will produce a louder report (sound); a sharp crack,..but without the yellow flame or ringing in the ears.

3. The third type of gas (again, name unknown) produces the largest energetic discharge of all. When Joe puts a match to this gas, he get a much louder report with heavy ringing in the ears.
This third type of gas is the gas that Joe uses to power the car's engine. Here we have a 'gas'..that has somehow captured a significant amount of Orgone Energy which is expendable within the confines of the engine