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Real and implied security implications are enormous but little has been done to change automobile or truck power plants. Consider this:
In 1930, a law was passed that mandated only petroleum products could be used in engines of automobiles and trucks manufactured after that date. The bill was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute (API). Up until that law was passed vehicles were powered by both alcohol and distillates. Electric cars and faded early in the last century because of bulky batteries, speed and short distances driven between recharge. The steam powered cars and trucks faded into history due to the lack of immediate mobility offered by the internal combustion engine. Alcohol as a fuel faded because of a power struggle within that industry as well as enormous pressure brought to bear by API. The situation remains much the same today, many powerful interests have derived their power from oil and they will not relinquish that power anytime soon.
Oil, the money and power associated with it, economics, work force displacement, political clout and international politics would prevent the rapid introduction of a vehicle powered solely by an alternate fuel or electricity. The fact is that so many jobs are directly and indirectly dependent on gasoline powered vehicles: Filtering systems, electrical systems and emission systems not to mention those involved in fuel production, transportation and sales. Many of those jobs would go away with the advent of either alcohol or steam. There are at least five designs for vehicle steam engines and several for alcohol. Buried deep within the last energy passed was the prohibition against the import of American named automobiles manufactured in Brazil which must run on alcohol.
We are faced with inflation and a financial hardship to many sectors of the US economy. One TV and in newspapers the drastic affects of high fuel prices are having on persons with fixed incomes, people faced with choices of paying fuel bills or eating or restricting the use of necessary medicines. High ticket items may not be purchased and layoffs may result. Desperate people do desperate things and those things pose problems for those of us in the security industry. The majority of oil is used for transportation as we well know from the traffic jams we face on a daily basis.
Were the President and/or powerful members of Congress to recommend a ?Manhattan? like project to develop and field alcohol or steam powered vehicles, retrofitting existing vehicles, their very political and personal lives and/or livelihoods would be placed in serious danger. The national economy as we know it would be threatened; the Middle East and other oil producing countries, already racked with internal strife would explode into civil war and such discontent would threaten the entire civilized world.
It would appear we are faced with high fuel prices, slow to adopt substitutes and eventual political unrest on a worldwide scale. Just what will oil producing countries do when oil finally runs out? And from a selfish point of view, what would that do to this Country? We might have massive migration on a scale never before seen. This indeed is a horror filled trip into unknown and untried areas. The serious implications for security are, in my judgment, incalculable.
The only thing one can hope for is the people will demand Congress provide meaningful leadership and move along in the transition from fossil fuel to another means. The 1930 law will have to be rescinded or seriously reworked. Tax structures will be a thorny issue for both the federal government and the states. As it stands now, the oil industry holds all the cards, and security is not even considered.
Enjoy the day,
Bill
In 1930, a law was passed that mandated only petroleum products could be used in engines of automobiles and trucks manufactured after that date. The bill was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute (API). Up until that law was passed vehicles were powered by both alcohol and distillates. Electric cars and faded early in the last century because of bulky batteries, speed and short distances driven between recharge. The steam powered cars and trucks faded into history due to the lack of immediate mobility offered by the internal combustion engine. Alcohol as a fuel faded because of a power struggle within that industry as well as enormous pressure brought to bear by API. The situation remains much the same today, many powerful interests have derived their power from oil and they will not relinquish that power anytime soon.
Oil, the money and power associated with it, economics, work force displacement, political clout and international politics would prevent the rapid introduction of a vehicle powered solely by an alternate fuel or electricity. The fact is that so many jobs are directly and indirectly dependent on gasoline powered vehicles: Filtering systems, electrical systems and emission systems not to mention those involved in fuel production, transportation and sales. Many of those jobs would go away with the advent of either alcohol or steam. There are at least five designs for vehicle steam engines and several for alcohol. Buried deep within the last energy passed was the prohibition against the import of American named automobiles manufactured in Brazil which must run on alcohol.
We are faced with inflation and a financial hardship to many sectors of the US economy. One TV and in newspapers the drastic affects of high fuel prices are having on persons with fixed incomes, people faced with choices of paying fuel bills or eating or restricting the use of necessary medicines. High ticket items may not be purchased and layoffs may result. Desperate people do desperate things and those things pose problems for those of us in the security industry. The majority of oil is used for transportation as we well know from the traffic jams we face on a daily basis.
Were the President and/or powerful members of Congress to recommend a ?Manhattan? like project to develop and field alcohol or steam powered vehicles, retrofitting existing vehicles, their very political and personal lives and/or livelihoods would be placed in serious danger. The national economy as we know it would be threatened; the Middle East and other oil producing countries, already racked with internal strife would explode into civil war and such discontent would threaten the entire civilized world.
It would appear we are faced with high fuel prices, slow to adopt substitutes and eventual political unrest on a worldwide scale. Just what will oil producing countries do when oil finally runs out? And from a selfish point of view, what would that do to this Country? We might have massive migration on a scale never before seen. This indeed is a horror filled trip into unknown and untried areas. The serious implications for security are, in my judgment, incalculable.
The only thing one can hope for is the people will demand Congress provide meaningful leadership and move along in the transition from fossil fuel to another means. The 1930 law will have to be rescinded or seriously reworked. Tax structures will be a thorny issue for both the federal government and the states. As it stands now, the oil industry holds all the cards, and security is not even considered.
Enjoy the day,
Bill
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