Why? Why do we need Anwr drilling? Why do we need to continue to produce oil? Well it comes down to not just driving my car to work anymore. The US is dependant on oil not just for gasoline, although that is a large part of it.
Uses
We must find other sources and reduce our dependance on foreign oli. It is not just good enough to drive an electric car. Hybrid technology is still the forerunner in my opinion, but has anyone looked at what energy it takes to produce these vehicles. Everyone talks about the savings in fuel economy etc. but guess what. It takes energy to produce these vehicles, it takes oil to make the lightweight plastic products that are used in these vehicles, and it takes oil to produce coke to produce steel to make the machinery to make these vehicles. We need to encourage energy conservation in manufacturing thru the use of incentives for large companies. Tax breaks for energy reductions. Financial incentives to develop nano-materials. Better production methods for steel thru the use of continuous casting methods done here in the US, and using soy products for polymer processing. Oh no. Big business. Evil. But by applying these incentives the consumer can reap the benfits in the long run. Lower costs of goods produced. More goods produced in the US. In concert with vehicles and drilling new reserves we need as a country to encourage businesses to keep investigating different engineering materials and fuels.
