Off Shore Drilling Vs Bio Fuels Debate

Even through the summer adjournment, about 2-dozen Republican members of the House of Representatives continued energy speeches on Monday. The group is reportedly trying to drive the Democrats and most notably House Speaker Nancy Peloski to vote on offshore oil drilling. However, many Democrats respond that the idea of oil exploration and offshore drilling will not decrease the prices at the pump. The House GOP also opted to stay on the floor last week at the beginning of summer recess and proceeded to give speeches to an otherwise empty chamber for 5-hours on Friday.
Researchers are looking into using algae as a new biofuel for vehicles. Supporters of the alternative fuel say that algae needs only sunlight, carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients to grow. In fact, supporters say algae growth helps cut down on carbon dioxide released from vehicle emissions and therefore, it actually helps the environment. One 15-year study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory closed in 1996 after the group concluded that algae-based fuel costs were too expensive for national use. However, times have changed and oil is no longer 20-dollars per barrel as it was when the study was first analyzed. Based on the research, another group estimated that to build algae farms nationally for replacing petroleum fuels, it would cost about 308-billion-dollars plus maintenance fees, and many in the industry are saying that this figure is a bargain compared to the money currently being spent on crude oil.
And General Motors Corporation is considering adding natural gas to the list of possible oil alternatives. One company researcher said recently that natural gas is abundant, affordable and relatively clean. Some problems associated with using natural gas for vehicles is the safety of compressing the fuel and the lack of driving range between fill-ups. GM has already worked to develop battery-powered, hydrogen and corn-based ethanol vehicles. It said it plans to develop the Volt by 2010 that would run on battery-power and potentially natural gas. Honda currently sells the Civic GX NGV for about 7-grand more than the petroleum-fueled model and this one runs on natural gas.