Oil and National Security

Buying oil at any price from Islamic nations partly funds terrorists and directly leads to the deaths of Americans and American Servicemen as well as soldiers from all nations fighting and dying alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most Islamic nations cannot break even or make a profit below 70 dollars a barrel for oil because operating expenses have risen to get oil out of the ground. So, it is inevitable that Opec nations reduce output until the international price of oil rises once again even if no one can afford to buy it at any price now.

What can we do in the interests of national security and as patriotic Americans who don't want to see Americans dying because we buy oil from Islamic nations?

T. Boone Pickens, I believe has the right idea. America has 70 years or more worth of natural gas that can be compressed and run in converted trucks and cars right now. Without buying another drop of mideastern oil America could theoretically convert all new built trucks and vehicles over 1/2 to 1 ton to natural gas. I believe by making this a law that all new trucks be multifueled(burn natural gas in addition to gas) for example.

I'm not sure how this would work for diesel though because natural gas would need spark plugs to run it whereas diesel engines have no spark plugs.

However, there might be another way to go about this. If one looks at most trains in the United States they are mostly all Diesel electrics. However, gas electrics and propane electrics and natural gas electrics could all easily be built with incredible efficiency.

I was thinking about how to convert my motorhome that has mostly been sitting in the driveway and only going a few miles for exercise to keep it roadworthy every week or so. I was imagining converting the carburetor to a dual fuel to run not only gas but natural gas as well. I was also envisioning in my mind using the gas, natural gas engine as a power takeoff for generating electricity and then having the generated power going directly into the rear differential through an electric motor. With a 100 or more horsepower AC or DC electric motor one could run most vehicles just by upping the size of the electric motor and generator to run it.

With larger vehicles, batteries like in a hybrid are out of the question because of the amount of power needed for getting up to speed or going uphill and going long distances. However, I suppose with research some level travel without a headwind or downhill might work just on battery power if one was using a DC system instead of AC.

However, I'm not sure whether DC torque or AC electric motor torque would be greater and therefore more desirable. The one thing I'm sure of is Diesel electrics, Gas electrics and natural gas or propane electrics would be incredibly more efficient than what we are all doing right now for hauling many people and goods across our nation and world.