<p>I decided to put this issue on everyone's minds since oil reached a new record high today along with a near 400 point drop of the DOW</p>
<p>This has almost nothing to do with admission the the Naval Academy, but I figured it would be worth asking. What is the military going to to when we inevitably turn to alternate fuel sources? Will they just have stockpiles of fossil fuels to run their current aircraft until they can come up with another solution?</p>
<p>Nuclear power? Probably way too dangerous for an aircraft though. Ethanol wouldn't be an economical choice, so I have no clue.</p>
<p>
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By 2010, the Air Force goal is to certify all its aircraft to use the fuel blend which mixes JP-8 with fuel produced using the Fischer-Tropsch process -- a process used to convert carbon-based materials into synthetic fuel.
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<p>...along the same lines, wartime fuel demands are mind-boggling. Just how much does it cost to 'top-off' a YP? My students asked about this today!</p>
<p>Fuel cells and electric drive reduces construction costs and minimizes fuel consumption.</p>
<p>I'm sure we will have oil to run our military equipment well into the time past which those things no longer run off of oil based fuel.</p>
<p>If we could only tap in to our oil in Alaska, we would have the equivalent of 30 years supply of oil from Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Oh no we cant drill in Alaska. That would inconveniance caribou migrations, and that wouldn't be politically correct. We have to be politically correct about everything.</p>
<p>Saudi Arabia actually called for a meeting between all oil producing nations today. They say that there is absolutley no reason that oil prices should be increasing.</p>
<p>GointoUSNA08 - I think Marine4Life said it perfectly - "when we inevitably turn to alternate fuel sources". I think it's clear that we need to start using renewable resources for our energy. Dependence on oil (foreign and domestic) is dangerous because it is NOT a renewable resource - it will run out eventually - and because of it's environmental affects. Not to mention the invaluable resources you lose when you start drilling (that's mostly a matter of personal opinion, but it's interesting to know that the wilderness which is threatened by our oil demands and expanding society was once one of the greatest points of national pride and patriotism - see the Hudson River School of Art).</p>
<p>Drilling more in Alaska would be nice, but Alaska is just one small drop in the American barrel of oil. My dad manages all of BP's drilling in Alaska and he gets asked all the time if drilling the ANWR would make a big difference in terms of the gas prices you pay. The answer is no. ANWR does contain a size-able amount of oil but in terms of the amount that they could produce per day while maintaining environmental standards and still being cost-effective with production would be negligible. The bigger picture lies with opening up the U.S. offshore oil to production. More than 90% of the U.S. offshore shelf is unavailable to drilling due to environmental restrictions. Some of these are necessary but some are completely ridiculous. If we could gradually open up some of these big deposits, we could become a lot more energy independent.</p>
<p>By the way, there already is a lot of oil drilling in Alaska. A very large portion of the US produced supply comes from Alaska (ever heard of the Trans-Alaska pipeline, the largest private project in the history of the United States next to the pending natural gas pipeline that might be built).</p>
<p>That being said, we definitely need to research alternative fuel sources because "Peak Oil" will be coming down the shoot eventually. We won't have oil forever.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn't mean just specifically the ANWR, but all oil in American territory, offshore or otherwise.</p>
<p>Hershey - Yes, we will inevitably turn to alternate fuel sources. I'm 100% confident in our ability to have those developed before we run out of oil.</p>