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Title: Search for a bridge to the energy future: Proceedings

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5617704

The alarming effects, concerns, and even the insights into long-range energy planning that grew out of the OPEC oil embargo of 1973 are fading from the view of a shortsighted public. The enthusiastic initiatives taken in many countries for the development of alternative energy sources have withered due to lack of economic and/or ideological incentive. The events since December 1985, when the members of OPEC decided to increase production in an effort to capture their share of market, have brought down the prices of a barrel of crude to less than US $11 and have made any rational analysis very complex. This has made even the proponents of the alternative energy sources pause and think. The US has, as usual, oscillated from panic to complacency. The Libyan crisis, however, has brought the dangers of complacency into sharp focus. The first commercial coal gasification plant, constructed with a capital investment of over US $2 billion, was abandoned by the owners and is being operated by the US Department of Energy temporarily. In their effort to find a private owner, the US Department of Energy has set the date of auction of this prestigious plant for May 28, 1986. And if an appropriate bid is not forthcoming, the plant faces a very uncertain future. Coal, considered by the World Coal Study (WOCOL) at MIT in 1980, to be a bridge to a global energy future, seems to have lost its luster due to the oil glut which we all know is temporary. This was evident when the bill to grant the Right of Eminent Domain for transportation of coal was defeated. This conference was organized to bring together experts in different areas from various countries to discuss the state of the art and the rate of progress in different alternative energy forms. The recent accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in USSR has brought home the need of diversification of the alternative energy sources.

Research Organization:
North Dakota Univ., Grand Forks (USA). School of Engineering and Mines
DOE Contract Number:
FG01-86FE61068
OSTI ID:
5617704
Report Number(s):
CONF-8605117-; ON: DE88004584
Resource Relation:
Conference: International conference on the development of alternative energy sources and the lessons learned since the oil embargo, Grand Forks, ND, USA, 23 May 1986; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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