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10 Truths About Big Oil
image courtesy of Daniel Tagihoff
by Bill Georgevich
The fossil fuel economy is literally a dinosaur that should have ended soon after World War II. My stories will center around Big Oil and Gas and their massively successful global hegemony over this planet's energy. More than world domination in the marketplace, the Oil and Gas industry has succeeded in convincing mankind that fossil fuel is still the cheapest, most viable source of energy. This has simply not been true since the mid 1970's.
Here are some surprising facts:
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1.
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The first hydrogen powered fuel cell battery was invented before the Civil War.
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2.
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Electric cars were the preferred method of transportation for the very rich in the U.S. until 1925.
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3.
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After making 1200 all-electric cars to comply with a California zero-emissions mandate, General Motors repossessed those cars from their owners and crushed them, even though movie stars offered the car maker millions of dollars not to.
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4.
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There can be no 'energy crisis' in a universe where the most plentiful element is hydrogen, the preferred fuel for NASA spacecraft.
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5.
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There is a enough sunlight in the U.S. Southwest to provide electricity for one half of the country.
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6.
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's hydrogen car initiative includes hydrogen fueling stations, whose hydrogen is made and provided by Shell Oil -- despite the fact that hydrogen can be made at home with ordinary tap water.
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7.
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The first hydrogen fuel cell passenger car is not the (unavailable) 2008 Chevy Equinox, but was a 1966 van that GM secretly and successfully tested.
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8.
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The Oil and Gas industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year in public relations efforts to convince the public and law makers they should remain unregulated, while at the same time encouraging consumer conservation so that less and less gasoline can be sold for more and more money.
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9.
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Major car makers the world over don't want you to own an electric or hydrogen fuel cell car as there is virtually no mechanical maintenance compared to an internal combustion engine, eliminating tremendous profits from the sale of parts and services.
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10.
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Every U.S. president for the last 100 years has been an "Oil President" as there has been no major government initiative to remove us from the fossil fuel economy -- unlike France, which has been 85% fossil fuel independent since 1985.
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