In Reply to: I say Drill Away! posted by Wayne on October 03, 2005 at 20:57:09:

We could do away with much of our energy use by applying simple conservation measures and thereby being more responsible citizens of the world (yes, rail away... I'm a "kelp hugger"). We are by far the nation with the greatest per capita energy use. If we adopted more modern technology, our needs would be nowhere near as great.

I agree that the technology has greatly improved since the late 60's when the beaches of Santa Barbara were covered in it.

After all, it is not the amount of oil we drill... it is how wisely and efficiently we use it that counts. If we learn to live with less energy waste, it will truly be a better world.

I remember when I worked in the defense industry at Northrop's Anaheim plant as its first energy conservation and pollution control engineer. We proposed a way to save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in energy costs. The response was "These are cost-plus contracts." The federal government actually paid the company NOT to adopt conservation measures! How brilliant.