But don’t the giant solar subsidies get phased out over the next five years?
AFAIK, that would only be the case if you’re running so much compression or boost that you need the higher octane rating. The energy density of ethanol is much lower than petrol, so you need to cram heaps more in to make more power.
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The Federal government spends literally TRILLIONS of dollars directly or indirectly subsidizing the petroleum industry (and yes, I’m counting “wars fought over the control of petroleum interests” as a form of subsidy for the US petroleum economy). If solar energy doesn’t continue to thrive in the US it will be because politicians decided to back the other guys.
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I’m no climate change denier, but I have no qualms about working in IT in the petrochemical industry.
I’ll happily go get a job in a different industry when things change. But until then, our world absolutely relies on petrochemicals at every level of resource gathering, processing, refining, manufacturing, transportation, supply chain delivery, consumption, and post-consumer processing. It will take decades to change, even if we had a viable plan beginning now.
In the meantime, the world needs petrochemicals, and the companies that supply them have to be manned in order for that supply to be filled. Ignoring employment opportunities in an absolutely essential industry based on virtue signaling is reality-denying.
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Absolutely right. The actual cost/return info on the various energy sources is so deeply shrouded in subsidies, tax deferrals, and other financial slight of hand. It keeps us from making decisions based on the actual costs and benefits of the different sources.
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A thousand times this.
The oil industry just spent two years dumping every millennial on the payroll and thought they would come back to their position on hands and knees. What’s worse is this boom/bust cycle is completely fake and only even happens because there is little to no accountability on the famously bad at their job executive staff in the industry.
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Nailed it on the first try! Although not that much boost over stock. And ethanol has the additional benefit of cooling the air charge when it is injected, vs gasoline which is thermally neutral.
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Can’t you make it? I always guessed it would be fairly easy. Compared to petroleum refinement, hydrogen manifolds, and other options.
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I doubt the premise of the OP. Ok not “the millennials are environmentally friendly”… That part is mostly true. However, there are thousands upon thousands of young people ready and willing to jump into the oil and gas industry if it ever recovers. They want work. They want to make money. They are mostly right-wingers.
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Didn’t you get the memo? Millennials just means younglings who rankle you for some reason…usually for not appreciating the global dumpster fire we left them.
If you don’t know what a memo is, this comment is not aimed at you.
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As someone who switched career tracks, go for it, life’s short.
What is this “growing up” of which you speak? 
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My dad worked in the oil industry, mainly as an office guy. DX oil out of Tulsa, eventually Sun Oil and then Sunoco. I can’t get too mad at them. This was a great company to work for, at least by my lights when I was a kid. The company would periodically rent out an entire bowling alley and I could bowl for free until blisters stopped me. They would rent out an entire amusement park for an entire morning with everything free including a sunrise breakfast. We had great insurance. Most importantly, they did not fire my alcoholic father and promoted him (to Dallas) when he sobered up. I will have to admit that this does not sound like any damn company I know of today,
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Heck, I was at Boeing for 20 years… 10 years direct and another 10 as a contractor/supplier via CSC. As far as the bennies, while we never got all day bowling the bennies are perks and how the employees get treated is definitely not what it was when I started.
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I find this hard to believe. Source?
Not really. Fuel ethanol needs to be 0% water. Even starting with the strongest drinking ethanol out there, about 75%, it would take a lot of distillation to even get to 99%. It would need to be 99.999%. That takes dedicated production facilities.
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Sure! Here’s one. Look at these states.
Confused further. You say that millenials are mostly right-wingers, i ask for numbers and i see an article listing top 10 oil rich states. I’m not following. Hope i’m not coming across as being dickish, i’m just not getting it and maybe you’re talking about something different?
No, the people who go for oil jobs are right wingers. Obviously not all of them. But most.
Ah, thanks for clarification 
I felt like i was having a serious derp moment
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