A friend and I were arguing yesterday on whether we should drill for oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuse (ANWR). He took his usual Republican position that we should and I took my Democratic position saying we shouldn’t. My friend, of course, is dead wrong. My fear is not only what drilling will do to the environment. My major concern is that the projected 4.3-11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil will lessen the sense of urgency to find renewables and discourage conservation. Discovering and developing renewable energy sources should be the
main pillar in any federal energy mandate.
As you can imagine, the folks in Alasks are champing at the drill bit to expand drilling on the North Slope where we’ve pumping oil out of the ground for decades. Indeed, a story today in the Achorage Daily News says a new study shows there’s more oil than we thought, this time under the Chukchi Sea, separating Alaska from Siberia. Indeed, Alaska’s Congressional Delegation is working hard to reverse the current drilling ban. But there’s plenty against drilling in ANWR, too. On the whole, the Achorage Daily News’ reporting appears balanced. It has run several stories in the past few months that would seem to argue against drilling.
In any event, I say no to drilling in ANWR so we get our butts in high gear of renewsable. What sayeth you?
Almost every automaker has had to 'pick a side' when it comes to alternative fuel options and ways to divest from a reliance on gasoline. Fiat is looking to back compressed natural gas or liquid propane as an interim solution.
Plastic may not be the most beloved of materials to the more environmentally minded, but Plasti 2012 aimed to mold a different opinion of the material in people's minds.
The rare earth element market has become steadily more rational, and new sources coming online will continue to reduce costs. Still, it is unlikely that prices will drop to their former lows.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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