NationStates Jolt Archive

Trivalvian News Service Bulletin
- for release to all national and international papers -

Trivalvia Goes Green: Oil to be replaced by Methanol by 2012, says President

Trivalviapolis: President MacKensie, in his first move after the success of the Sussex Conference, has announced a bold new energy policy, replacing the use of oil with methanol by no later than the year 2012.

"It is time we started taking the issues of climate change and declining oil stocks seriously," MacKensie told the Trivalvian Legislature. "Methanol is proven to have less greenhouse gas emissions, is as easy to store and use as oil, and can be manufactured from natural gas in the short term, and directly from CO2 and water in the long term. It is a clear choice for Trivalvia to use for the coming years."

While environmentalists are hailing the news as "tough action on climate change", economists are more cautious. "Trivalvia's economy has been through some shakes, with the opening of the new free-trade bloc in Nova Europa, and the recent spending changes due to external military threats," said Linda Worral, Professor of Economics at Bivalviaton University. "President MacKensie means well, but where is he going to get the money, especially with the short timetable he has set?"

Other economists are more supportive of the government's position. Ted Rainey, right-wing economist with the Gold-Mollusk Financial group, told reporters: "Trivalvia is finally going to be energy-independant. No more tridollars to foreign oil barons!"

So far, the Trivalvian oil industry itself, which provides roughly 45% of Trivalvia's oil production, has not commented on the news.

The Principality of Wilhelmsborough congratulates the nation of Trivalvia on its decision to end its relience on foreign oil to power its nation. The Principality itself abandoned oil several months ago when we switched over to Hempseed Oil. Since then, we've seen vast improvements in the environment as well as the quality of air over Wilhelmsborough skies. Our economy is expanding as well, due to new innovations in the use of hemp fibers.

We here in the Principality wish your country the best in your energy conversion. You certainly will not regret it!

Signed,
Prince William Kennedy, Sovereign
Principality of Wilhelmsborough
Crimean Peninsula

Official Clandonian Response

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While a brave move, we dread to think of the economic damage that will be done to Trivalvia. Clandonias economy was built on a series of laisez faire policies which have wonders to the wellbeing of Clandonian citizens with a GDP per capita of over thirty thousand dollars.

Uxbridge Agricultural Ltd. Communique

Sir,

Uxbridge Agricultural Ltd is the leading bio technology company in the Crown Commonwealth of Praetonia. We currently have a large amount of capital which could easily see itself invested in buying up land and growing and refining methanol in Trivalvia. We believe that would be able to meet your methanol needs, as a private initiative, within the time period you have specified.

However, as I am sure you are aware, methanol is not the cheapest of fuels. Indeed, it is easily outcompeted by coal, oil and even nuclear power. We would therefore, requrie that the government of Trivalvia ensure a minimum sales price for the methanol we produce. This would of course require an element of commitment and risk on your part, but the risk of having your methanol scheme managed by a private company (indeed, one with extensive experience in the sector and cash already available) is far lower than it being run as a government enterprise, or even run by a new Trivalvian company that has little experience in the sector.

Methanol is not currently commercial produced by Uxbridge Agricultural in the Crown Commonwealth because economic liberalisation and no government environmental intervention means that numerous other fuel sources are available cheaper. However, we would welcome Trivalvian government representatives to tour our Methanol Fuels Demonstrator Plant in New Wellington.

Yours Faithfully,

Sir Gregory Fielding,
Director of Uxbridge Fuels Ltd., a subsidiary of Uxbridge Agricultural Ltd.

The Free Land of Dartia applauds Trivalvia for their environmental efforts. If more nations were like you, the world would be a better place.

To assist in curtailing the economic backlash you will suffer, we would like to offer to help keep your oil industry afloat by buying your oil. Then you will have the best of both worlds.

The Free Land of Dartia applauds Trivalvia for their environmental efforts. If more nations were like you, the world would be a better place.

To assist in curtailing the economic backlash you will suffer, we would like to offer to help keep your oil industry afloat by buying your oil. Then you will have the best of both worlds.

Message from the Corporate Alliance

We congratulate Trivalvia in 'going green', and will buy your oil and your remaining stock of fossil fuel powered vehicles for a fair and agreeable price.

We hereby offer $45 US a barrel for all your oil, an exclusive contract.

As for your vehicles, per sedan $4,500 US, per truck $6,500 US, and per SUV/Van $5,500 US.

All of these exclusive contracts in order to ensure the security of these deals.

[END]

From the President of the Freeland of Duckquackmuse:

I would like to personally add my support to this campaign of yours. As a neighbouring country, Duckquackmuse will be considering this option thanks to your pioneering efforts. We have considered endorcing the use of Ethanol Powered cars. Would you be interested in helping explore this road with us? The ethanol could be extracted from any number of sources and produces 150g/km less Carbon Dioxide. If the people of my country all use these cars we will drop our Carbon dioxide emmisions by 70%. An impressive and not impossible figre, in my opinon!

By the way, global warming isn't all bad. Feel free to pop over and have a sip of last year's best wine, fantastic stuff! Our wine sales have gone up buy 15% over the last year! But of course erm..planet first.

Yume Sekai supports Trivalvia's move as we have always been an enviromentally
friendly nation we hope that all NEA nations to follow suit to make our region cleaner

Nico Larazles

The Symmetriad Corporation congratulates Trivalvia on their choice to leave the scarce oil supplies for polymers and move to ecologically clean fuels.

Of course, mass production of methanol and other oil replacements will require substantial modernization of your energy industry, which will always bring a lot of beneficial side effects. Which way to go? Fossil fuel power plants are out of question. Windmills are a nice system for small scale generation, but massive wind farms will cover a lot of best lands in expensive, noisy, maintenance-intensive due to numbers and not always reliable windmills, and, moreover, require burning billions tons of coal to make all the steel for them. Solar power takes more effort to get than it brings, and solar updraft towers can turn miles of fields into wastelands. And all of that can hardly satisfy growing demands of modern heavy industry and clean fuel production.

The real XXI century choice for mass-scale energy production is safe nuclear and thermonuclear power, and Symmetriad stands ready to provide your country with ready reactors, fuel enrichment plants, recycling systems or technological assistance required, as well as supply fuel or take spent fuel for recycling. With our breeder reactors, burning U-238, and deep reprocessing, no single pound of fuel goes to waste. New passively safe designs eliminate the hazards of early nuclear age, compact and integrated facilities can form technological centers, and cost of nuclear power is steadily decreasing, promising to become the best choice for the economy.

Please respond if you would like us to handle or assist reinforcing your energy industry with the best standarts of efficiency, safety and cleanness.

Cruon Commercial House RFS-- Registered Family Syndicate, congratulates on your move toward energy independence. We further offer some special deals. For $2 billion dollars we will build 10 bio-refineries on your land $200 million dollars each, these are superior to standard methanol production facilities as they provide multiple products from a single source, corn, soy, biomass, etc. These will provide methanol, ethanol, safe industrial chemicals, bioplastics, and animal feed at a reasonable return on investment. We further offer to build 4 landfill reprocessing plants which turn landfills into methanol gas and recycled products-- recycled paper and recycled products at a cost of $200 million dollars. We see an opportunity to turn your country into a green powerhouse.

Regards,

Amara Cruon, Cruon Commercial House, RFS-- Registered Family Syndicate

To: Sir Gregory Fielding, Uxbridge Fuels,
From: Michel Laval, Trivalvia Ministry of Energy

Sir Fielding,

Although the Trivalvian government is not yet prepared to enter into any binding arrangements with external companies, we would be interested in touring your facilities.

To: the Duckquackmuse government.

We considered ethanol as a possible replacement fuel, but initial studies showed that ethanol production would be much more expensive than methanol, and that ethanol, while less toxic than methanol, is not biodegradable, making potential spills as hazardous as old oil spills. Methanol, on the other hand, would require only minor modifications to existing engine designs and fuel infrastructure, and would be biodegradable.

To: the Corporate Alliance, c/o the Leafanistan government.

Regrettably, because of current concerns regarding the politics of the CA, the Trivalvian government will not be entering into any trade deals with CA nations. We thank you for your interest.

To: the Duckquackmuse government.

We considered ethanol as a possible replacement fuel, but initial studies showed that ethanol production would be much more expensive than methanol, and that ethanol, while less toxic than methanol, is not biodegradable, making potential spills as hazardous as old oil spills. Methanol, on the other hand, would require only minor modifications to existing engine designs and fuel infrastructure, and would be biodegradable

Thankyou for this information. Duckquackmuse will be shortly following you in "Going Green".

However would you tell me of any plans you have at the moment of producing methanol, so we can better understand the process involved?

Going to go OOC for my reply:

Methanol (a.k.a. wood alcohol) can be refined from natural gas - that's generally a good short-term source. But a long-term source, and something Trivalvia will try to implement toward the end of its conversion period, is to combine CO2 and water to make methanol - electricity is needed for the operation and that can be supplied cleanly by nuclear plants (eventually fusion plants but I'll have to wait until Trivalvia gets to late-MT before those start going up).

Greetings.

The Symmetriad is ready to provide the power and full solution for your energy systems.
The key principles of our solution are:
* Ecological safety
* Economical feasibility
* Long-term sustainability

We offer a complex solution to the problem of fossil fuels, based on three-step approach:
* Integrated primary energy production
* Countrywide unified electric grid, supported by smaller stations
* Distributed energy conversion into fuel
Our approach eliminates the need for heavy logistics lines carrying fuel across the country, and everything is provided by inexpensive, low-loss electric lines.


For energy production, we offer integrated complexes, self-contained fuel enrichment, conventional and breeding power plants, and fuel recycling inside a single large facility. This eliminated potential hazards of nuclear fuel supplies or recycled fuel stealing, as only natural uranium enters the facility, and nothing radioactive leaves it. All of our complexes in the Vault lands are built underground to survive even nuclear bombardment, and zero the risk of spread of any pollution in case of accident, although other solutions are available. The heat exits them using an updraft tower, adding to the power produced, although the systems can work without it.
Our power production systems combine nuclear power with solar and wind, and integrated solar/wind stations are used as the auxiliary systems for the main stations, as well as for more distant parts not feasible to reach by the central power grid.


For the transmission of power, we choose radial grid, consisting of a ring of low-loss, possible superconducting lines connecting all the stations, and similar lines leading to all the regions of the country and major cities. Starting there, the power is transferred by conventional lines to consumers, be it houses or industries. Each city may have several lines leading to it, ensuring power even if the lines are damaged, and any overload is distributed immediately between all plants, eliminating blackout risk. The power production is highly synchronized by the accompanying network, eliminating centralizing losses.

For conversion of power to transportable fuel for road vehicles, we agree with your choice of methanol as sustainable and efficient fuel. Connected to the power grid, water supply and exhaust tubes transporting CO2, the stations can produce clean and safe fuel which can later be burnt in fuel cells.

Finally, our engine solution is based on fuel cells, batteries and electric motors. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PMEFC) we suggest to use are easily fed, compact and produce good amount of energy. High torque and very high efficiency are the distinctive features of electric motors, and power today can be stored in considerable quantities, up to the point that we provide fuel cell based aircraft engines. Most conventional vehicles, however, need only batteries, if our highly developed power grid is in place.


The implementation will consist of:
* Stage I - Nuclear plants and power grid construction started; methanol applied to existing cars, and new cars are built with fuel cells
* Stage II - New power grid and power plants enter service. New cars using fuel cells replace aged internal combustion engines; trucks can use batteries.

We can implement the solution in time determined only by the scale of investment, first stage taking only a year, and provide full support for all the life cycle of the systems. Please respond with specifics so that we can determine the required operations, costs involved, length of the program, and specific terms.


Respectfully yours,
Hiro Ishikawa,
The Symmetriad Board of Directors Representative.

Going to go OOC for my reply:

Methanol (a.k.a. wood alcohol) can be refined from natural gas - that's generally a good short-term source. But a long-term source, and something Trivalvia will try to implement toward the end of its conversion period, is to combine CO2 and water to make methanol - electricity is needed for the operation and that can be supplied cleanly by nuclear plants (eventually fusion plants but I'll have to wait until Trivalvia gets to late-MT before those start going up).

OOC:
These look like very attractive options, as we are going Green. I will make a speech soon, probably in another thread. Hopefully we can work closely together on the production of methanol and spread it across the Region.

I am going to host a conference on the subject of Going Green soon, I would be honoured if were to attend.