SpaceBanter.com - View Single Post - ...Lesson for Nasa! US Airmail and Aviation

Alan Anderson

wrote:

...tidal and geothermal are
cost-effective in only a few particularly favorable places,...

Oil isn't exactly available everywhere either.

One of the things that makes petroleum-based fuel so damned attractive
today is that it *is* available pretty much everywhere, and it doesn't
take a large infrastructure to use it. It's a conveniently energy-dense
liquid, suitable for transportation by foot, by pipeline, or by any
standard cargo carrier. Anywhere you need it, you can get it there, and
you can use it without much fanfare.

(Okay, Antarctic winters are cold enough that freezing is a problem, but
that's an edge case.)