Gas Prices -- Help at last?

On 2005-10-12, Matt Barrow wrote:
refineries have been expanded (hence the 40% increase in production), but
how much is it feasible to keep running old technology? Old technology is
much less environmentally friendly? Remember, too, that these were built
using 1970s technology. How old is your computer?

Are the refineries really using old technology? New ones might not have
been built but old ones may have been upgraded with newer technology
(possibly how they have output increased per refinery).

The guts of my computer are just under 3 years old. However, trivial
parts (case, CD-ROM drive, monitor, keyboard) are over twice this age.
Is it not possible that refineries haven't undergone refits like my
computer has - so the ironwork might be from the 1970s, but the guts are
much newer?

Some machinery in any case is built to last. Railway locomotives, ships,
airliners, power stations, telephone exchanges etc. are often built to
have a nominal life span of over 30 years. I would expect the same to be
true of a refinery.

Remember, too, that many of these were built using 1970s technology. How old
is your computer?

You make that comparison again, but I don't think it's valid - Moore's
Law (really observation) which drives the computer market is really an
exception rather than the norm. In any case as we're starting to run
into physical limits right now (and generally, desktop computers remain
useful for longer - for the typical office job - an 833MHz Pentium 3
computer made 6 years ago is still more than adequate, but using a 6
year old computer 6 years ago was often very painful).

--
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