OT: Gas Prices

[aegisx]

More data:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/perfpro/major_findings.htm

The pdf linked there tells you the how much and why.

[Will]

Until there is a cheap, reliable, and scalable method to convert cellulose crop waste into ethanol and misc other chemicals (one would hope fertilizers for the next generation of crops...), ethanol is not the way out. Hopefully some of the research dollars going into biotech can finance a marketable solution. I'm not holding my breath yet.

I suppose American taste in cars doesn't help either. Or the fact that many Americans are so gullible when it comes to marketing claims. For example, I saw an ad for a new Lexus car, a "green, SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle)"... that gets 23mpg. That does not strike me as Super Ultra Low Emissions...

[Spectarofdeath]

It might not be ALL about price gouging but come on, you think those companies aren't watching people getting pissed off about the cost and screaming for new fuel sources? Once those sources are found and established it's going to be bye bye for the oil companies, at least the ones that dont have their hands in the cookie jar and are pulling the strings behind the companies that establish those new sources. It might not even be bye bye, but it more than likely will be bye bye to $36 billion in profits. Which means no more $400 million retirement packages. Which means, "Lets gouge now, just in case, call it a parachute".

[AngleWyrm]

May 15th is national "Don't Buy Gas" day, to protest.

"Rumor has it a gas boycott will be in effect on May 15, 2007. Have you heard of this? ... The e-mail stated, "Do not buy gas on May 15. In April 1997, there was a 'gas out' conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight. There are 73,000,000-plus Americans currently on the Internet network, and the average car takes about $30 to $50 to fill up. If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000 out of the rich oil company's pockets for just one day. So please do not go to the gas station on May 15, and let's try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil industry for at least one day."
Greg M., Lake Charles, La.

[Spectarofdeath]

Only problem with that is I remember that last year, nobody went, gas prices were down the day nobody was buying gas and the next day they went up.

[GuyOfDoom]

As mentioned earlier the previous gas shortage caused by OPEC in the 70's caused a few key events to happen. Most other developed nations implemented measures to reduce their dependance on foreign oil by making more efficient vehicles, improving their mass transportation and other measures along that lines.

The US decided it was going to be the "best" and provide everything for itself and starting looking into providing oil for itself. Thus Europe and the like have had "high" gas prices for sometime, but the price has remained relativly consistent. Presently the bottom is falling out of the US's ability to supply it's own oil and thus we're starting to see the shift in prices towards what Europe has seen for awhile.

So what's my problem with American Oil companies you might ask? Well they're the ones that helped push the move for self-dependance so much that NO alternatives were really ever considered. Now we're reaching the point were the end of the world's oil reserves are within a generation and America isn't even close to making a transition off of oil.

Yes there is supply and demand. My problem comes from the fact that most of the demand is artificially generated by the oil companies. There is some influence by world events and natural disasters to be sure, but these are overhyped and over-publicized to help justify the increased prices. If the oil companies actually cared about the general economy of the nation as opposed to their investors it would be a much different story. It's fine if you want to argue for profit margins in a corporation, my problem comes from corporate utilities that literally hold the nation's status in the palm of their hands and choose to still operate with the shareholders in mind rather than the general public.

[aegisx]

The government does not agree with you about demand:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/oil.html

"In the IEO2006 reference case, world oil demand grows from 80 million barrels per day in 2003 to 98 million barrels per day in 2015 and 118 million barrels per day in 2030. Demand increases strongly despite world oil prices that are 35 percent higher in 2025 than in last year’s outlook. Much of the growth in oil consumption is projected for the nations of non-OECD Asia, where strong economic growth is expected. Non-OECD Asia (including China and India) accounts for 43 percent of the total increase in world oil use over the projection period. "

And the FAS:

"World Oil Demand and its Effect on Oil Prices"

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32530.pdf

[Fyron]

May 15th sounds like the perfect day to fill up.

[Renegade 13]

Best way to go (in my opinion) is to totally skip ethanol, which is utterly impractical, and go straight to hydrogen. If governments around the world pumped a few billion into developing hydrogen powered vehicles that were practical for everyday use, I bet we'd be driving them around in 5 years. Of course, you still need all the new infrastructure to support a hydrogen-based transportation system, and safeguards to make sure that everything doesn't go BOOM! every time there's a car crash, levelling the block! But hydrogen is practical, since hydrogen can be produced from 'clean' renewable energy sources (geothermal, tidal, hydroelectic, nuclear, etc) and would serve as the perfect fuel for vehicles.

The problem is, everyone is obsessed with ethanol at the moment which, if what I once read is correct, would supply only 1/3 of the US demand for fuel even if the entire arable land area of the US was given over to ethanol production. Also ethanol is having a very detrimental effect on agriculture. How you ask? Since more and more of the US corn production is given over to ethanol production, that corn isn't available to feed cattle, pigs, etc, thus making the price of producing cattle, pigs and all that go way up due to the shortage.

[Atrocities]

Many oil companies are diverting crude ear marked for the US market to other markets in order to drive up the prices here.