Gas prices and your response

[mbossman2]

did you notice that OPEC is "willing" to increase their overall production? Ever wonder why? I think its because the price of gasoline is approaching the area that investing in alternative fuel sources (which are, in the beginning, much more expensive than the incumbent fuel of choice) is now becoming a viable choice and this may signal the beginning of the end of oil dominated energy markets.

Vigo - lead was in gasoline to cut down on engine knocking, if you can find an old bottle of an anti-knocking product, that'll add lead back into the gasoline.

Krusader - nuclear power has pretty much been hammered (in the USA) as a form of energy. the environmental crowd has spun public opinion and gotten legislation passed that effectively prevents any new fission power plants from being built and brought on line.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally posted by Karnevil9 No, I haven't changed anything. Like OEM-Guy stated, we are still far better off than most countries, and it will come down again.

No, it probably won't. This is it: we are finally hitting the ceiling after years of warning.

OPEC said that they would raise their production quota by 2 million barrels a day, to 25.5 million barrels. Guess how much oil they are already pumping out per day? Over 26 million barrels a day. They are already now producing more than they say they will produce to ease gas prices. Every single OPEC nation is pumping as much oil as they possibly can already, above the quota. The only country with excess capacity is Saudi Arabia, which could pump an additional 1.5-2 million barrels of oil a day of needed.

This is why this time it is different from other oil price spikes. 20 years ago, there was 15 million barrels per day of excess pumping capacity in the world, meaning that any oil shocks in the 1980s were destined to be short-lived. Now, however, there is no excess capacity. And since the economies of India and China are booming, world oil demand is going up by 2 million barrels a day per year. Thus, by this time next year, even Saudi Arabia's excess capacity will be gone if nothing else changes.

Demand has caught up to supply and keeps increasing every year. Unless there is a huge economic downturn that reduces demand for oil, these high oil prices are probably what we will be dealing with for a long time.

[Confused]

Not me. Gas adjusted for inflation is still cheaper than it was during tight times in the past.

If this country doesn't open some land up for drilling along with building some new refineries things are only going to get worse. There hasn't been a new refinery bought online for over 28 years and we are running the ones we have at 95% capacity. That and with 28 different blends of gas being sold nationwide creates problems.

Here in Louisville (Jefferson county) we have to use RPG blend gas. Price is .05 to.07 cents more than Bullit county to the south.
Chas

[glc]

My old Taurus wagon died - and I replaced it with an old BMW with a 4 cylinder stick - so I get a lot better mileage. I don't go out of my way to cut down my driving, but I'm consciously more careful in my driving habits and I try to combine trips whenever possible. I've retarded the timing on the BMW so it doesn't ping too bad on 87 octane (which it's supposed to be able to run anyway), and I try to plan my trips to where I can get gas where it's cheapest in my area when I need it without piling on excess miles to get there. With 87 octane running anywhere between $1.97 and $2.29, this can make a difference. I suppose it's a psychological barrier - I just do not want to pay over $2.00 a gallon if I can help it. A customer of mine has a psychological barrier too - he's a lawyer and can afford anything - he drives a Tahoe - but he refuses to put more than $50 in the tank at a time.

[kittyfire]

Paying around $2.29 for 87 in Las Vegas. High test is over $2.50.

Everything is more expensive in Vegas, though. And it's hot, too. Damn desert.

[lil Jimmie]

I've missed a lot of work due to an injury with my back so I haven't been driving too much the past 2 months but it's $1.95 for 87 oct which is down from $1.97 2 days ago. It doesn't bother me, no tree hugger or opec will take my will to drive away.

[Hi Ho]

Krusader - nuclear power has pretty much been hammered (in the USA) as a form of energy. the environmental crowd has spun public opinion and gotten legislation passed that effectively prevents any new fission power plants from being built and brought on line.

True. However, there are how many nuclear power plants in the world? And how many have actually melted down? One. Nuclear energy is extremely clean unless something like Churnobel (sorry about spelling ) happens. It's too bad it has such a bad reputation. The same thing happened with hydrogen in the Hindenburg though it was recently proven that hydrogen was not the cause. They unknowingly coated the thing in rocket fuel and that's what acutally caused it.

[morriswindgate]

Remember that Chernobyl was caused by several things including shoddy USSR construction and materials problem, add then that the design was one not used anywhere else in the world, due to stability. It is no surprise the thing blew - up.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf31.htm

[charlie1]

Originally posted by Pentium-ant I was just about to say that think of us, the price to fill up over here is just stupid. PS i only passed my driving test yesterday so i am just happy to be able to drive

Well done on passing your test! but for now its going to cost you a packet to drive.

[Vigo]

Chernobyl was the only complete meltdown. Anyone remember the partial meltdown at 3-mile island? No one can deny power plants are a risk. You can argue whether its worth it or not.

"The same thing happened with hydrogen in the Hindenburg though it was recently proven that hydrogen was not the cause."

That doesn't make hydrogen any more stable when mixed with oxygen then it was then, and it doesnt make it less flammable or dangerous. The hindenberg was not the only hydrogen blimp to go up in flames.

Everything in life comes at a price. Whether its technology, comfort or security. Gasoline included (which is the topic).

[DougL]

apparently our Prime Minister has promised to review the predicted 4 cents per litre rise in September as announced in the last budget, i'll sleep better tonight knowing i'll still only be paying around $6 a gallon! needless to say i keep my car journeys to a minimum and use my motorbike.

[kittyfire]

Three Mile Island ring a bell with anyone?

Until "the powers that be" come up with some safe way to dispose... errr.. contain the waste for thousands of years till it's no longer hot, then I don't think it's a viable option.

Ever seen one of the contracts the government hands out for private companies to handle nuclear waste? They expect these companies to guarantee that the waste will be safe for 10,000 years. Now... the only way I can see them logically being able to do that is for us to have 10,000 years of history handling nuclear waste to know exactly how it's going to respond at each stage of the decontamination. Anything else is pure speculation. Guesswork. For all we know, spent fuel rods could turn into begonias after the first 4,000 years. Yeah, not bloody likely but there's not a soul who can guarantee it doesn't happen because we have never crossed that milestone yet.

Besides, what's the government going to do if those companies fail their guarantee? They store this stuff in concrete. No matter how thick they make it, there is still the possibility that the concrete won't be able to contain the waste that long. It may break down long before 10,000 years is up. Besides, do you know any companies that have been around 10,000 years? Forget that... anyone know any governments that have been around 10,000 years? If anything is breached in... say... the first 6,000 years, what's the government going to do? Sue?

Piffle.

I say let's go back to horses and have done with high gas prices and worrying about technology that has so many risks.

[Vigo]

Costs more to feed and maintain a horse these days then it does to maintain a car and fill it with gas!

[Karnevil9]

"No, it probably won't. This is it: we are finally hitting the ceiling after years of warning."

Doesn't matter though. While I still think it will come down, since most of our gas prices come from taxes not the cost of the fuel anyway, My main point was that paying this much more after 25 years is not really a that great a sacrifice

As far as the hydrogen debate goes. After the Hindenburg, hydrogen got a really bad rap. Like it was mentioned, they now believe that the cause of the fire was not the hydrogen. Even so, My understanding is Hydrogen is less dnagerous than gasoline. something like two thirds of the people on the hindenburg survived. Most of the ones that died, died from jumping out and the fall killed them. In the film you can see that many people just ran through the flames. I've heard that this is because hydrogen burns up and away when ignited.

[ajf815]

You could get a Toyota Prius like i we have and get 50/53 miles pr gallon. They also have a nice Fuel Cost Savings Calculator kinda nice might want to check it out. With the goverment right now you can get 1500$ back with taxes ends soon tho.

[willboy]

In my town for the lowest grade we pay $2.50-$3.00 a gallon and diesal is $2.45!!!

[mbossman2]

you have to remember when it comes ot nuclear power it is still a fairly "new" technology in the commericial sector. the legislative restraints on allowing it to grow as a power source also limits any kind of innovation and improvement in the technology, waste disposal etc.

I think that the future of energy production will revolve around the use of energy cells akin to what is used in the space program. the big problem will be in developing the distribution network for providing the key component.

[RayH]

Don't worry about any OPEC inceases, the price of gasoling isn't going to go down much. The Chinese are now world players in the energy consumption game!

[Vigo]

http://www.api.faa.gov/foreca00/actab22.pdf

Lets put things in perspective. Thats just U.S. civil aviation in millions of gallons. Tack on non-civil (military) aviation plus ground forces. (I wonder how a sherman compares to a civic as far as miles to the gallon). Plus the world's largest fuel guzzlers- naval craft. Military and non-military.

Add all that together and compare it to the 13 gallons a week my girlfriends geo prizm uses.

[mbossman2]

without civilian aviation gas supplies would increase to a certain extent but eliminating or curtailing their usage would have cause a 2 fold problem:

1) do considerable short to medium term damage to the economy: a good percentage of the 600,000 airline employees put out of work and then the ripple effect thru the various airline support companies etc)

2) The other is the shift of fuel consumption to other areas to make up for the loss of cargo capacity and "people" transportation may actually increase overall oil usage.

As to the military uses...well, I am not sure that you can eliminate those uses without even more serious geo-political repercussions. BTW an M-1 battle tank gets .6 miles per gallon (http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...d/m1-specs.htm)

[nooblark]

hah, my 71 camaro (not fully restored yet) is going to eat that lil 2$ per gallon right up, old engine type, but new so its pumping pure power.. im thinking maybe 10mpg

[CaptTuna]

One other thing, the cash flow of the company I work for had almost doubled due to crude prices. We are a marine fuel and oil distributor. Marine diesel is in the $1.08-$1.13 range, depending on the amount. Our average sale is 6000 gallons and some vessels take as much as 85,000 a shot. One facility sold over 6 million gallons last month. Now if only the boss would give me a raise I could buy gas for myself.