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Gasoline isn't only fuel option
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You are absolutely right about the use of natural gas for other purposes. We have the same problem now with using our food supply to fuel our vehicles, causing food prices to skyrocket. If we diverted our natural gas supply to millions of cars, our heating bills would be out of control.
Use of our own petroleum supplies would decrease our dependence on foreign oil supplies, as well as using the cleanest, safest source of energy, which you mentioned, nuclear.
Life was great until the world's demand for oil exceeded its ability to produce it. Switching to CNG would alleviate that....until 50 years down the road we'd be back in the same boat we're in now. Same story with coal, propane, basically anything combustible. Combustibles are actually quite rare on earth - far less than 1% of the earth's mass is combustible. We need to get away from combustion.
Water, sunlight, wind, and heat are not finite resources. It's time for us to harness those things for ALL our energy needs, including transportation. We have a chance to be a bigger part of history than we realize.
Lead Acid Battery - 50 W-hr/kg
Nickle-metal Hydride - 110 W-hr/kg
Lithium-ion - 150 W-hr/kg
Gasoline - 12,722 W-hr/kg
Batteries are getting better, but still have a ways to go!
Independence from oil & finding anything alternative that will replace the BILLIONS of gallons used will never happen.
Who said batteries are the answer?
Do a little research and you'll find there are plenty of technologies out there that can store electrical power without batteries. And some of those technologies are more mature than you think - some you're already using and don't even know it! Widespread acceptance is the only hurdle that remains, really.
Complete independence from oil WILL happen - it has to. What don't you understand about the term "finite resource"? Either we will become 100% free from oil sooner (by choice) or later (by force).
The biggest hangup is redtape! When any group wants to build a new technology any where someone is always againt wherever it is or whatever it is. Change is painful and our gas prices amount to cruel and unusal punishment but so for most are still driving with gas and paying for it.
Lubrication does not require oil. Biological oils can be used for lubrication, and regular old motor oil can be made synthetically in large quantities (Germany fueled its war machine in WW2 almost entirely with synthetic oil). It won't happen in our lifetime, but sometime in the far future manking will be completely independent of oil that you drill out of the ground.
The first step is to get our passenger vehicles converted to electricity. Big rigs, heavy equipment, and machinery are next. After that, aircraft - yes, there WILL be electric aircraft propulsion in the future.
They also have such a low energy density that they don't make sense to use.
This is why the oil companies have made record profits not because of the price of gasoline.
Of course if the price of oil drops then all these alternatives will not be cost effective. Food prices would drop, gas prices would drop, transportation prices would drop so why dont the politicians in Washington take care of this situation? Because of political contributions of the oil companies to their re-ellection campaigns.
Because price controls ALWAYS lead to shortages.
"This is why the oil companies have made record profits not because of the price of gasoline."
Oil companies "record profits" are nothing compared to the margins that computer companies like Apple and Intel were making. And frankly, it's about time.
It amazes how when in the early 80s, when oil went to $10/barrel, nobody cared about oil companies or the thousands who lost jobs because of the oil bust. If it had been airlines having the problem, there would have been a flood of subsidy. Now that oil companies are finally making a decent profit, people act as if it were a sin or something.
The ONLY reason people complain about the price of petroleum now is because it was absurdly cheap for a long time. Last time I checked the vending machine, bottled water was still more expensive than gasoline. Why the complaining?
There are two reasons people are complaining about the cost of gas and not the cost of bottled water.
1, Bottled water is not a necessity. If the price of bottled water is too high, people will just drink out of the tap. But gas is a necessity. We all have to get to work, and for most of us public transportation is not an option, or uses just as much gas and therefore costs just as much.
2, we have no options besides buying gas. Cars don't run on applesauce, you know. When water gets too expensive, people always have the option of drinking juice, soda, etc.
The last thing this world needs is another oil apologist. Apparently we've got one here.
You are off by a factor of about 1000
According to the US Energy Information administration, the total US known recoverable oil reserves as of the end of 2006 were 20,972 million barrels. This is a roughly 1000 DAY supply for US consumption. Go ahead and look it up for yourself.
We are not producing domestic oil because we already did and it's almost gone. Environmentalists and Climate Change activists have almost nothing to do with it.
-lowonoil
Gasoline is not an entitlement. It is a commodity, produced at great expense, requiring billions of dollar's worth of infrastructure, thousands of highly educated scientists and engineers, tremendous financial risk, and, not to mention, the labor of tens of thousands of people that work very hard to feed their families, for whom the current boom is a godsend.
"The last thing this world needs is another oil apologist. Apparently we've got one here."
An "oil apologist"? As a geologist I do know a little about the industry. And how markets work.
I'm glad that you as a geologist know a little about the industry. As an engineer I also know a little about the industry, and what a crock it is, and that fortunately we won't have to deal with it for much longer, as far as personal transportation is concerned.
I used oil in my commute this morning, but when I bought it last night I didn't do so while holding a grudge to the oil companies or to anyone else (not even the gov't which makes a larger profit on oil than anyone), though I did buy the cheapest available.
"As an engineer I also know a little about the industry, and what a crock it is, and that fortunately we won't have to deal with it for much longer, as far as personal transportation is concerned."
As an engineer I trust you will stop complaining and instead get right on developing a new, cheaper, and practical means of vehicle propulsion. Since nobody has done that yet, it's probably harder than it looks.
Who says I'm not?
"Since nobody has done that yet, it's probably harder than it looks."
Actually no. According to something somebody posted last week, cars that run on compressed air will be available in the U.S. in 2010. Tick tock tick tock, G......your oil career isn't far from going belly up.
Actually no. According to something somebody posted last week, cars that run on compressed air will be available in the U.S. in 2010."
Compressed air. Interesting.
What energy source are you going to run the compressors on?
"Tick tock tick tock, G......your oil career isn't far from going belly up."
I'm in the environmental sector actually. But I'm not worried about my fellow professionals in the petroleum sector. They'll be doing just fine for a long time to come. Even if you replace oil as an energy source, there's still that little matter of it being the raw material that essentially forms the basis of our modern society. Drugs, agrochemicals, pavement, lubricants, there will still be a need for it.
"Who says I'm not?"
If you're getting your information on alternative fuels from "something somebody posted here last week" I have my doubts. If I'm wrong, good luck to you nonetheless. I enjoy travel as much as everyone else. But the facts remain that people are angry about the cost of oil because they've been spoiled by big cars and years of undervalued oil. Nobody forced Americans to choose to drive hummers or live 50 miles from work.
Well according to something somebody posted right here this afternoon, we have 250 to 750 years of oil left. So why should we care about stupid compressed air cars?
Those who are fond of their delusions will always find someone to re-enforce them on the internets.
Scarce and expensive fuel is the reality. The cheap and abundant stuff of the last century, that was the fantasy. You will be very disappointed if you are waiting for things to go back to the way they were.
And by the way who does the oil belong to anyway. It belongs to the government. The oil companies just have leases to get the oil. The only reason the alternative fuel sources are even being talked or explored now is because the cost of oil is so high.
G must own oil stocks.
Did he stop to think that a person making minimum wage now spends 2 hours of wages a day just to get to work. That leaves 30.00 for their family to live on.
We have some 200 years worth of coal. We need to learn how to gasify it and sequester CO2.
Tell us, how does one burn water?
There are some theories that oil does not come from dead plants and animals. Developing...
As I told you: price control ALWAYS leads to shortage. It is an axiom of economics.
"If the government set prices and prohibited the selling of U.S. oil outside the country this would help take care of the shortages of fuel in the U.S.."
No it wouldn't, since the US is a net importer of oil. It might encourage other countries to sell less to us, though.
"Did he stop to think that a person making minimum wage now spends 2 hours of wages a day just to get to work. That leaves 30.00 for their family to live on."
It doesn't matter what you or I think. Nobody can just snap their fingers and make enough oil to cover all demand. We cannot. It is beyond human control.
If gas is too expensive, don't buy it. When production doesn't increase, a slack in the demand is the only thing that can drive down prices. If a person can't afford gas, that person should live closer to work, drive a more efficient car, or use public transport.
But bottled water won't work in the gas tank nearly as well as gas.
But where does one get the compressed air? I suppose one could use a hand air-pump.
But bottled water won't work in the gas tank nearly as well as gas."
Yeah, but have you ever tried drinking gas? DON'T!
A slack in demand more than likely means a slack in production. OPEC tries to maintain a balance between production and world demand so as to keep the price where they want it. It took awhile, but they finally figured out how to maximize profits.
In other words, we can cut back all we want but OPEC will just cut production to match it.
Too late. I "drank" some trying to siphon.
Try that using anything but gasoline or diesel!
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Problem is if everyone starts to do this, the cost will go up.
One way to prevent this is to recognize that natural gas currently is used to make electricity. If we would get more other sources, including nuclear, then we would have enough to supply us with all of our automobile needs.