OT: The price of Gas..

[Loser]

Hi, my name is Charlie and these are my Angels.

They work for me.
(saw this on a T-shirt recently. Wrong, wrong, wrong. But clever enough to repeat.)


Not all crazy people are prophets or visionaries. For example Manson's war, Helter Skelter, never happened. Which is good.

[ February 12, 2004, 19:04: Message edited by: Loser ]

[oleg]

Argue as much as you like but it is a proven fact that right now the ratio of newly discovered oil reserved to the oil consumed during that time period is 1:4 - it used to be 3:1 in 70s... The correct estimate may vary but even the most optimistic ones state it will take more energy to extract oil from future reservours then they contain.
Edited for many mistakes

[ February 12, 2004, 19:57: Message edited by: oleg ]

[Parasite]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
If you have the large amount of money to buy one, sure. You will save a lot more money by getting a normal car than one of those hybrids, as the (useful) hybrids are quite expensive.

True, Hybrids cost more than a Hugo or German Trabant, but they cost about as much as a normal American car. Less than half a standard SUV. I doubt you will save enough in gas to totally pay for it, but you will save something.

Useful depends on the person. If you have kids, go Offroading, or take multiple people in your car than the Insight is out. Used for commuting to work and normal driving, I think it is great.

[Kamog]

I just filled up my car today. I usually buy the 'regular' fuel, not the more expensive stuff with extra octane. The price was 72.9 cents per liter, so it cost me $35.00 to get 48.008 liters. I am happy to get that price, because the price was higher just a few days ago. But I remember a time when the price was about half of what it is today...

[solops]

I saw this when it was published in my society journal in October, 1980 to help educate people about oil and gas. For those who are interested:

The contents of a common barrel of crude:

Gasoline-------------- 46.2%
Fuel Oil-------------- 28.6%
Petrochemicals*----- 10.1%
Jet fuel--------------- 7.4%
Asphalt--------------- 4.0%
Kerosene------------- 2.1%
Lubricants----------- 1.6%

Petrochemicals include: pLastics, nylon, rayon, cosmetics, detergents, paint, drugs and tires.

Courtesy of the Society of Petroleum Engineers
Source: U.S. Bureau of Mines

[ February 18, 2004, 02:01: Message edited by: solops ]

[Cipher7071]

Imagine a chart showing the price of gasoline against time (months, years, whatever). This will be a squiggly, upward-moving line, or curve.
Now picture similar graphs for alternative technologies, superimposed on the first. While the prices for these technologies are currently higher than the price of gasoline, it is also true that the curves for the prices of these energy sources are flat, or even downward against time. When the economic situation is such the curves are about to intersect, we will find a very rapid transition to alternative energy sources.

[Wardad]

There is problem with that...
Oil/Gas is far superior to alternatives in such areas as: Energy Density per volume/weight, Safe handling, Distribution/Transportation, and Refueling ease/speed.

The Global Economy depends on the economies of scale.
Large scale resouce centers for lumber, food, minerals, and fibers depend on cheap transportation.
Large scale manufacturing centers depend on cheap transportation for recieving raw materials and delivery of goods.
Large scale retail centers (malls, big box stores, supermarkets) also depend on consumers with cheap transportation.
Large scale population centers depend on all the above three.

AND all of them use energy/oil while taking care of buisness.

A quick radical change in oil/energy prices will devastate the global economy. It would be difficult to prevent further collapse of society/population. (No nation is more than 3 meals away from a revolution). Reorganizing energy production/comsumtion without the energy to bootstrap the change could prove impossible.

Slowly rising prices would increase transportation costs, thereby causing large scale centers to be reduced in size and dispersed. This could result in lower production and higher costs overall. The farming and food distribution systems would sustain fewer people than before.