Lots of Jobs and Less Than $1 Per Gallon Gasoline

Discussion in 'Economics' started by libertad, Aug 30, 2008.

  1. realizing that corn-ethanol cost more BTUs to produce than gasoline-equivalent BTUs that it supposedly replaces, the FARMER'S LOBBY shoves a corn-ethanol bill through their lackey Senators & Congressmen and Country A is worse-off than before as now both energy & corn are more expensive... but farmers, Big Oil, and lackey reps are still happy, which is whats really important.
     
    #11     Aug 31, 2008
  2. Nat Gas vehicles are not the answer. What people forget is that natural gas is a limited resource, the current supply infrastructure is unable to support a signficant shift from gasoline to natural gas. It would also cause natural gas prices to skyrocket and negate most of the positive economic effects from switching.

    The best answer to high gas prices is conservation and public transportation. But the public transportation in most US cities is horrid and will stay that way for the unseeable future. And people hate buses and subways are economically infeasible in most cities.
     
    #12     Aug 31, 2008
  3. pt199

    pt199

    Can anyone comment on the compressed air powered car that is being built in India? I have read it gets about a 100 miles on a $2 charge of high pressure compressed air.
     
    #13     Aug 31, 2008
  4. Only girls will drive Tata's.

    My favorite is BioDiesel
    Corn, Soy, Palm, Canola
    just take out the glycerin and wahla...
     
    #14     Aug 31, 2008
  5. What exactly is Big Oil :confused: :confused:
     
    #15     Aug 31, 2008
  6. National oil companies.
    [​IMG]
    But we like to call XOM, RDS.A, VLO, MRO, CVX, and the like "big oil" around these parts.
     
    #16     Sep 1, 2008
  7. The best answer I've seen so far is to make fuel from algae. One acre of algae can produce over 10,000 gal/year as compared as compared to corn which can only produce 18 gal/year per acre. An area of about 100 miles by 100 miles can produce enough fuel for all the United States.

    Oil from algae can be made to be fed directly into existing oil refineries.

    When oil from algae burns, it produces CO2 but that same amount or even more CO2 is consumed by the algae grown to produce the oil again. You can farm algae on the exhaust of a coal fired electric plant and it will use up 90 percent of the CO2 on the exhaust. Thus you've solved the problem of global warming at the same time.

    The only thing holding fuel from algae back right now is the expense. I think it costs around $200 a barrel to produce the fuel. There is a lot of research going on right now that will make it less expensive.

    Another promising solution is new electric battery technology. A company called Eestor is making a new capacitor battery that has about ten times the storage capacity of lead acid batteries. The batteries can be charged in minutes.

    The American public would be far better served if their government would pursue alternative energy rather than chase the last drops of oil with expensive wars all around the world.

    At the start of the second world war the American government knew they needed to develop the atomic bomb if they wanted to make sure that they came out on top. They didn't know for sure which avenue to follow to produce the bomb so they pursued several of them all at once. Here the end of oil and and the trade defecit pose an even bigger threat to the USA. The USA needs to put genuine effort towards finding alternative energy if they want to survive. Nobody knows at this stage of the game which kind of alternative energy will work the best. They need to research all of them at once.
     
    #17     Sep 1, 2008
  8. The major issue at hand is transition time and keeping the money within the US.....

    The transition time differs greatly.... could be 20 years apart, etc...for...

    Algae
    Batteries
    Wind
    Nat Gas
    More oil
    Ethanols
    Solar
    Hydrogen
    Other alternatives

    ...........................................................................................

    $700 Billion leaving the US means a lot more than $700 Billion
    leaving the US....

    Time means money.....A $1 in savings in the US is not a $1.....When a $1 is deposited in a bank, it is levered multiple times....Thus when $700 Billion leaves, several $Trillion in US Buying Power leaves.....If the transition time to some form of relief takes 10 years, then what actually leaves is several $Trillion each year.....

    What would the US be like if it lost $70 Trillion in buying power in less than 10 years? Given the negative baby boomer demographics, amongst other impending issues ?
    .................................................................................................

    Since time is of the essence......and if there are known solutions that are not as ideal as other solutions, however the solutions at hand will stop the bleeding such that the patient does not die, they should be utilized.....

    If this means nat gas to first replace heavy weight transportation, namely big trucks.....in the name of more stable supplies and thus a more stable economy, this is a good thing.....

    Second should be cars, etc...
    ........................................................................................................

    Where the US needs to go is to be an energy exporter.....not an energy importer......

    Whatever it takes, this is where the US must go.......
    ......................................................................................................

    The bleeding of big money must be stopped, period.....
    .................................................................................................

    You know the name of this money issue has the label oil.....but money is money....the economy is the economy........Money of this magnitude leaving the US must be rectified....no matter what its label.....
     
    #18     Sep 1, 2008
  9. #19     Sep 1, 2008
  10. piezoe

    piezoe

    Pickens push is an outstandingly good idea! Makes infinitely more sense than ethanol from corn! (Ethanol from sugar cane OK, but please, from corn makes no sense whatsoever unless you're a Senator from the US midwest.

    Advantages of NG cars:

    1. Only minimal conversion needed to run NG. Even existing cars can be easily converted.
    2. Very low emissions (except CO2 is same) compared to burning gasoline.
    3. Longer engine life, cleaner burning.
    4. Range can be the same as for gasoline but somewhat more storage space for liquified NG is required than for gasoline to get same range as power density of NG is a little less than for Gasoline.
    5. NG available virtually everywhere via existing NG pipeline.
    6. Existing network of Gas stations easily converted to supply compressed NG via hookup to NG pipelines and addition of compression equipment. With a national initiative, this could be accomplished in a surprisingly short time.
    7. There is lots of NG.
    8. Dependence on foreign oil would be very significantly reduced by switching to NG.
    9. As Pickens has pointed out, the switch to NG can give us the time needed to develop alternatives such as hydrogen and electric powered cars.

    Pickens is a genius. Sometimes the obvious is right in front of our eyes, but we fail to see it anyway.
    Obama & Pickens in '08!

    P.S. Why am i wasting my Labor Day here on ET? Because i'ts raining like hell here on the Northeast quadrant of Gustav and i'm waiting for Mr. Gustav to move on over to Crawford and hopefully blow the whole damn Bush complex to smithereens.
     
    #20     Sep 1, 2008