Energy Prices

[Sassy]

I thought this article had some pretty good solutions to some of our energy woes...

Possible solutions to high cost of fuel?

[Amanda_931]

I keep wondering if Ron Paul is related to an uncle-by-marriage.   Not my cousin, they didn't have boys.  His ideas are almost always worth think about.

That idea would be bad enough for us to swallow, it probably means giving up the idea of American Empire, the world's only super-power, and accepting that we can screw up as a nation, badly.  

I'm not sure it would work the way he thinks--loss of subsidies and more taxes  might drive Big Oil to Bermuda or Grand Cayman, leave the prices where they are, even without a federal gas tax--whose purpose at least at one stage was care and feeding of U.S. highways.

It also doesn't address the "addiction to oil."  We've been faced with the possibility of running out of oil since, I gather, the 1880's, more commonly since the first Club of Rome article.  As a result we've gotten so used to thinking that these warnings come from the boy who cried wolf, we refuse to pay attention.

Sooner or later the wolf will come.  Oil will peak.  Other countries will try to live like us.

There are things that petroleum products can do better than anything else.  Somewhere along the line we should accept this.  Driving for recreation--or to just go "shopping" is probably not a best use (I'm trying to break those habits--bicycling for recreation might help a lot!).  Then there's commuting.  Neither is having, say, coffeemakers so cheap that if one breaks it's cheaper to buy a new one and throw the old one out than try to find parts to fix it.  Especially when they are coming from half a world away.  

[Sassy]

Amanda, you bring up a lot of valid points... we, as Americans, HAVE been pretty spoiled - that's pretty bad when it is cheaper to throw something away, than to fix it!  Although, Glenn doesn't throw much away - at least not equipment wise -always seems to find a use or a part to use from one thing for another thing.  I am just as guilty as the next person in using resources.  I try not to drive more than I have to, but just the fact that it takes me an hour & half to drive to work in the valley, I stay at our place there for the days I work, but that is still a 1/2 hr commute each way... 4 more years & I'll be able to retire from that job & if I want or need to, can work locally.  

So you think Ron Paul may be a relative?  I don't know what other people think of him, but he is the only "politician" that I think makes any sense.  

I've been reading, lately, about some huge veins of oil shale, in Colorado, Wyoming & Utah.  Here's a link to Wikopedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale.  I've read other articles on it, but can't find those right now.  The oil companies weren't interested in this due to the costs involved when they could get cheap oil from other places.  I've also read that this might be a good investment...

I have a feeliing that life is really going to change for us in the next few years... we are just starting to feel it now but most of us can still go along our merry little ways...  :-/

[jraabe]

People near me are making interesting adaptations.

One neighbor just bought an E-bike. It is a regular pedal bike with a small electric "booster' motor. She uses it to run the mile to town for groceries or the post office. No oil used there...

Also, my neighborhood is doing more carpooling for trips to events, lectures and such. The oil crisis is actually bringing people together a bit more than before.

[glenn-k]

I did my part today.  I got my rear-end fixed.  That ought to get me a couple more miles to the gallon.  

[Amanda_931]

I think my short term goals will include leaving the vehicles where they are two days a week, getting my "I've got to go somewhere's" with the bicycle.  Came close last week!  I didn't leave my road, anyway.

I can always go look at the zebra.  Really.  It's not far and flatter than most destinations.

[Jimmy_Cason]

I did my part today.  I got my rear-end fixed.  That ought to get me a couple more miles to the gallon.  

It should give you at least 2 miles more per gallon!
If it is greased up real good!

[glenn-k]

Thanks, Jimmy.  I needed that.

I guess I should have mentioned that it was stuck in low and would no longer work at all if I tried to jam it in high.  It's a long hard drive when you gotta go that slow.  I was rather frustrated but I'm sure it was well lubricated -- and the mechanic did a wonderful job--now it works both ways.. :-/

[glenn-k]

Something new and inovative is being done about the internal combustion engine.  A new improvement to the Otto cycle.  This will increase efficiency and reduce emissions if and when implemented.

http://www.scuderigroup.com/technology/the_technology.html

[Amanda_931]

Some kind of crank-driven pre-heating supercharger?

(Might increase NO_x)

[glenn-k]

I guess it could be considered that in a way but it allows a much longer power stroke letting the fuel burn more efficently among other things.

[Amanda_931]

I'd just looked at the Scuderi group picture.  Never found the text.

But today Mark Fiore's animated cartoon is called "fill-er-up."

http://www.markfiore.com/animation/filler.html