Kicking the can down the road is exactly what got us where we are today. And more drilling will mean nothing. That oil will go to the highest bidder and that ain't US.
Whats your opinion of the GM volt electric car?
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got a better suggestion? wait til gas is 10 bucks a gallon? then what? you have to have an ECONOMY to make anything work, we currently do not have one. until we again have cheap energy we will not have one, you want electric cars, great, so do i. but im not willing to sit here and think if i wish hard enough it will just happen. we have to transition. had you actually read through my post you would see that im not suggesting "just drill baby drill" but drill we must, if not now then later and if later we will not have progressed towards anything. a large if not the largest percentage of oil in the us is under public lands, that means the government is the owner and can set the rules for whats removed from there.
Mike, we are exporting petroleum distillates. America is using less gasoline, so the oil cos. are selling to Europe and Asia. If we drill more, more goes overseas. Why is turning the US into a third world nation a good thing? Isn't it better to keep our -finite- reserves for when we need them?
We visited Norway last year and rented a car to get around. Gas was $9 per gallon. This puzzled me given that Norway has pretty well developed oil resources. I asked about it and as near as I could tell much of the oil revenue was going into a fund that would be used for the benefit of future generations, and not to lower short term gas prices -- pretty amazing.
$9 a gallon gas did not seem to effect things much. You very rarely saw pickups or SUVs, but there were certainly plenty of cars and people driving them.
The develop every fossil fuel resource on the planet only works if you don't think that CO2 caused climate change is a real issue -- otherwise, we need to reduce fossil fuel use -- a lot.
Gary
Like many others, Norway's oil fields are in decline now. They are taking the prudent course by reducing consumption.
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They've always been on a prudent course. Oil has never been a political football and the revenue generated from it has been hands off for both sides. When the oil is gone they'll have a stack of cash still producing. They're the model for sovereign wealth fund. They will actually exclude a company from the fund (over $500 billion for a country with 4.7 million people) for ethical reasons. Yeah, that's awesome. Compare that to America who boasts over $47,000 per capita debt, greater than Greece, Ireland, Spain or Portugal.
Vikings are cool.
My suggestion? Buy! I am waiting to hear back from the dealer on the status of the "credit".
As to not having an economy, how does one respond to such a comment? We do indeed have an economy, a poor one, but there is one.
Sales of american built cars improve the economy more than sales of foriegn cars (even those built here), but that is a different topic.
There is no reason to think that the price of oil will go lower, don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
The low hanging fruit, at this point is electric cars.
Thats right BG ,but when you talk about "peak oil" people act like your some kind of conspiracy theorist. There WILL be major price swings going the other side of the oil curve,how bad will depend on how prepared we are,in other words how many of us will be driving NG or electric cars.
THe volt is not AHEAD of its time but, IMO 10 years behind ,the EV1 should NEVER have been scrapped.
I'm not talking peak oil, just the facts mam. Besides the North Sea, many of the world's oil fields are in decline. And in other areas like Saudi Arabia they have decided they need to use their oil to improve social conditions (electricity, factories, desalinization) before they have a revolt on their hands. Draw your own conclusions.
What you describe is actually already going down the other side of peak oil,which is the point where demand starts to exceed supply and when old fields are declining faster than new oil is being found.
Hmmm. Reminds me of the warnings circulated about the Prius when it came out 10 years ago.
Maybe if we'd have had some leadership with some vision then, Americans would have built those 2 million plus "bricks" instead of the Japanese.
buy what? once again you didnt read my post, i need a truck not a car. as for my "not having an economy" it was meant as "we do not have a strong economy" sorry you didnt seem to grasp the sarcasm there , didnt expect it to be so far over your head. so, i will be buying but wont be a volt though cause its not a truck and no electric plug in truck seems to be available. if it makes you feel better i am looking at gas milage as one of the features i am paying close attention to cause i happen to believe what candidate obama said back in 08 as to wanting gas prices to rise, chu, his energy sec wants gas to be on par with the prices in europe cause he thinks that it will force people to start looking at mass transit such as they have in europe, theres a reason europes mass transit system works well for them, and that reason is the very reason it will not here, we're too spread out, they arent they are all clustered together. mass transit is great in NYC or boston and the like, but how well do ya think its gonna play in wyoming?
quite simply put, i believe electric cars are going to be the standard eventually, the better the existing economy works , the sooner we will get there, the current economy runs at its best on cheap oil. without it the economy stagnates, it is what it is, its not gonna change in a healthy way on demand, but it will if its given the time to do so with the proper leadership. and the tools with which to do it
Try as you may play the blame game, the President doesn't have a lot of control here and a rhetorical comment doesn't make it action. But the numbers do speak of what is happening. We are selling gasoline and diesel to the highest bidder and currently that is not US. Mexico is running out of oil and they are willing to pay us for distillates cuz the transport charges are the lowest. Hear that giant sucking sound?
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I do hear you on the truck and think you will be seeing progress there. You are not alone. However, with current battery technology an electric truck is only going to be reasonable if your range is say within 50 miles round trip. If you need greater range the best option may end up being a hybrid diesel for now. Do you have to have a truck daily, weekly or monthly for your work?
I do hear you on the truck and think you will be seeing progress there. You are not alone. However, with current battery technology an electric truck is only going to be reasonable if your range is say within 50 miles round trip. If you need greater range the best option may end up being a hybrid diesel for now. Do you have to have a truck daily, weekly or monthly for your work?
Mike, look into a cng truck. That stuff is cheap for the moment, quite green, and also part of the energy bridge to the future.
As to electric trucks, yes I think there is a huge market, especialy for small heavy duty commercial trucks, but clearly market acceptance is not there yet.
After commuting vehicles, small commercial trucks must surely consume a large share of petrol.
Oh, and take a breath now and then.
As to electric trucks, yes I think there is a huge market, especialy for small heavy duty commercial trucks, but clearly market acceptance is not there yet.
After commuting vehicles, small commercial trucks must surely consume a large share of petrol.
Oh, and take a breath now and then.
Ford electrified the Ranger and Chevy had an electric S10. Both were viable designs that could benefit from a boost of modern technology.
I need a truck as well. I use one Daily ,my current truck gets about 10 miles to the gallon. But i only need a HD truck like that about once or twice a month. The " OLD TECH" electric would do me just fine. 40 miles is plenty of range on good old lead acid deep cycle batteries. Ill probably end up with a 90s ford ranger electric or an s10 electric if i can find one. Not cost effective(at this point)to spend $30K-$40K on a new electric pickup.
Rangers are still a very popular DIY conversion. There are kits available, so that it becomes an R and R job, with very little fabrication, with the exception of battery racks.
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/
Only reason i dont already have a VOLT in the garage is i dont have much use for a 4 passenger small sedan.
I have a 94 Ford Ranger that will get about 30mpg on the highway, 25mpg local driving. Brakes and suspension have been beefed up. It has done a lot of hauling. I don't push it hard, just take it slow and easy. If I need a bigger truck, I'll rent it. But that has only happened a couple times in the past several years.
Is that a standard shift? That impressive MPG. I cant use a Stick anymore cuz the knees are givin out.
Yes, standard 5 spd with overdrive in 5th. I think the new Chevys Colorados and Toyota Tacomas are getting about 25mpg hwy.
I had a 99 tacoma that didnt do much better(mpg) than my 2500 4x4 HD ext cab silverado, so i wont be going that route again. This time id really like to go "gas free" altogether.
Id be perfectly happy with a 90s electric truck but right now i dont have time to restore one,so unless i find one ready to drive, ill be on the sideline for awhile longer.
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