I agree...it's $5/gal here...I think we might see $20/gal in the next 20 years....oh I can't wait!...D
gas at $20/gallon
- Thread starter Toshi
- Start date
Jeez. Where are you? The lowest here is 2.82 and the highest is 3.09
Huntsville, TX... Only and hour and half from the 75% of the refinaries in the state...
Hey Toshi have you been hearing about this?....D
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=33640c59-147b-4f7b-9458-661404188828
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=33640c59-147b-4f7b-9458-661404188828
i get a lot of odd glances when i'm out tooling around on the police bike so i can imagine what it would be like if i rode a skateboard to work. people, especially the usually rigid personalities in my profession, just don't understand how someone could ride to work when they have a perfectly good car in the driveway.
i asked one of the assistant chief's what i could do to stow my gear if i started commuting on a sport bike again and he said that we'll eventually be getting a new building and it'll have enough lockers for everyone. currently, we have about 10 gym sized lockers in the well...gym and we're not allowed to put locks on them because there aren't enough for everyone. it pretty much blows but it doesn't matter anymore for me because, now that i'm on swat, i get to take my car home outside of the city.
I just saw the article again - he commuted on a BMX bike, I don't know where I got skateboard from
i get a lot of odd glances when i'm out tooling around on the police bike so i can imagine what it would be like if i rode a skateboard to work. people, especially the usually rigid personalities in my profession, just don't understand how someone could ride to work when they have a perfectly good car in the driveway.
i asked one of the assistant chief's what i could do to stow my gear if i started commuting on a sport bike again and he said that we'll eventually be getting a new building and it'll have enough lockers for everyone. currently, we have about 10 gym sized lockers in the well...gym and we're not allowed to put locks on them because there aren't enough for everyone. it pretty much blows but it doesn't matter anymore for me because, now that i'm on swat, i get to take my car home outside of the city.
Enter the year 1687.
Good. Especially since the taxes will go to alternatives, which would reduce demand and lower prices.
Hopefully, but in the meantime we'll see a decent spike in prices, IMO.
It will get vetoed.
I'd like to see the ethanol section removed. Ethanol is a very inefficient way to produce energey, at least from corn the way we do it in this country. We are already seeing significantly higher food prices because of this. Of course the corn lobby loves it. Biofuels need to be generated from bio waste, not food sources.
or cellulose.
i agree...making fuel from food is a losing proposition. but the iowa corn farmers are buying hummers now.
The plant they built here is using rejected (not food grade) corn. In Brazil they use sugar cane, but Idaho doesn't have the climate for that yet, maybe in a few more years it will.
Ethanol is not as efficient, but it can be produced cheaply and be run in most modern cars with only minor changes. Once I buy a new motorcycle this year, I am converting it. My next truck will be either flex fuel, or bio-diesel. I would prefer diesel, but it depends on the truck.
National Geographic had a good article on this issue fairly recently and ethanol from corn was basically a losing proposition WRT energy. It commented that sugar cane was a good crop and others such as algae and switchgrass were promising...
I personally wouldn't encourage the "FlexFuel" nonsense. Ethanol from corn should be discouraged, IMO.
i've seen a 10% drop in my gas mileage using Ethanol.. whats the point if i have to use more to get the same output?
and rice fields.. gotta grow da mudbug someplace!
Other sources are more efficient but again we shouldn't be growing crops just for biofuel. Creating more farmland no matter the crop isn't good IMO. We need to look at not just net energy output but output per acre. I've read that algae is the most promising. It has high energy yields and can be produced in a captive environment so little water is lost in the process and it is best grown in sunny arid areas where little else grows. Of course we don't have an existing algae industry or an algae lobby so it is slow to develop.
I know Hawaii grows some...
I have spent 36+ months in SW Asia. I'm now divorced, lost 3 years of MTBing, and I'm still freaking paying a crapload to fill my jeep. AHHH!
MidEast/Iraq?
Exept it took .6-.7 gallons of gasoline to make that gallon of ethanol. Why do you think the Bush admin supports ethanol? If you look at the net energy gained from a 10% ethanol gas blend the result is worse than pure gas. The only advantage is to air quality.
His estimate is for CURRENT ethanol production using corn.
Good stuff but I doubt the majority of the government ethanol $$ is going to guys like him. We don't need government subsidies when energy is expensive but when it is cheap. There have been so many technologies that have been dropped during developement every time energy became cheap again. I think it is safe to say expensive fuel is here to stay. If it does drop again that is when we need to spend federal funds on alternative energy.
Good stuff but I doubt the majority of the government ethanol $$ is going to guys like him. We don't need government subsidies when energy is expensive but when it is cheap. There have been so many technologies that have been dropped during development every time energy became cheap again. I think it is safe to say expensive fuel is here to stay. If it does drop again that is when we need to spend federal funds on alternative energy and it should never really go to a specific technology. Let the results determine what is successful and not the lobbyists.
I agree with that. I'm not looking for cheap, I'm looking for renewable. Cheap is relative, but emissions and sustainability are where I am looking.
The nice thing about both bio-diesel and flex fuel e85 is the ability to run fossil fuel if needed as well. If it costs me less than $500 to convert both my vehicles to run either, then to me it's money well spent.
Efficiency and reduction of demand is also extremely important, moreso than renewable if you aske me. If every acre of corn we grew was turned into ethanol it would only supply 12% of our gasoline needs. Even if we can produce it more efficiently from waste products we still will not have the raw materials to fill our needs.
That's why I don't commute in a car/truck, I use public transportation, and I walk around town rather than hop in the car to run to the corner.
Can I do more? Yes, I can. Does the little crap I do help anyone else? I doubt it. Do I feel good about doing what little I can to help? Yes, I do.
My first step was reduction. I have cut my fuel consumption by more than half over the last year. I will continue to cut my consumption when and where I can, too. So the next logical step is fuel alternatives. I have access to B25 commercial and B100 home made. I also have retail e85 available near my house. So those are the logical alternatives at this point.
So would I save any money? I doubt it, but that's not the reason I am doing it.
I have no access to public transportation or alternative fuels. About the only thing I can do is not go home for lunch but I need to get out of this place to stay sane. But only about 30% of energy needs are from transportation. The rest is in electricity/heating and from the products we buy. I've made a serious effort and investment into making my house more efficient, I keep the thermistat down and I don't really buy anything. I've cut my electricity usage by about 30% compared to 2 years ago.
I would like to make my home more efficient, but it's a rental. If we end up buying it, I have a laundry list of stuff I want to do. I have done the basics, but our house is older, so the insulation sucks, the windows are leaky, and the appliances are dated. If we end up building, it will be planned efficient to begin with.
My brother-in-law spent $35k to convert his house to solar for heating and electricity. He's something like 80% self sufficient and says it will be a while before it's paid for itself, but it is nice.
Portland is graced with awesome public transportation as well as being the most bike friendly city in the US. I've done what I can to reduce the emissions on my current motorcycle and my next bike will be better than that.
Interesting:
I just got an email from a guy I went to high school with. He made a film www.gasholemovie.com that looks interesting.
I just got an email from a guy I went to high school with. He made a film www.gasholemovie.com that looks interesting.
i hadn't heard about quebec or canada's plans. kudos. the u.s. needs something like this, but politicians are too hamstrung and/or on the dole to get anything done.
that looks like an awesome bill! i hope it passes.
fromthearticle said:
That bill got through the House but is stuck in the Senate with GOP planning to filibuster until Dems put the tax cuts for oil co's back in.
In other news my home electricity bill dropped to about $70/mo after going to CF bulbs. And I run computers and my TV most of the time that I'm home, and aquarium pumps all of the time. I'd like to do solar but it's a rental and there's never any sun here.
In other news my home electricity bill dropped to about $70/mo after going to CF bulbs. And I run computers and my TV most of the time that I'm home, and aquarium pumps all of the time. I'd like to do solar but it's a rental and there's never any sun here.