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Automotive News & Views How does gas at $4 and higher impact you?
2183 messages, Last post on Nov 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: gagrice (Aug 20, 2009 10:48 am) Didn’t his Highness the president say we were going to reduce our dependence on foreign Oil? Isn’t Brazil foreign? Or will we invade and take over the oil fields? This sounds a bit like the “not in our back yard” argument. If off shore drilling was bad what difference would the shore we were drilling off of make? Smoke and mirrors and political trickery. And best yet we the American tax payer once again get the fuzzy end of the sucker. Aren’t we going to have a cash for clunker Lear jets yet? If we use less gas the prices go up. If we use more gas the prices go up so just what difference does it make if we drive econo boxes or Luxo barges? No matter what they stick it to us. The excuse for high prices before was limited supply, turned out to be fertilizer. The excuse now will be over supply and decreased usage? Smells like more fertilizer. |
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Energy crisis is postponed as new gas rescues the world Engineers have performed their magic once again. The world is not going to run short of energy as soon as feared. America is not going to bleed its wealth importing fuel. Russia's grip on Europe's gas will weaken. Improvident Britain may avoid paralysing blackouts by mid-decade after all. The World Gas Conference in Buenos Aires last week was one of those events that shatter assumptions. Advances in technology for extracting gas from shale and methane beds have quickened dramatically, altering the global balance of energy faster than almost anybody expected. Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive, said proven natural gas reserves around the world have risen to 1.2 trillion barrels of oil equivalent, enough for 60 years' supply – and rising fast. "There has been a revolution in the gas fields of North America. Reserve estimates are rising sharply as technology unlocks unconventional resources," he said. This is almost unknown to the public, despite the efforts of Nick Grealy at "No Hot Air" who has been arguing for some time that Britain's shale reserves could replace declining North Sea output. Rune Bjornson from Norway's StatoilHydro said exploitable reserves are much greater than supposed just three years ago and may meet global gas needs for generations. More good news Anyone sorry they dumped their SUV for an econobox?
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 12, 2009 4:48 am) Gasoline, the stuff refined from oil, has dropped a whole nickel since its summer peak in my area, and now that we are officially at mid-October, I am a little miffed that it hasn't dropped below $3/gallon again (although it is close). |
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 12, 2009 4:48 am) Let's hope not. That was a good move, regardless. And Gary, "econobox" is really an outdated term. There are no "econoboxes" sold in the USA any more. Even the smallest of cars are safety tested and are not on the road "solely with economy in mind, with all other aspects being ignored, including lack of any luxury items" which is a good definition of "econobox." Most people today are too spoiled to buy a "completely no-frills" vehicle. Those cars are usually sold to frugal parents wanting to get their kids a "new first car" but not willing to spend a load of cash on it. I'm willing to bet there are very few people out there who traded a luxury-appointed SUV for a low-end, no options car merely for the sake of saving gas money. Plus, there is a separate topic for that: Are you happy you didn't sell your SUV?
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 12, 2009 4:48 am) I didn't do anything like that, but now that gas has gotten "cheap" again, I've made some not-exactly-economical choices. I drove up to PA last weekend for a car show, and again just this past Saturday. Normally, I'll drive my Intrepid, which can get 30 mpg on the highway without too much trouble. On a few occasions, I drove my uncle's '03 Corolla, but it's just too much of a torture-chamber econobox (sorry Larsb  ) for my tastes. And it's not really all that much more economical than my Intrepid. The one time I checked its fuel economy, I got 37.4 mpg. Sounds pretty good...until I mention that my Intrepid got around 32 on the same trip, same type of driving. Well, this past Saturday, I drove my '79 NY'er 5th Ave, and last weekend I drove my '76 LeMans. The LeMans got about 16.6 mpg. Haven't filled up the NYer yet, but it went about 230 miles round trip, and the gas gauge is still showing about half-full, so it might have done as well as 20. However, I didn't drive these guzzlers just to waste fuel. I had a lot of work put into the LeMans a couple months back, and haven't had a chance to take it on a good, long drive, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to test it out. And before Saturday, my poor, neglected NYer had only been driven about 39 miles, over the course of 3 months. So I figured it needed a good run to blow the cobwebs out. So hopefully that reasoning gets me a pass from the tree huggers. 
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Replying to: nippononly (Oct 12, 2009 6:47 am) Then we could convert the many millions of home-owners who use oil for heating to natural gas. (My new hybrid oil system is used not just for heat, but heating my water before it is stored in a water-tank). That heating oil could then be used as diesel, or to produce gasoline; increasing the supplies of automotive fuels.
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 12, 2009 9:23 am) Oh, well then, lower gasoline prices are just around the corner!
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 12, 2009 9:23 am) I averaged about 450 gallons of oil per year, so at $5.62 per gallon, I was looking at around $2500 per year just to heat the place! I knew the heat pump would make my electric bill go up, but I figured there's no way it would make it shoot up $2500 per year. However, with oil down to around $3.00 per gallon, well that's around $1350 per year. At that point, the savings is a bit more iffy. This past winter, I did have one electric bill that ran around $514 (our electric rates shot up...leave it to me to switch energy sources just as one drops and the other rises.  ) However, this has also been the coldest winter we've had in about 5 years, so if I was still on oil, I probably would've used more than my 450 gal/yr average. I probably made the best choice in the long run, but I was mentally kicking myself for awhile. Anyway, if nothing else, I freed up an average of 450 gallons of oil per year that can now be allocated elsewhere. |
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Replying to: nippononly (Oct 12, 2009 11:45 am) For example if natural gas production were to decrease each of the next 5-10 years what would people do for heat? Some would turn to coal, but for the cleanliness and ease factor many would convert and burn heating oil. In many ways energy is just one big pie-chart. And if we put a lot of windfarms in and produce relatively cheap electricity, then yes that does free-up oil for other uses such as diesel vehicles. Because energy demand keeps going up with population growth we need to use all forms of energy. |
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Replying to: nippononly (Oct 12, 2009 6:47 am)
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