*POLL* Economy sucks, but at least gas is cheaper...

[FaaidDeOiad]

Let's face it, the economy is pitiful. My savings is dwindling, family members are losing retirement money, investments are going *poof*. But on the bright side, gas prices are nice and low.

Remember when they were like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvE_exlDC2Y

Would be nice if they stayed low, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it fly back up once the economy recovers.

Didn't someone once say high oil and gas pricing was a contributer to the crash?
Anyone else know someone who lately looks at gas at $1.89 a gallon and they still say "that's expensive?" Are you f-ing kidding me?! Remember last year, jackass?

Anyway, I'm just blabbering on. Anyone else have an opinion?

night. Good luck on your game creations!

 

[Venetia]

The oil crisis was caused by corrupt folks in energy futures. Put very simply, they were making predictions on gas prices not based on any conjecture but greed. They were given countless bribes to keep driving oil costs through the roof. They are no longer in that position, so in the next few years, it is unlikely to spike far above $2/gal.

However, we may see oil increase in price in the coming 30 years, as oil itself becomes more and more scarce. Unless we find cheap alternatives.

 

[Ellie]

Gas is $2 a gallon in the USA.

Round here you're talking $6.61 a gallon, which is quite cheap at the moment (a couple of years back we were seeing $10-$12 a gallon round by my place).

It would be crazy to think oil prices won't go up as even if it's gonna take a while, oil isn't growing, it's diminishing. The only way is up, baby.

 

[SephirothSpawn]

The fact we still use oil to get from point a to point b just makes me sad.

Computers even top end are absolute in months. Even phones get bigger and better every month. New gaming consoles come out every 4-5 years that are drastic improvements over the previous. In twenty years, we have come from corded-square remotes to motion censor wireless remotes. Calculators that add and subtract went from huge mainframes too pocket size that can graph calculus equations. We can stick a nuke up someone's ass from across the globe. Every industry out there has come so far.

In 80 some years, we are stuck. I charge my phone less often then fill my tank. Ford would be rolling over in his grave saying "Evolve people" if he only knew. Cars are good up to 5-10 years before they are truthfully obsolete (assuming damages were minimal). Gas millage only improves a few miles to the gallon. I guess it's more important to make a car luxurious then it is to put some decent energy power behind it.

There is no excuse to why we are still using oil. None. There are millions of people out there with the tech knowledge to change this. So why aren't we? We have a kajillion watt lightbulb providing enough energy for everything on this planet. That's not to mention wind energy and *gasp* chemical energy that isn't a combustible engine. I find it extremely hard to believe that video games are so much easier to evolve then a battery. I know someone out there owns a patent out there for a battery that will power my psp for the next year or two.

America alone:

Before the war, White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsay estimated the cost at $100 to $200 billion. So the White House got rid of him and "re-estimated" the cost at $50 to $60 billion. It's now over $500 billion.

If the war had ended 4 years ago with Saddams capture, that would have left america with close to 400 billion extra in beer money to spend. There are approx. 300 million americans. The average household/family size is 2-4 people. That's 75-150 million households. That's about 3-$5,000 that could have went to each family to buy even a hybrid from war funds alone. During those extra 4 years, we arguably blew enough money to get probably close to 90% of americans half/third-way (assuming the actual cost to make a hybrid is 10-15,000 and the government would take care of the sales cut) to a car that got 2-3 times the gas mileage. So instead of paying approx. $20-40 a week, costing the average driver over 1000-2000 a year, they would have had an extra $500-1400 to put back into the market. Multiple that by 75-150 million households, that's about 35-200 billion a year extra, that could have been put back into the market. That doesn't include the effect of 2-3 times the supply of gas that would drop, effecting its demand, effecting its price, which arguably effects the price of most service and product markets (grocery stores or anything that requires a semi to move).

Now my political science isn't the greatest, so all of this may be on the extreme side or very incorrect, but this seems logical to me. Then again, it's 3am and I have been working for the last 17 hours, and probably rambled quite a bit, so it's time for bed for me. My biggest point is that transportation needs to keep up with Nintendo and evolve.

 

[Ellie]

Hybrid cars still rely on petrol and in a test Top Gear did, a BMW did more MPG at 40 mph than a Toyota Prius.

You need actual electric cars like the Tesla Roadster - faster and more manouverable than a Lotus Elise, styled like one (i.e. doesn't look like a joke like most electrics) and it runs for something like 200 hours off one charge.

 

[Stardust]

I was once saw a chain video about a guy who had created a car that ran off water. Some company (99.99% chance it was a gas or oil company) bought the patent and tucked it away.

As long as gas and oil companies have money, there won't be a change. Our system is horribly corrupt and I think it'll get to the point of mass uprising before the politicians will do anything about it. And gas and oil prices will go up and up and up and up and up and there isn't shit we can do about it because we need the gas to get places and we need the oil for heating our homes.

In my opinion, fighting for better public transportation would work significantly better than trying to switch to other sources of power instantly. With public transportation, the gas and oil companies will lose business, which will take away some of their money and power. Then, they won't be able to persuade politicians to stop laws requiring different types of energy.

 

[Venetia]

You're not seeing the big picture, oil isn't used only for cars. In fact, only an estimated 44% is used for automobile gasoline.
Your also looking at diesel fuel (trucks, buses), heating oil, propane, jet fuel, residual fuel (powering factories and lg. ships), asphalt (yes its made from crude oil), bunker fuel, fertilizers/pesticides, plastics, synthetic rubber, fertilizers/pesticides, dyes, paint, detergent, photographic film, food additives (canned food), medicine, synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon, acrylic), make-up, candles ..........

And it will run out in approx. 2030-2050, from estimates based on current consumption.

So enjoy civilization while it lasts ~
(Or else hope that someone starts manufacturing a cheaper source of energy commercially real fucking quick!)

 

[JoshieBoy]

Or are they just sucking every last penny they can out of the oil? They know it will run out, (unless they are really REALLY ignorant.) and they probably know how to remedy that, but maybe they are just sucking all of the money they can out of it before putting the alternative on the market. I have never owned a car, so I haven't really studied up on the oil crisis.

 

[SephirothSpawn]

Like Ven said, it's a natural resource and has a ton of other uses. Once it's gone, then what?

They were suppose to be working on a car that did run off water. Using that generated enough energy to power a car. You charged a battery and I believe that car would run up to six hours. It was great because it would only burn off the hydrogen and 02 right back into the atmosphere, so it's not like we would ever run out. Last I read, they said they couldn't put it into mass production because our "technology was not advanced enough for this."

Hydrogen fuel cells seems to look very good but they haven't really developed this to be cost productive.

Costs. In 2002, typical cells had a catalyst content of US$1000 per kilowatt of electric power output. In 2008 UTC Power has 400kw Fuel cells for $1,000,000 per 400kW installed costs. The goal is to reduce the cost in order to compete with current market technologies including gasoline internal combustion engines. Many companies are working on techniques to reduce cost in a variety of ways including reducing the amount of platinum needed in each individual cell. Ballard Power Systems have experiments with a catalyst enhanced with carbon silk which allows a 30% reduction (1 mg/cm² to 0.7 mg/cm²) in platinum usage without reduction in performance.[5]. Monash University, Melbourne uses PEDOT instead of platinum.

Even if we were to continue to use oil, there is a way to re-build parts like the carborator to get up to 80+ mpg. I studied this a little bit, and worked with my grandfather on doing this who has been working with engines since he was my age (so he knew most of it and I was the extra pair of hands). Took us a couple months of fine tuning, but his truck got if I remember correctly, 87 in the city. No reason why all cars aren't made this way. Like I said, there are smarter people then me out there that can do this.

I guess we all are just going to have to wait until the "Oh shit, we have a year supply of oil left, time to start mass producing all those patents we have been holding on to." I guess the biggest thing is just getting people to convert from the classics to the next generation, which is probably going to be what cost the most money.

 

[Me(tm)]

You think the problem is that those oil companies are corrupt? What about the fact the USA citizens have always lived above their stand. The fact that they spend usually ten times as much then they earn - you just get yourself a new credit card. The moment the arabs decide to disjoint the dollar from their oil, the US. is screwed, but they will be even more when the Chinese decide to sell their dollars. THEN the us, but also most of the world's economy, will be bankrupt...

 

[Incognitus]

You think the problem is that those oil companies are corrupt? What about the fact the USA citizens have always lived above their stand. The fact that they spend usually ten times as much then they earn - you just get yourself a new credit card. The moment the arabs decide to disjoint the dollar from their oil, the US. is screwed, but they will be even more when the Chinese decide to sell their dollars. THEN the us, but also most of the world's economy, will be bankrupt...

Good news Me(tm)!

I've heard on the political grapevine that China and OPEC have begun to dramatically "diversify" away from the dollar; they're keeping quiet to maximise profits, and the Federal Government and her allies are keeping quiet because they're trying to persuade them not to pursue this... course of action.

This could put a new spin on the recent fracas between the US and China at sea. :|

 

[Cruelty]

You're not seeing the big picture, oil isn't used only for cars. In fact, only an estimated 44% is used for automobile gasoline.
Your also looking at diesel fuel (trucks, buses), heating oil, propane, jet fuel, residual fuel (powering factories and lg. ships), asphalt (yes its made from crude oil), bunker fuel, fertilizers/pesticides, plastics, synthetic rubber, fertilizers/pesticides, dyes, paint, detergent, photographic film, food additives (canned food), medicine, synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon, acrylic), make-up, candles ..........

And it will run out in approx. 2030-2050, from estimates based on current consumption.

So enjoy civilization while it lasts ~
(Or else hope that someone starts manufacturing a cheaper source of energy commercially real fucking quick!)

that was such a downer D:

 

[Mr_Smith]

You're not seeing the big picture, oil isn't used only for cars. In fact, only an estimated 44% is used for automobile gasoline.
Your also looking at diesel fuel (trucks, buses), heating oil, propane, jet fuel, residual fuel (powering factories and lg. ships), asphalt (yes its made from crude oil), bunker fuel, fertilizers/pesticides, plastics, synthetic rubber, fertilizers/pesticides, dyes, paint, detergent, photographic film, food additives (canned food), medicine, synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon, acrylic), make-up, candles ..........

And it will run out in approx. 2030-2050, from estimates based on current consumption.

So enjoy civilization while it lasts ~
(Or else hope that someone starts manufacturing a cheaper source of energy commercially real fucking quick!)

Venetia, you said only 44% is used on automible gasoline, still, it's 44% you can use for other stuff like the list you already provided. As Wyatt said, it's proved that the hybrid cars still use oil, because if they dont, what you have to tank it? Other than that, after 10-20 years when the hybrid car is broken (if you didn't crash it) the batteries in there have to be recycled otherwise they are trown away and that's not really good for the nature as well. Guardian pointed out that the oil companies are corrupt, which is true in my eyes, but not the whole problem. The only thing the government has to do is buy that patent back and give it out to produce the cars, and problem gone. WTF! Water! We have frigging enough of that! Two/third of the planet is water, and I'll be surprised if that salt water cant be used in the cars. Ever heard of the story that a guy tried to put olive oil in his tank and drove with it? He bought a whole heck of the cheapest bottles in store, and drove around for like a year untill his engine broke. The insurance didnt pay back because he was experimenting. It's true, it didn't last as long as oil does, but if you can use plain olive oil there must be a way to OR change the oil that it works OR change the engine it handles the olive oil proper.
Now, I'm sure there MUST be a way to make a new type of fuel that works for cars planes and other stuff.

 

[Ellie]

The only problems are:

> Olive oil comes from plants, which take space that could be growing food or trees
> To use water, you need energy to break it into H and O, and where does that energy come from?

 

[Mr_Smith]

Did you know the world could provide enough food for 20 billion people? That's true, 20 billion. It would mean, of course, no tropical rainforests, but the whole South-America full of fields. All the people would have a good meal three times a day. That the rainforests are being destroyed would mean nothing to the raise of CO², there would be enough trees left. If you cut it in half, you have enough for 10 billion left and use the other space to plant olive trees to get that oil. If you want, you can use that energy to power cars OR to separate the H and O from each other.