Itinerant Air-Cooled

Maybe we should all chip in and get Colin one of these here new Jetta Sportswagens. Whaddya say, Road Warrior? A six-speed manual in diesel? Prolly get close to three times the miles per dollar of the bus. I could sleep in there and I'm six feet.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/wag ... index.html

Isn't the Jetta a chick car? Round here they are. If he came into town in a Jetta and those cutoff shorts he'd get his butt kicked.

Since diesel is knocking on the $5.00/gallon door, while gas is only $4.15, I doubt that's the way to go right now, but who can predict any of this?

I remember back in the late '70's, folks were buying diesel Oldsmobile Delta 88's because, then, diesel was substantially cheaper. I guess big oil figured that one out too.

vdubyah73 wrote:Whats is this peak oil shtuff. There's plenty of oil. Rich folks and people trying to become rich are speculating on oil, that is what is driving oil prices up.

Read up, Bill. You don't want to be facing the wrong direction when the train comes barrelling down the track.

When people blather, they just contribute to global warming. There are many blatherers about these days. What we thinking people need to do is listen, listen with an open mind and a considered ear, to those who have made solid predictions that actually came to be. Hubbert (edited at the prompting of RitterEdit, INC) did just that. He predicted when our U.S. oil fields would peak, and he predicted when the international supply would peak. He was dead-nuts accurate with the U.S. peak (1970) and he only missed by 7 years the international peak (because he could not know the exploration technology that we have benefitted from since his day), which is right here, right now. Yes, it is true that we have only used up half the available supply. But you know human nature, and you know about speculation and you know about greed. The split second that the supply is exceeded by demand, it is going to get ugly. What you may not know about is the incredible demand that has been unleashed in the ascendant economies of India and China that we helped to develop at our own sacrifice. Those nations together outnumber us by a factor of five. As they become world players, we are irrevocably reduced in our ability to be profligate pigs, as it should be. Our rich, you bet your ass, will do everything in their power to defend their way of life. That leaves the rest of us to deal with it. Our standard of living is poised to plummet. Do not be complacent. Be alert. And be real. You will be surrounded by the likes of poo-poo Rush Limbaugh who discounts any information that might require him to grow up and look around as a member of the world community who has to SHARE resources.

I do hold out hope for new technologies and resources, but I am very very happy that oil economy is being ushered out, it is a real assault against the planet and it is an assault against Community in so many ways. I also hold a hope that as we contract and as we get drawn up short out of our complacent arrogance, I hope that we Americans grow up and stop being so self-centered and so materialistic and so uninterested in other nations and other peoples, not to mention this planet that we are litterin and choking to death. Nothing like shortages to toughen people up, heh Bill? Ask your grandparents.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:Hubble did just that. He predicted when our U.S. oil fields would peak, and he predicted when the international supply would peak.

You mean Hubbert, no?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbert_peak_theory

Colin,

I admire your optimism about the situation. My fear is that a lot of people are going to die as the agricultural and transport machines are derailed by fuel prices. If you're in a country without much purchasing power, those belts are going to get mighty tight in the very near future (read anything about food riots lately?).

For any of you that would like to read some more, try the peakoil.com forums. Pretty bleak shit over there but a number of pretty educated folk posting some pretty accurate info. OPEC production continues to decline, Saudi Arabia says they won't (read: can't) increase production as they're saving it for the future, Russian oil production is in decline and all the US can do is bitch about gas prices and gouging. The party is over. Why the hell we can't wake up and put some money into mass transit infrastructure while there is the energy to do so is beyond me. Full speed to the cliff--caution and foresight be damned.

Peak oil is fun!

glasseye wrote:With all the whining I've heard about high fuel prices, I see no change in highway speeds. I'll believe it's really starting to hit home when I see people travelling the speed limit.

*shrug* I've been driving under the speed limit for years. I drive a bus.

CHINA 1996 : 166 million barrels
2006 : 1,065 million barrels

forecast 2008 (8 mill bpd )= 2,920 million barrels


US uses approx 20 mill bpd....so approx 7,300 million barrels

I do hold out hope for new technologies and resources, but I am very very happy that oil economy is being ushered out, it is a real assault against the planet and it is an assault against Community in so many ways. I also hold a hope that as we contract and as we get drawn up short out of our complacent arrogance

technology has been around for almost 100 years. Hydroxy Booster patent by Charles Frazer 1916...yeah thats Nineteen Sixteen...WWI
so what ? we can land a bucket of bolts on Mars, but no progress with fuel consumption technology ?? smells awfully fishy

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-g ... k=ntothtml


gas from algae

dingo wrote:http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-g ... k=ntothtml


gas from algae

Pretty neat grow-op. Gasoline, diesel and assorted hydrocarbons to feed the plastics industry, all from algae. Let's hope it's a disruptive technology and not a stock promotion scam.

ya hit th nail wit this one:

With all the whining I've heard about high fuel prices, I see no change in highway speeds. I'll believe it's really starting to hit home when I see people travelling the speed limit.

OR selling their personal monster trucks. Or carpooling. Or changing the ridiculous suburban infrastructure, 45 MPH 8 lane roads between traffic lites and no sidewalks.

I do hold out hope for new technologies and resources, but I am very very happy that oil economy is being ushered out, it is a real assault against the planet and it is an assault against Community in so many ways. I also hold a hope that as we contract and as we get drawn up short out of our complacent arrogance, I hope that we Americans grow up and stop being so self-centered and so materialistic and so uninterested in other nations and other peoples, not to mention this planet that we are litterin and choking to death. Nothing like shortages to toughen people up

Yes! Every yin needs a yang (I'm just sayin').
We are a tuff bunch. There is a real America lurking under the fat.

dingo wrote:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-g ... k=ntothtml


gas from algae


Pretty neat grow-op. Gasoline, diesel and assorted hydrocarbons to feed the plastics industry, all from algae. Let's hope it's a disruptive technology and not a stock promotion scam.

Theres another group down in Corpus Christi doing the same thing..already producing. Its no hoax. While some folks are whineing and moaning, other folks are taking action (and yeah, some of it is financially motivated)

vdubyah73 wrote:We don't have the gas lines we had in '74, no rationing, no gas stations running out of gas. There was a true shortage back then due to the OPEC embargo. Whats is this peak oil shtuff. There's plenty of oil. Rich folks and people trying to become rich are speculating on oil, that is what is driving oil prices up. Maybe the whole peak oil scenario was something dreamed up by some clever speculators to simply drive the price of crude up by panicking the populace into buying futures, that they were trying to sell. Peak oil is a marketing scam on a grand scale!

Bill

=D>

Hippie wrote:

vdubyah73 wrote:Peak oil is a marketing scam on a grand scale!
Bill

=D>

IS this what you were applauding, Hippie?

Have you read the peak oil scenarios on the web?

Are those economists/scientists trying to sell anything?

The only scam I can think of is coming from the people who think this current snapshot of American Life is anything close to normal or sustainable "just go shopping. . . in your Hummer H1"

You think we should just cruise onwards with a "AWW don't worry about it, it'll work out, anyone who gets nervous is just trying to make a buck off of you."

Colin?