PING!
It ain’t gonna happen. FF my ass.
I respect the fact that the Dr. got his PhD, but I don’t think he’s right. Simply because I don’t think the OPEC nations have the brains to actually pull off such a plan.
I worry more about the Global Warming nuts. They actually have the brains and ability to throw the world into chaos.......... as we already see is happening- food riots etc.
OK, Dr. Zubrin here’s an easy one......... who shot President Kennedy?
Propane/CNG/LPG are, go ask T. Boone Pickens even though he has a horse in that race.
The solution is a "Chevy Volt" that runs exclusively on Gaseous Fuels that are filled at home via this device:
Just think of it, a Series Hybrid that is off the "Refinery" backlog. Lots of Nuke-Plants would help as well.
Now, if we can only get the fartknockers in the Sierra Club, the House, and Senate to let us drill for the 100+ years supply we have here in the U.S....
Gee, a Kansas senator pushing corn, how unique. No way can flex fuel drop oil down to $50 a barrel. Not if we had every square inch of America under cultivation. And the cost of everything else would make $10 at the pump seem like a bargain. All these clowns are doing is pandering for the November election.
Flex fuel vehicles, hydrogen cars etc. are fine, but why not just drill for the oil in our own country rather than buy it from the sheiks? What OPEC should fear is that inventors and entrepreneurs in the US will come up with a cheap substitute for oil in making gasoline. There are already processes for turning sewage and slaughter house wastes into oil and using microbes to break down wastes into oil. In the short run we need oil until alternative technologies are developed so why not just drill for it in the US?
Further, if you are going to alter the American liquid fuels economy, encouragement in the form of tax breaks should be done first before the use of mandates. You must also address the issue of distribution which a pure flex-fuel mandate does not do.
Talk about being outgunned...
Maybe we should have stayed out of Kuwait and let Saddam take Saudi Arabia.
OK folks, don’t confuse 2 issues here.
Issue 1: the “Muzzie Conspriracy to Rule the World.” I don’t buy it. They have too much competition in that endeavor from the Elders of Zion, Mormons, Knights Templars, Oil Companies, Dr. Evil and my psycho neighbor. I don’t think the Saudis are deliberately starving the world of oil, I think they are smart enough to realize that the ONLY asset they have is their oil. Vast as it is right now, it is a finite supply and they are in no hurry to pump it all out of the ground for a lower price. This is just good business sense on their part to take advantage of current favorable market conditions. Plus, there are limits to just how much they CAN deliver. Everyone thinks the oil in the ground can instantly appear in their gas tanks. No, it’s a matter of pumping capacity. And that capacity has limits.
Issue 2: Breaking the petroleum addiction. This is the key to maintaining our standard of living. The problem is our broken government, going after it in tiny unconnected bits to appease special interest groups. This flex fuel bill is a classic example. What is really needed is a comprehensive long term policy.
I’ve ranted on my ideas for a long time, but it is so obvious as to be self-evident.
1. Biofuels are a dead end, forget it.
2. Global warming is a hoax, ignore it.
3. Drill everywhere now, but recognize it for what it is; a very short term reduction in economic cost while long term conversion takes place in the energy industry.
4. Build nukes and transfer electric generation to nuclear power.
5. Build coal liquification refineries and transfer coal mining from electrical generation to gasoline production.
Pi$$ing and moaning about these little trivial “fixes” and deluding ourselves that “we’ve got plenty of oil” is a waste of time. Get with the real plan!
Supply and demand is irrelevant to price in any market that has so limited competition.
Americans will always pay what they are able to pay. OPEC and the oil companies know this and know we are no where close to being crippled and losing our ability to pay.
Find a new fuel that dominates and I will show you a new batch of greedy capitalists that will take advantage of a closed market.
Energy will always be expensive. What is key is to develop energy sources where the PROFITS STAY HOME and not in the hands of unstable foreigners.
We are giving the Chinese trillions of dollars for their products, so they are buying cars, they will dwarf us in demand some day and outbid us for gas.
It is not a competitive battle we can win. The greenest energy is nuclear and is 100% home grown like our corn. The US and Canada have most of the worlds coal and oil shale, and natural gas and propane, with existing distribution at nearly every home right now.
Stop all this drilling talk, most of Alaska's North Slope oil is being sold to Japan and Europe. Any new oil sources we discover will be sold to the highest bidder and that WON'T BE US.
We have to change the game if we want to protect ourselves.
I challenge our national leaders to pass a law banning the importation of ground-pumped hydrocarbon fuel in 25 years.