What we really need to do is start converting autos to run on natural gas. If demand has dropped so much that we’re now exporting gasoline and oil, think what that would do to oil imports. That’s the fastest way to impact oil prices. We’ve got the natural gas NOW with much more coming. When oil drops below $80/bbl and stays there, as a dividend you’ll see the mullahs in Iran tossed out with the garbage. Terrorists will no longer be able to count on Islamic sugar daddies to bank roll their operations either. It’s a win win worldwide.
good idea.
start with government fleet vehicles and if it’s successful there, expand from there.
I , for one, don’t want to be mandated to convert my vehicle.
You're exactly right. I lived in Japan in the late 1990's when they started doing exactly that with buses and taxicabs. It is a little expensive up front, but ever since the Japanese pay less for a liter of gasoline than most of their European counterparts. They produce maybe 2% of their crude oil needs domestically, roughly 1/10th of what they are able to do in Europe.
All it takes is a political will to do so. We could start by funding the U.S. Postal Service fleet into natural gas conversion, then let them sell their NG fueling supplies to the public. Employ some of the surplus postal workers as NG station attendants, then spin off the NG retail facilities and privatize. That's the quickest way I see to get bipartisan support.
You could start by turning some of the surplus post offices slated for closure into NG refueling stations. Initially, they would serve only postal vehicles, then public transportation and finally the public.