Gas Prices

[jaxhawksfan]

Serious question here: What is the new energy source? Algae? I heard a story today, solar and wind are old technologies that never worked. They were introduced 1 and 3 years after the internal combustion engine. If they haven't worked and haven't caught on in the same timeframe as oil why are we even discussing them nowadays as practical alternatives to oil? If you listen to our "leaders" and to the media you would think these are some sort of "new" under-developed technologies. They aren't. They have been around since the late 1880's. Countries that use them still have to buy electricity from other places. They DON'T FUCKING WORK to solve the energy needs of a developed country. Where do we go? What do we turn to?

 

[roshinaya]

Alternative energy sources have always been under the thumb of the moneyed interests of the oil companies. Had the same amount of money that has been thrown at subsidizing the oil industry been thrown at alternative energy sources we might have a different avenue of alternatives a head of us. Solar and wind, especially not solar, aren't dead technologies, so to throw the towel in on them is premature and just dumb. The more prongs on the spear to attack the upcoming energy crisis the better.

 

[Tater]

Alternative energy sources have always been under the thumb of the moneyed interests of the oil companies. Had the same amount of money that has been thrown at subsidizing the oil industry been thrown at alternative energy sources we might have a different avenue of alternatives a head of us. Solar and wind, especially not solar, aren't dead technologies, so to throw the towel in on them is premature and just dumb. The more prongs on the spear to attack the upcoming energy crisis the better.

I agree with that, but Solyndra? If solar was efficient and profitable, someone would have figured it out in the last 100 years,

 

[roshinaya]

I agree with that, but Solyndra? If solar was efficient and profitable, someone would have figured it out in the last 100 years,

Says who? Photovoltaic cells aren't exactly combustion engines. And just now are we starting to be able to understand nanotechnology and its applications and working with metamaterials that could help with the effectiveness of solar cells. And one big hangup with these alternative energy sources have always been how to store and transfer the energy effectively. Once that hurdle has been overcome we could see a dramatic change in how solar and other alternative energy sources are used. And again, the funding on these sort of things hasn't exactly been stellar.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Says who? Photovoltaic cells aren't exactly combustion engines. And just now are we starting to be able to understand nanotechnology and its applications and working with metamaterials that could help with the effectiveness of solar cells. And one big hangup with these alternative energy sources have always been how to store and transfer the energy effectively. Once that hurdle has been overcome we could see a dramatic change in how solar and other alternative energy sources are used. And again, the funding on these sort of things hasn't exactly been stellar.

Solindra received funding only to take the money and run, (I mean bankrupcy).

 

[IceHogsFan]

Says who? Photovoltaic cells aren't exactly combustion engines. And just now are we starting to be able to understand nanotechnology and its applications and working with metamaterials that could help with the effectiveness of solar cells. And one big hangup with these alternative energy sources have always been how to store and transfer the energy effectively. Once that hurdle has been overcome we could see a dramatic change in how solar and other alternative energy sources are used. And again, the funding on these sort of things hasn't exactly been stellar.

Good comments. Interesting

 

[chasman]

Well I have my hot rods out on the road, don't care what the price of gas is ( I have to burn premium ) I drive them all summer.

 

[jakobeast]

Well I have my hot rods out on the road, don't care what the price of gas is ( I have to burn premium ) I drive them all summer.

As you should. Cars like that are meant to be driven. Just as I can't stand it when I see guitars in display cases. They are meant to be played.





What kinda befuddles me is folks that knowing bought gas guzzling vehicles and still loudly and often ***** about the price of fuel. I am sure you aren't happy about $4+ a gallon, but you will pay it and enjoy your cars. It is literally the price you pay to entertain yourself.



My dad has a little Alumacraft fishing boat. We like to fish. We will fill the tank on the boat, and may wince a bit at the total, butagain, that what you pay to do what you want to do.

 

[jaxhawksfan]

Alternative energy sources have always been under the thumb of the moneyed interests of the oil companies. Had the same amount of money that has been thrown at subsidizing the oil industry been thrown at alternative energy sources we might have a different avenue of alternatives a head of us. Solar and wind, especially not solar, aren't dead technologies, so to throw the towel in on them is premature and just dumb. The more prongs on the spear to attack the upcoming energy crisis the better.

You sound so sure of yourself. Look at the world examples. Germany is full of wind farms, yet they still have to buy electricity from other countries. You say throwing money at the situation automatically results in a fix. Tell that to the folks dying of AIDS. Money does not always = solution.

 

[roshinaya]

So better would to not throw money at something just because it doesn't have immediate payoff? So what do you propose to do? Pray?

 

[supraman]

Solar is viable if a prototype tech I seen a couple years ago comes to market. It was printed solar cells, the stuff costs pennies and isn't bulky. It would be cheap enough that there would be major incentive for people to put it on their roofs. I don't remember the company that researched it nor do I have a link, just going to have to believe me.



Also algae last I heard was pretty efficient compared to other biofuels and we aren't wasting a food source (i.e. corn).

 

[jaxhawksfan]

So better would to not throw money at something just because it doesn't have immediate payoff? So what do you propose to do? Pray?

You make it sound like there hasn't been any money invested in wind or solar. That is incorrect. I DO agree we need a multiple pronged approach but thinking that solar/wind is the best answer is just not proven.

 

[supraman]

Another tech is similar to wind power but uses the currents. they are much smaller

 

[LordKOTL]

You sound so sure of yourself. Look at the world examples. Germany is full of wind farms, yet they still have to buy electricity from other countries. You say throwing money at the situation automatically results in a fix. Tell that to the folks dying of AIDS. Money does not always = solution.

Part of that is also how the EU does business. They want all of the member countries to be dependent on each other and not be able to stand alone. Can't really say I agree with it, especially with the Central Europe energy crisis that happoened a couple of years back when the Ukraine decided to be douche canoes with russian oil.



Many central european countries could have retained their nuke plants and could have had a self-sufficient power grid, but were forced to close them to be a part of the EU.



I think there will never be a "clean" source of energy--just less dirty ones. Even still, I do know that petroleum is a finite resource, but it does twist the knife in my guts knowing that some air-conditioner ballast in some office somewhere is getting rich off of speculation and screwing the masses while a single parent driving a cheap and fuel-efficient car is finding it harder and harder to make ends meet because if the inflated gas prices.

 

[jaxhawksfan]

How do we know oil is finite? The Earth makes oil on its own, does it not? Does it not make so much oil that it flows up through the ground and into the seas? (Serious question, I haven't researched it) I know we always say "well someday that oil is going to run out" but is it really? How much across the globe have we yet to discover, tap, use? I frankly don't give a damn about what happens 300 years from now, I guess I'm a bad human.

 

[TSD]

How do we know oil is finite? The Earth makes oil on its own, does it not? Does it not make so much oil that it flows up through the ground and into the seas? (Serious question, I haven't researched it) I know we always say "well someday that oil is going to run out" but is it really? How much across the globe have we yet to discover, tap, use? I frankly don't give a damn about what happens 300 years from now, I guess I'm a bad human.

Well You are right, we don't know how much oil is left, we can only go on how long our population can go on increasing and using oil at an ever more inflating rate and expect it simply to last, when it is theorized that oil takes like millions of years to be created.



No resource on the earth is technically "finite" whether it takes an hour or a billion years to replenish eventually it would replenish, given that some staggering planet altering event didn't occur.



Whether or not you care what happens to the earth or people 300 years from now is your own bag.

 

[LordKOTL]

How do we know oil is finite? The Earth makes oil on its own, does it not? Does it not make so much oil that it flows up through the ground and into the seas? (Serious question, I haven't researched it) I know we always say "well someday that oil is going to run out" but is it really? How much across the globe have we yet to discover, tap, use? I frankly don't give a damn about what happens 300 years from now, I guess I'm a bad human.

Petroluem and coal are just end-decay products of organisms who were trapped under sediment in oxygen-free conditions and were then subject to geolicic pressures and stresses. The thing is, formation of oil and coal takes millenia if not eons to happen, and at the current rate of consumption, we will "run out of oil". The bright side is that we can do with technology what it takes the earth millenia: crack biomass into hydrocarbon chains (biofuel). Done using algae or other renewable food sources, it could provide a lot more sustainable source of energy.



The question about oil vs. other forms is very complex, IMHO. Oil in and of itself varys from easily-refined "cheap" (light sweet crude), to more diffcult to refine (heavy sour crude). The quicker we use up the cheap oil, the more expensive oil will be in the long run because the heavier and sour oil will be more expensive. One way that can be mitigated is by mixing biofuels with oil right now to lessen the impact, and possibly moving to power sources that don't rely on petroleum if it can't be helped. i.e. powerstations and their relative immobility could be nuclear, solar, tidal, geothermal, hydro, or wind powered to some extent which again, lessens the oil need impact. Transport, would require a portable, high energy density fuel, so would be more useful for petroleum and biofuels. To me, it's not so much a question about 300 years from now, but if we're paying farmers not to farm, and that arable land can be converted into growing biofuels, whihc in turn could be mixed in with gasoline and keep the cost a bit down and our need for foreign oil, why not?

 

[Rex]

I'm a big supporter of Nuclear power, since unlike Solar and Wind...it works

 

[winos5]

^^^ Agree

 

[LordKOTL]

The only way I'm against Nuclear power is the asshats who bankroll it. On it's own it works, and is relatively clean and safe except if there's an accident...

...

...

...which is usually the result of some idiot not following proper procedure because it saves time/money or because some douche-canoe cut out a safety interlock because it was less expensive.