Diesel may come on strong in U.S. in 2008-2010

[mas]

Ladies and gentlemen Face the truth....We are addicted to Crude Oil........We didn't heed the warnings in the 70's, so we must keep on paying the prices they ask..........If you drive, you don't have a choice............Pay Up at the pump, and move on...Drive what you want, your paying the price....

In a way, we did heed the warnings in the 70's. The US economy (assuming that is what you mean by "we' since you live there) is much less dependent on oil now than it was back then. Back then prices as high as they are currently contributed to rampant inflation and continuing recession. Today, there is no rampant inflation and the economy is growing, albeit mildly, which is startling compared to what happened back then. A big reason is the shift toward flexibility in energy consumption.

Yes. And this is also the reason that high gas prices have not tanked our economy, despite its impact on discretionary spending for many.

[oldbuckster]

If I was rich, I wouldn't care about oil prices, but I'm not...............It's not just gasoline, everything goes up because of the cost of a barrel of Oil. Been food shopping lately, bought tires for your car, purchased a quart of oil for your lawn mower? When will it end.................when you die I guess. Sure am glad I'm not just starting out today raising kids, buying a home, and just trying to get by, very expensive world out there, and only going higher.

[oldtimer]

Yes OB it does end when we die.

(There's no future, no future, and England's dreamin!)

[JJkizak]

But remember, the "core" inflation rate is only 2%. HO HO HO HO. What am I missing?

JJK

[Colin]

it is us too, we are part of the problem also:

average horsepower per car has doubled since the seventies, Hummers are selling like hot cakes, we want our US lifestyle with out Sudan pain

[Jay481985]

ah colin that is true but gas mileage also gone up. The car makers still make more power with less drinking of gas now. Its a start.

[mas]

The really important issue is, has the government mandated a large printed warning stating that diesel is not for drinking, and that doing so could be hazardous to your health?

All of you folks can debate CAFE ratings, etc., but meanwhile no one seems to care for the people!

Geeesh! Get your priorities straight!

[Jay481985]

you mean the ethanol???

its denatured, you would be a fool to drink that

[oldbuckster]

Another RECORD HIGH for gasoline........Stock holders are HAPPY.......[]...Consumer is not......[:'(]

[pauln]

I'll just jump in and note that the car with the least environmental
impact (greenest) is the old one that already exists - the energy
consumed to design, research, test, manufacture, and bring to market a
new car (even a Prius or such) is hugh. The impact of driving an
existing car is all sunk costs. If that old car is like mine (1968 VW
bug) that gets excellent mpg all the better. My all time high water
mark for mpg is 44 mile per gallon on the highway at 55 mph. Regular
driving in town averages mid thirties. Maintenance is enjoyable and the
parts availability is forever. Two years ago I replaced the
transmission - bought a new one in the box from Germany for about $200.
I could replace the whole engine for just a little more than that.

The
problem of general over use of oil/gasoline in the US is directly
related to the artificial low cost. This has allowed the driving of
large heavy cars and trucks when there is no real reason to do so
(prestige, bubba-ness, lazyness, sloth, agressiveness). Fortunately,
this is an economically self correcting relation. As the price of fuel
goes up (and it will like you have never imagined and worse!) folks
will have to dump their monster cars and trucks and resort to small
light vehicles, bikes, and walking (oh my God, no!).

Every now
and then here in Houston it rains very hard and the roads get flooded.
This slows down traffic to a crawl and some folks find themselves
idling and creeping in traffic for hours (like during the hurricane
evac last year) and those with only a coulpe of gallons of fuel get
stranded on the side of the road. That is just a snapshot of regular
life in an environment where the price of gas exceeds most folks'
ability to pay for it.

Strapping a bike to the back of your car may no longer be a sign of leasure; it becomes your lifeboat.

[JJkizak]

Unfortunately, I want a heater & defroster in my car. And a radiator for proper cooling. Also air conditioning and pontoons on the sides to keep it from blowing over when it gets windy. And spark plugs gapped at .050 instead of .065 so it starts in certain weather conditions. And maybe a radio too. That should knock the milage down to about 25 mpg.

JJK

[Buckeye_Nut]

Diesel cars?

Big powerful trucks I understand, but cars??? C'mon.... that's soooo 80's. The only people who will be buying diesel cars in the 2000's are those not smart enough to learn from the 80's diesel gaffe. Gas prices are quite cheap when you consider we have not expanded oil refining capabilities since the early 70's. When you couple that with our usage and population growing geometrically since that time.... what do you expect? Cheaper gas??

LOL .............

If it were up to the liberals, they'd tack on more 'penal' usage taxes on gasoline so we could be more like europe and pay twice our current rate. We're actually quite fortunate.

PS... Do you think GM will bring back the diesel Chevette?

[Buckeye_Nut]

And we should all trade in our big Klipsch Heritage for some small cubed speakers...[:#] Arrrgggg WTH was I saying!

LOL.... we should all take Hollywood celebrity advice and trade in our Klipsch and big amps.......... for Bose to reduce our carbon footprint.

[mas]

you mean the ethanol???

its denatured, you would be a fool to drink that

Yup, ethanol is bad, and that is different how as opposed to ANYTHING else they dispense form a gas station pump!

[*-)]

I dare say you missed the intended jest.You really need to get up to speed with just what the govt's real scope is...or perhaps you missed the jest as you assume that such labeling is the govt's job, in which case you are on your own in the big scary world.[]

[oldbuckster]

pauln, that is a nice VW......you still see many of the old beetles still being used today.....but, at todays prices, nothing is cheap to drive.

[LarryC]

Diesel cars?

Big powerful trucks I understand, but cars??? C'mon.... that's soooo 80's. The only people who will be buying diesel cars in the 2000's are those not smart enough to learn from the 80's diesel gaffe.

Nonsense.

If it were up to the liberals, they'd tack on more 'penal' usage taxes on gasoline so we could be more like europe and pay twice our current rate. We're actually quite fortunate.

It's a move Europe had the political will to make, for whichever of a variety of reasons (reduce oil use, pollution, or whatever it was). Compared with us, they and Asia now seem to be in the forefront of developing and producing economical cars, while we languish and our auto industry slides toward oblivion. That's fortunate?

[Jay481985]

you mean the ethanol???

its denatured, you would be a fool to drink that

Yup, ethanol is bad, and that is different how as opposed to ANYTHING else they dispense form a gas station pump!

[*-)]

I dare say you missed the intended jest.You really need to get up to speed with just what the govt's real scope is...or perhaps you missed the jest as you assume that such labeling is the govt's job, in which case you are on your own in the big scary world.[]

its funny that we use corn to try and reduce carbon emissions since corn eats some carbon dioxide while it grows.... Then you realize that it burns less cleaner negating the carbon footprint. And then you add the fact that cars are using the corn prices so now beef and milk prices go up cause feed for these staples are linked directly to the price of corn.

BTW to every environmentalist, don't plant a tree... make sure you keep the ocean clean. >60 percent of all the oxygen is derived from the ocean since algae and plankton have billions of square miles and live from the warmest to coldest waters.

[Marvel]

Uh, you don't pant a tree to get oxygen, you plant a tree to help consume the CO2. It is a total package though, as everything works in concert.

Funny thing... a friend of mine just traded in his V8 extended cab, full size pickup. He was getting 27 mpg. He hasn't driven the new one long enough to measure yet.

Bruce

[Jay481985]

Uh, you don't pant a tree to get oxygen, you plant a tree to help consume the CO2. It is a total package though, as everything works in concert.

Funny thing... a friend of mine just traded in his V8 extended cab, full size pickup. He was getting 27 mpg. He hasn't driven the new one long enough to measure yet.

Bruce

plants take in CO2 from the air and convert it back to oxygen to complete the system.

[mas]

you mean the ethanol???

its denatured, you would be a fool to drink that

Yup, ethanol is bad, and that is different how as opposed to ANYTHING else they dispense form a gas station pump!

[*-)]

I dare say you missed the intended jest.You really need to get up to speed with just what the govt's real scope is...or perhaps you missed the jest as you assume that such labeling is the govt's job, in which case you are on your own in the big scary world.[]

its funny that we use corn to try and reduce carbon emissions since corn eats some carbon dioxide while it grows.... Then you realize that it burns less cleaner negating the carbon footprint. And then you add the fact that cars are using the corn prices so now beef and milk prices go up cause feed for these staples are linked directly to the price of corn.

BTW to every environmentalist, don't plant a tree... make sure you keep the ocean clean. >60 percent of all the oxygen is derived from the ocean since algae and plankton have billions of square miles and live from the warmest to coldest waters.

My original comment was on the role of govt and the absurd forms it takes (I still love the proposed warning suggested for exercise equipment - where it was proposed a warning be stenciled on the seats of the equipment warning folks that sedentary behavior leads to obesity - on exercise equipment!!, and not on couches!!! As if it is even the govt's role to say a word!)

The problem with corn is simply that it is a terrible source of ethanol! It is extremely nutrient and resource intensive to grow - for a relatively small yield! The only viable source is something like switchgrass - a 'weed' that essentially grows anywhere without irrigation, fertilization, and without depleting the soil of nutrients.

But even if ALL of the arable land was converted to this, we still could not supply the energy needs! So, at best, all of this talk is but one of many sources of complimentary technology that must be employed. And I sure wish that we would get off of the quest of looking for the next thing that will save us! The is no "next thing" that will 'save us'. Rather it will the employment of complimentary locally available 'appropriate' technologies.

And each of us can start by simply increasing the amount of insulation in your house to meet or exceed DOE standards which in Texas is R46 in the attic! I bet most have less than R12! For a small amount of money, you can save much more money as you reduce the need for energy use. And the payback is less than one season.