Grr, oil and gas prices

[ilovemypup]

Ok everyone, before you start blaming the prices on our government, i just want to tell you all this: Our teacher told us this: We do not control the price of gas. Saudi Arabia does. OPEC does. We only charge as much as is necessary for the government to keep buying it. Saudi Arabia is loaded from oil.

Yeah ..maybe we should stop stealing their oil!!


Oil and Gas prices are getting crazy!
I am not even old enough to drive and I already dread it!


I agree with you ONE HUNDRED PERCENT Marigold2!
If only other people would understand.
I know that when I drive I would LOVE a hybrid.. or one of those Smart Cars (if the USA allows..greener cars)

-ali

[Lady's Human]

Hybrid? Hybrids cost more energy and pollution to produce than they save over their projected lifetimes.

[smokey the elder]

Yeah, the old TAANSTAFL again. But at least we can start buying diesels again in the US in 2008. I agree that we (the US) are often our own worst enemy. There is unfortunately no manmade entity (wind farm, grain to ethanol, nuclear power plant) that doesn't have some kind of footprint. For example, wind farms occasionally kill birds, yet raptors love to nest on the tops of the towers. Nuclear plants do not make CO2 but there is that pesky waste problem. Grain ethanol is short cycle carbon, but using it takes food away. Ultimately, the answer will be a combination of things we may not even be able to foresee yet.

Conservation is always an option. Keep your car tuned up and your tires inflated properly, insulate your house, buy low-energy appliances.

(I'm not sure how this morphed into an energy thread, but it's neat.) Did you know that appliances with clocks or memory use up to 5% of the power they use when in active use?

[Lady's Human]

Any LOGICAL discussion about oil/gas prices will ultimately get around to a discussion about energy. The two are completely intertwined. If you can cut back on usage in any area, it lowers the cost of petrol across the board.

Wind farms have the smallest eco-footprint and energy potential, but "spoil the pristine landscape". Well, I'll take some towers on a ridgeline any day.

Solar has a relatively small footprint (once you get past the production of the PV cells) but isn't really feasible for power generation in most areas. In 10 years we may have a solar array on top of our house, as we have a large south facing roof area currently going unused.

Nuclear plants have great potential, but waste is an issue. Much of the tons of waste, however is relatively benign, as it is low level waste. The way it is discussed in the media, however, you would think that there are hundreds of reactor cores being generated. Not true.

Are we sure that waste has no use? My biggest issue with the current discussions about nuke waste is that everyone wants to process it in such a manner that it is absolutely unrecoverable. We might want to use it for something someday.

[Catty1]

A second windfarm opened in Alberta, not far from where NicoleJ lives.

It produces enough power to supply 75% of Calgary's needs - and we are over 800,000 in population right now.

Along with that announcement, we citizens were reminded that we still needed to look at our energy consumption.

Our LRT (in-city commuter train) has run on wind-powered electricity for years now.

Scooter's Mom - is there no train or bus to take to work? Time to bug the politicians, if they really want to get Green.

Maybe there is a car-pooling group near you. Take turns driving, and the rest get to sleep! And you pay less for gas.

Smart Cars? I would LOVE one - but for in-city commuting only. I shudder when I see one on the highway, as there can be nasty winds that make my much -larger Corolla vibrate!

[Catlady711]

Wind farms have the smallest eco-footprint and energy potential, but "spoil the pristine landscape". Well, I'll take some towers on a ridgeline any day.

I think wind farms are very photogenic myself. I'd take one of them in my view anyday over a neuclear power plant.

[cassiesmom]

I heard on news radio over the weekend about an Illinois school district that's looking into using wind power for its school expansion. The school needs more space and they think it would be good for teaching about natural resources and also forward-thinking as far as energy consumption. I think that would be very cool. Other parts of the world can do it, why should they not do it here.

The state of Illinois bailed out the Chicago Transit Authority again. I wish they would come up with more public transportation between suburbs because I am pretty tired of paying $3.19 a gallon for gasoline and sitting in rush hour traffic. It would be helpful for getting the 2016 Olympics if we had good public transportation.

[smokey the elder]

If the world (read: US) weren't so worried about proliferation, there are loads of good isotopes in spent nuclear fuel. These can be used in nuclear medicine or radiation cancer treatment. Spent fuel is (relatively) chock-full of iodine-131 (thyroid), radioactive gold (used in PET scan, I think) and cobalt-60 (cancer treatment.) I think there are bright people out there working out the engineering of all sorts of alternative energy sources, and it may end up being like the computer age meets Manhattan Project.