Check out this article about people trying to sell their gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks. Then look at the picture of the guy and his truck at the pump - he has to fill up 3 times a week at $75+ a pop. Typical American experience? Notice the 22 inch Mopar SRT wheels, and the body side moldings - this guy is driving an SRT-10 Viper Powered Dodge Ram that get 6 miles to the gallon. Yes, trying to drive a Viper back and forth to work and the grocery store will cost you at the pump. When you buy a vehicle that has single digit gas mileage, be prepared for the worst...
I think most of us are experiencing the pain at the pump, but in some ways I view this as a much needed diet for America - both literally and figuratively. For the past 20 years our economy has been driven by cheap oil, leading to huge cars and bad habits that need to be modified if we are to continue as a world power. High oil prices mean several things for me -
1) Higher returns on your mutual funds and pensions that invest in energy stocks (before you trash Big Oil, check your fund prospectus and see how much Big Oil stock you own),
2) More expensive food and pinched budgets, forcing us to eat from our grocery store and not McD's - could this be the obesity solution we need?
3) Demand has created incredible monetary motivation for alternative fuels - now that it is profitable to make solar panels, lithium batteries, electric/hybrid cars (or even small cars), we are seeing an explosion in the alt fuel markets and will see leaps in technology now that venture capital is behind the green wave
4) More efficient use of resources (driving less, carpooling more), and spurring on public transportation
This will not be a popular post, but just my positive take on the issue at hand.
One last thing - don't be fooled by electric power (just yet) and those who tout it as the solution to save us all - a majority of our electricity is created by coal and natural gas, meaning that plug in car is really still burning fossil fuels....
3 comments:
I like the post! And I agree - adapting can be good for all of us. I still think we should be able to tap into resources in our own backyard, but maybe this will give us a chance to form new habits before that happens. Good post, tchmanz28. Good post.
Here's my thoughts on stateside reserves in AWR, Rocky Mtns, etc. When it all hits the fan we need those reserves as a fallback. They are the wealth and ultimate protection for our nation. Saudis have figured this out - if they send too much oil out of their country, nothing will be left for their future generations, and their power in the world will diminish.
I agree with you completely, let's change our habits before tapping into our own reserves..
I really have no idea how to post a link in here (it says something below about HTML tags, but my name is not techman...) but this is an interesting depiction of energy consumption in the US. To Lee's point, more than 50% of our electric power comes from coal.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pecss_diagram.html
The interesting thing about all of this is that US demand for oil is actually beginning to decrease. I guess some people are getting the message. Global demand, however, is on the steady increase (see China), and with the weakening dollar and the fact that crude oil is a commodity traded in dollars, the price for a barrel of crude is not going significantly down anytime soon.
The reserves in Alaska and the Rockies bring up an interesting point. A large portion of Americans do not want to drill there because of ecological issues...but a large portion of Americans also do not like high gas prices. The vibe I get from politicians and the general public (you know, the groups that know the most about this stuff...) is that we want to have our cake and eat it too. This is what I hear them saying:
"We need to increase US production to decrease reliance on OPEC, etc. and drive gas prices down...BUT, i don't want to drill anywhere and possibly hurt the environment or wildlife refuges...and I sure as hell don't want to have to change my lifestyle. It's all your fault big oil!"
I think economics passed some of us by.
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