Interesting article. I agree it is a complex problem that will only be solved by many different solutions. I am constantly amazed that a company can just throw away a billion dollars. I hope I live long enough to see what kind of technologly comes to the forefront, it is exciting times.

We do stiil have a lot of disposable income from things we just have to have. Let's see cable tv $60+, cell phones w/text $100 a month, High Speed Internet $40 etc. etc. Oh I forgot, drag racing my new Crossfire. LOL

 

Whoa, just as I start this reply there's Uma Thurman topless with DeNiro on the TV - hold on here - what the heck am I watching? Mad Dog & Glory?! Well now, that's a way to start a Saturday morning!
Distractions.......
I disagree with parts of the 'Reality" pdf simply because the author speaks more of a total 'energy crisis' than just using less barrels of 'light sweet crude' & appears much more concerned with pollution than an alternative to the internal combustion engine. While I will agree that there isn't a free lunch the whole pollution debate belongs on a whole 'nother thread.
I'm sure we could have some 'lively' discussions about that!
I still think that electric is the way to go. It has more future than any other other foreseeable alternative (misty eyed - love that one Franc!).
Hydroelectric expensive? Sure, if you build new dams & mess with the rivers behind them. But we have hundreds of dams that could easily be converted back into using a turbine. Solve all of our electric needs? Of course not, but every little bit helps.
Solar cells in space, boys & girls.

 

Missed the Uma Thurman thing so I'm not as awake yet. That said,

I agree that eventually, electric will be where we have to go. But, untill we develope the right infastructure to handle it we can't just go electric.

Look at all the fuss over ethanol. Two short years ago the tree huggers said we have to go that way. Now they complain that ethanol production is going to ruin the environment and steals food from hungry children.

California has a power shortage now. Rolling blackouts are common because they simply do not have enough cheap power available and won't allow more power plants to be constructed.

GM could drop a million electric cars into California tomorrow and be called heroes. Next week when the local grid fails, they'll be the "evil corporation" that caused the problem.

We need a comprehesive engineering and construction program that developes power from a multitude of sources including, if not anchored on, Nuclear. We need solar and wind as well as fossil and bio fuel burning but we need a comprehesive plan.

Two words that scare the hell out of me when coming out of DC are Comprehesive and Program. Comprehensive means "pork" in Washington and Program means "immortal." As disfunctional as Congress is right now, those two words should not be put together there. Unfortunately, that is our only choice as we have pretty much made it impossible for the free market and industry to do it alone.

To get it done, we need leaders, not politicians, who will find, present and defend the facts instead of following the junk science of the moment to get re-elected. What are the odds we can elect one, much less a majority of this type of person, to Congress?

roadster with a stick

 

Ulma, who is she? I guess I'm in the wrong generation was she on the cartoon channel. lol

California is a whole new issue. I was born and raised there and had enough sense to get out, even though I love to visit once in a while. Remember all the oil rigs in the Long Beach area back in the 50's?

I agree with Kurts electric has to be a big part of the picture in the near future. I believe I read where we could charge a million electric cars during low demand times with the excess in the power grid and not require additional energy. You are right, the infastructure is not there to handle it presently but it will take the car mfgs. years to put enough affordable electric cars on the market. Our problem in this country is we need to get the politicians involved and study it to death before we would ever take a step. If we were a country with the population of Montana we could probaly change all of this in a year or two. I drive about forty miles a day and will embrace an electric car.

 

Uma Thurman - definitely in my Top 100.

Uma Thurman.jpg

 

If anybody has a problem with Uma, they are in the wrong forum.

She can drive me or my Xfire anytime.


roadster with a stick.

 

She is too old for you, besides I think she likes older men!! Just kidding, jerking your chain... I'm guessing you two are about the same age.

 

Hot women can be too young but never to old.
I imagine Kurt is younger than me but I'm better lookin'.


roadster with a stick

 

I traded my 1973 Impala for a 1974 Vega because it cost $14.00 to fill the tank. That was to fill the Impala tank.

 

No argument here! Franc is much too pretty !
Uma - if I ever get too old to pay any attention to something like that then it's definitely time for the farm! That's why her little topless scene w/ DeNiro took me by surprise! Ay Caramba!

 

How long did the Vega last, Bill?
$14 gets us what, a quarter tank now?!

 

Remember these times well - When gas went to .75 a gallon I traded my 70 GTO judge convertible for a 74 Alfa spyder - WOW I went from 6 miles a gallon highway up to 18 - WOW. Remeber driving the Alfa back to Akron OH from the Jersey shore on my even day - and the PA turnpike rest stop had run out of gas - drove 60 miles with the red light low fuel light on! Now that was fun!

Remember tomorrow these will be the good old days!

 

The Vega GT got good gas milage, but it wasn't a very good car. I had it in Florida and after 6 months it started to rust, I think it was the salt air. I kept it about a year. I should have kept the Impala, it was a nice car.

 

When the first fuel crisis hit I was driving a car that got 12 mpg all the time, city/highway it didn't matter. So I purchased my first good street bike, and it got 48 mpg. For the rest of the 70's, for at least 6 months out of the year I pretty much lived on my motorcycles.
We never had any odd/even fuel rationing that I can remember, but I did encounter it on a trip to the East coast. My friend and I had Gold Wing motorcycles so we had to fuel up around every 200 miles. When we stopped at a gas station on the wrong day, we were told that since we had out of state plates, we didn't have to worry about the odd/even rules.
By the late 70's, I purchased my first (of many) Japanese cars, and fuel milage was never much of an issue after that.

 

I had a 73 Vega GT. I bought it new, and kept it for 18 months. I don't remember what it took to fill her up, but I want to say under $10. Never had any issues with it, not even rust; living in Chicago. I sold it to a friend because I wanted a Monte Carlo .

 

Hey guys,
I know I may be a bit biased, but oil really is on it's way out (finally). I got into my industry back in the 70's precisely because of the gas crisis'. I've been telling myself and my employees that our time will come in about 5 yrs.....about every 5 yrs! Well, it's here now..... What with what I do and what some of America's best minds have come up with we will be seeing a hydrogen economy easily within our lifetimes! It's starting now!
We will need our oil for 1 or 2 more decades and then Arabia and Russia can kiss our *ss. I just hope I'll be able to get a hydrogen conversion kit for my Xfire!!!!!

 

I saw a special on I think it was 20/20 about Canadian Oil Sands...very interesting:
The Athabasca Oil Sands are a large deposit of oil-rich bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northern Alberta, Canada. These oil sands consist of a mixture of crude bitumen (a semi-solid form of crude oil), silica sand, clay minerals, and water. The Athabasca deposit is the largest of three major oil sands deposits in Alberta, along with the nearby Peace River and Cold Lake deposits. Together, these oil sand deposits cover about 141,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi) of sparsely populated boreal forest and muskeg (peat bogs) and contain about 1.7 trillion barrels (270×109 m3) of bitumen in-place, comparable in magnitude to the world's proven reserves of conventional petroleum.
With current technology about 10% of these deposits, or about 170 billion barrels (27×109 m3) are considered to be economically recoverable at current prices, giving Canada oil reserves second in the world only to Saudi Arabia. The Athabasca deposit is the only large oil sands reservoir which is suitable for surface mining.[1]

 

I'm going to date myself a bit here but I bought my first car, at age 14, in 1958 and gas was only 19.9 cents a gallon. When they would get a gas war going, before all of the stations were owned by gas companies, It got as low as 14.9 cents a gallon. Of course, I only made 25 cents an hour at my first job so everything is somewhat relative. Yes, in those days you could get your driving permit at 15.

 

Sweet!
I stand corrected!
All I do know is that Russia's supplies aren't locked up in "sands" but are actual subsurface deposits similar to Arabia's.
Do any of us know whether or not Canada is beginning to exploit these deposits?

 

Here in MO it got down to $0.12 per gal in 1964.

In 1959, was driving at 12 but only in Clark Co. Missouri. Sheriff let you go if you were a local and a farmer. They figured I was safer in the 51 Pontiac straight eight than the three point Allis Chambers tractor.

They were right.


roadster with a stick