Energy Independence - a not so modest proposal <OT>

I wonder how many of the new Lexus gas/electric hybrids will be sold at the

124,999 asking price? LOL

My accountant sys it will take 55 years before one will begin to save money on fuel. At 81 years old I think I'll pass LOL

mike

Geeeeeeeez... Thar' you go again!

Whatever happened to, "What's good for GM is good for America?"

Yep, it Gitmo for you!

I scheduling the black chopper right now. Don't bother hiding, we have that magical IR/SLAR stuff to hunt you down like the dawg yo' is!

JT

(Who's pissed off 'cause non o' dat resoich money ended up in HIS pocket)

Yep, and that's why the guv'ment needs to get out of the regulation biz with the occasional obvious basic safety standards, (like laminated glass and seatbelts), and so on. Let the public pick their own poison and the marketplace will take care of the rest.

This guv'ment nannyism sure do need to stop...

JT

(Tire pressure sensors etc.... Bah! How stupid have we become?)

You're preaching to the choir.

Jeff DeWitt

IF the low ball estimates are right (they usually aren't), but so what? It's not OUR money that would be used to do the exploration and exploitation, it's the oil companies money. If they didn't think it was worth it they wouldn't bother. Obviously they disagree with you.

So? The EPA screws around with numbers all the time, in our area they have been saying nasty things about our ozone levels... and they get much of the information from sensors located at ONE intersection that is notoriously jammed up so the numbers are way off... but they don't care.

The number of different fuel blends could be drastically reduced without having a significant impact on pollution while increasing the efficiency of the refineries AND increasing competition between them. 45 different blends is just insane.

Jeff DeWitt

I heard on the news just today that SUV sales have not been affected by the high fuel prices, so you are correct, grampa!

That is what the environuts said about the north slope fifteen years ago LOL

mike

But, they do cut fuel usage without limiting travel. KH>

Good.we'll do both. B the time fusion is workable it will be time to replace the ones I suggested, anyhow>

The Cubans replaced the engines in our old cars with Diesel. Now, imagine a turbo-BMW diesel-clone with turbo! (and heady-duty springs) in a Lark!

It all depends on how far in the future you care about.

it may be twice that long, in this instant I'm thinking something close to a century.

Karl H

No longer, in civil suits.

Monty Python was filmed back in the 1960s/ 70s, I think.

Karl

COAST GUARD?

Hell, their Royal Caribean chartered liner won't be available for two months!

Karl

So who doesn't?

Read "How to Lie with Statistics. It was first published in the late

40s, IIRC, and is still the best for the average reader. Light, but fasinating, reading.

Karl

No, 6 months supply is a lot of oil for one company, and thus they would make a profit. If there were six months worth of oil in Yosemite Valley would you say we should put up a bunch of wells there?

Sure, why not? Oil extraction can be done with a very small, and TEMPORARY impact on the local environment. There's an abandoned well about 300 yards from my house. They have already cut off the casing below the topsoil, and once they re-grade the topsoil, no one will ever know it was there.

That "6 months supply" thing is a real canard, too. Even if true, the entire oil resource in ANWAR could not possibly be extracted in 6 months. A more probable timeline would see the oilfields in ANWAR producing a small but important fraction of domestic needs for 3 or

4 decades. Point is, ANWAR oil would displace an equivalent amount of imported oil, and help the balance of payment situation.

I suppose you know there are pumping wells on Wilshire Boulevard in Hollywood? They put up shell buildings around them. People drive right by, and never have a clue as to what really is happening inside.

Gord Richmond

Tell that to the people of Alaska who suffered from the Exxon Valdez fiasco, of the people of the Santa Barbara Coast who had a major spill there years ago

Four decades would mean it would supply 1.25% of our needs per year. We could save many times that much with increased CAFE standards.

That wasn't from a well, that was from a drunk driver.

The higher gas prices we are experiencing will save far more gas than any change in the CAFE standards, and again if the oil isn't worth getting then the oil companies wouldn't invest THEIR money to get it.

Besides, CAFE standards are a typical Congresscritter "solution" to a problem, it makes the Congressscritters feel like they are doing something, they can boast about it come reelection time, doesn't cost the government anything, costs US a bunch of money, and doesn't really accomplish anything.

If it were done right, and the royalties went to the National Parks why not? The parks can use the money and we can use the oil... and far better the money go to our parks than to the Saudis!

And again, I'm not saying it's not worth the money for one company, I'm saying it's not much of a solution to our oil supply problem

They accomplished plenty in the beginning. Our overall mileage went way up. The SUV craze has undercut it. I would bet that the majority of SUV drivers do not really need an SUV.

Have you ever heard a well being drilled? Not exactly what I want to hear or see when I go to wild areas.

THis has nothing to do with petrol but it could put more petrol in your tank.

Currently there is a bill pending for a tax credit for owners of small scale wind power plants.

H.R. 1772 is the House number.

What it will do if it gets enough support is provide a federal income tax credit of $1500 per 1/2 kw of generator capacity to the owner. So those of us that have a bit of land and a breeze could get atax credit if we invest in our own wind electricity generating plant.

Sure looks like a good deal to me to not have an electricity bill and possibly get payed by the electric utility.