Gas prices?

[RandomGuy]

Well it seems like gas is inching towards a sustained $3/gal.

How long will it take to hit $6/gal?

[Blake]

where is "never"?

[Bender]

if it ever does, it's moped time for me.

[PuttPutt]

Been paying $3 for months here in WA state.

[RandomGuy]

where is "never"?

That would fall under the 21+ years, infinity being included in the set of numbers greater than 21. :p:

[Bukefal]

We pay around $7 a gallon. that's high.

[panic giraffe]

where is "never"?

yea i remember thinking the same thing about a number like 3 bucks a long time ago.

i remember it being 89 cents as a kid, by the time i owned a car it was just under double that....so 6 bucks from around 3 isn't unfeasible.

[jack sommerset]

USA needs to start drilling more.

[Whisky Dog]

Don't worry, the algae will run our cars soon rofl

[EmptyMan]

Sucks for y'all.



My prius runs on sunshine and rainbows.

[IronMaxipad]

It's about $15.33 here in socal.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I'd say you'll see doubling of gas prices ever 4-5 years from here on in, depending on the state of demand in the world economy. Supply is pretty much maxed out at around 86mil barrels a day, and it takes significant lead times to find and build the infrastructure to exploit new conventional and non-conventional oil reserves. Even the Canadian tar sands, a large but very dirty and inefficient resource, will reach peak production of about 5mil barrels a day by 2030.

All indications are that peak oil supply has been reached, or is only a few years off, so as long as demand stays above 80mil barrels a day, oil supply will start a sharp, terminal decline some time in the next decade. When this really starts to bite, the world will see a depression like nothing we've seen before because EVERYTHING relies on OIL (and natural gas) - agriculture, transport, plastics, chemicals, etc.

We have used 6 barrels of oil for every new barrel discovered during the last decade, which is a state of terminal decline. It is now time to get really serious about the alternatives to oil before the oil crunch strangles the world economy,


where is "never"?

You are aware that petrol is derived from oil, a NON-RENEWABLE resource? And that we have used roughly half of that resource already? And that we continue to use it up at 80-86 MILLION barrels a day? And that there are no cheap alternatives to petrol on the scale that we currently use it?


USA needs to start drilling more.

Except that there's very little for you to drill. US oil production peaked in 1970 and has been declining ever since. There is only 10-12bil barrels in Alaska (just over 1 year's supply for the US), and there are some 2 billion barrel fields in the Gulf, and there's some oil shale in Colorado, but that's it.

Try doing some reading about peakoil, guys.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Sucks for y'all.

My prius runs on sunshine and rainbows.

:rolleyes

So many people are always so quick with the Prius-hating.

Let's just examine the idea behind the Prius for a moment - the primary idea is to have an electric motor that operates at low speed so that the car uses less gas when stuck in traffic jams. About 60% of the average person's travel is commuting, and much of that is spent in jams, so the idea makes perfect sense. Whether you care about the environment or not, a hybrid engine reduces your gas bills and saves wastage of a non-renewable resource. Pull your head out of your arse for a moment and you can't help but agree with the idea.

As for the Prius itself, it is butt-ugly and probably could be engineered a lot better, but you have to remember it is basically the beta-testing version of a new wave of hybrid vehicles.

[Blake]

You are aware that petrol is derived from oil, a NON-RENEWABLE resource?

you dont say...


And that we have used roughly half of that resource already? And that we continue to use it up at 80-86 MILLION barrels a day? And that there are no cheap alternatives to petrol on the scale that we currently use it?

Try doing some reading about peakoil, guys.

seriously, that sounds scary.

I wonder why gas isnt already at $6 a gallon..

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

you dont say... (1)

seriously, that sounds scary. (3)

I wonder why gas isnt already at $6 a gallon..(2)

(1) Well, why did you suggest "never" if you know it's a non-renewable resource? That means it will run out, which means that when demand exceeds supply the price will skyrocket. (2) We have already seen this one, in 2006-7 as the world economy boomed and demand for oil exceeded supply, the price of oil shot to nearly $200/barrel, at which price buying oil alone accounts for about 1/4 of world total GDP. A number of economists are now saying this contributed to the GFC, and that as the world economy heats up again we will face the same surge in oil price because supply isn't expanding - 86,000,000,000 barrels a day is about all we can do. New oil infrastructure is currently under construction across the globe, but it is barely keeping pace with the retirement of exhausted fields. (3) No shit it's scary! Climate change is the challenge of this century, but peakoil is the challenge of the next two decades, and unless we start changing now the shocks will be horrendous.

BTW, just think about that a moment - the world uses about 30,000,000,000 barrels of oil, something we will never get back, EVERY YEAR. What happens as the oil starts to dry up? Wars for control of oil rights (already seen two big ones, more on the way, not to mention the smaller civil conflicts going on in places like Colombia and Nigeria), and eventually a stalled world economy.

Unless the world discovers an infinite source of clean, renewable energy, the infinite economic growth paradigm that currently runs the world is a sham that is destined to crumble and take our economies and livelihoods with it. It's about time we, the people, realised this and changed the way we live and the systems we live under. And no, I am not talking aobut Communism, I'm talking about enshrining sustainability as a value alongside profitability. Without long-term sustainability there is no profitability! Why is this so difficult for the world to understand?

Start reading:

http://peakoil.com/

[sabar]

It's about time we, the people, realised this and changed the way we live and the systems we live under. And no, I am not talking aobut Communism, I'm talking about enshrining sustainability as a value alongside profitability. Without long-term sustainability there is no profitability! Why is this so difficult for the world to understand?

Economics. It makes no sense to embrace sustainability as a human being. People live in the now and in the near-future. Humanity has always progressed with a nudge, not a shove. The technology will not be embraced until it has to be.

I wouldn't worry too much. Cars will be electric and ultimately powered from coal in our life times. Maybe in the far future nuclear fission or fusion will provide energy. Once petroleum isn't used for fuel, the prices will plummet and plastics and such won't be going anywhere from that.

And face it, most people are incompetent. Oil companies will go down with the ship, just like every other company that failed to adapt. Blockbuster video is dying because they failed to look at sustainability. Hollywood and recording companies are seeing massive profit losses as artists cut out the middle man thanks to the Internet. They failed to look forward. They are getting replaced with superior products.

Same will happen with oil. It isn't like there aren't alternative technologies and we will be thrust into the dark ages. The second oil fails economically, everyone will open their wallets to all the other alternatives. The ones who need to get their asses in gear are 3rd world countries. They'll all be riding bicycles if they don't figure something out (some of them already do).

21+ years for gas to cost $6.00. Eventually you reach a point where you invest more in the gas than in the new alternative engine, and that won't happen as long as someone sees profit in that alternative.

[Das Texan]

I'd like to see people get behind natural gas vehicles more than the very small market there currently is right now. ;)


As long as Chesapeake finds a way to go bankrupt in the process somehow, that would be even better (though never to happen)