SicK TypeS

gas pricing are going throught the roof.. is the world really almost out of oil?

what is being used today to run cars other then gasoline/oil? what do you predict will be used in the future?

moda_way

We aren't out of oil, we're out of the ability to process it based on future demand.

Probably better put in the Ramblings section... but

1. Human methane
2. Animal methane
3. Hydrogen
4. Ethanol
5. Alcohol
6. Propane
7. Electricity

God I hope Hydrogen.

STL

I don't think the world is close to running out of oil, but the oil cartel finally got smart and realized that they can make more money by limiting production. That being said, the US needs to become less dependent on oil. Our goverment needs to stops giving in to the "big 3" and force more effecient cars to be made by drastically raising the CAFE standards! Maybe then Joe Sixpack and his wife would both stop buying thes big SUVs (that are mostly empty most of the time) that get like 10mpg -- talk about a big waste of gas! Both democrats and republicans alike don't seem eager to do that.

Black_6spd

After watching the news, a number of reasons can be identified for the sudden oil increase. Some of them are:
- Instability of Iran, the 4th highest producer of oil
- China manufacturing and economic growth - they are becoming more U.S.-like in buying cars and operating manufacturing equipment that need petroleum products
- Increased U.S. demand

We've been warned for some time now. Yet, we still insist on buying big SUV's and not use public transportation.

mg7726

basically, everything STL has said and the fact the auto industry (like every other industry lobbists) has bought out the politicans in Congress. Look at GW signing off tax breaks to big SUVs, coal plants, and passing of the waterdown energy bill.

we as citizens also took advantage of the whole situation when gas prices were low; look at all the trucks and SUVs people bought. this country is too hung up on the size/hp propoganda.

anyway, back on topic...short term solutions are electric-gas (i.e.: honda IMA), diesel (i.e.: honda 2.2 CTDi), or hopefully hybrid-diesel (a honda IMA + i-CTDi). i don't see other prevalent short term solutions. someone else here may...

Dan Martin

This should be in Car Talk: https://acurazine.com/forums/car-talk-5/

daniel1113

Whatever you do, never believe all this talk that the world is running out of oil. Not only is there a bunch of oil available for drilling, but new fields are found all the time which increase the known reserves. Not to mention, no one knows how much undiscovered oil there is out there.

Taking into account oil consumption trends, I believe it was estimated that we have at least 150 years worth of oil that is known to exist and that we have the ability to extract.

Considering the technological advances that have happened within the past 150 years, I'd say we're pretty safe. The only real worry now, as others have mentioned, is who has control of the world's oil and how they use that power.

CJams

I wouldn't doubt that someone somewhere knows almost exactly how much oil the earth has left. Are we close to running out? I'd say someone that we know before we die might see the world run extremely low on oil.

As for what other things cars will run on......

I saw some dude that had a car running off of used cooking oil. It was kinda cool, but he said he always smelled like french fries.

STL

I've seen those two conversions too, but they have a ton of drawbacks. And if more than a handful of people started doing that then used cooking oil he is now getting for free would start costing $ and eventually it wouldn't be worth it -- not that it really is now.

CJams

The price of french fries would skyrocket

matelot

for fuel

lodi781

I know there are some bio-deisel car out there. jeep has one I think. But there aren't to many gas stations that cary it. As for my understanding, hydrogen isn't the anwser because althought hydrogen is eco friendly, the way it needs to be produced is not. Kind of like the light bulb is eco-friendly, but the power plants needed to produce the electrisity are not. It aparently would produce 17% more polution to to produce the hydrogen needed to fuel america. It worked in iceland because 72 % of there power is hydro-electric already, but america doesn't have the capability to to have that much hydro-electric power. Just a few things I picked up in popular mechanics. Although I'm not sure if the problems with the power plants needed have been adressed since.....

joerockt

Mr. Fusion.

TinkyWinky

I don't believe the US plays as big a role as we all think in the rise in global oil prices. Click on the following link and click Countries.
http://www.opec.org/aboutus/

There is an interactive map that shows the global flow of crude/refined oil. For example, the flow from the Middle East to the following areas:
North America: 2256 barrels/day
vs
Asia/Pacific: 9597 barrels/day.

In my opinion, the use of oil to generate electricity carries more weight in affecting the price of oil than the amount used to power automobiles. Even SUVs. One can only imagine how many people/homes in developing countries (SE Asia, for example) are now learning to consume massive amounts of energy through lighting, computers, air conditioning and so on. Considering the massive population of these countries, the rise in oil prices should continue to increase.

Alternative fuel solutions are cool and all, but there needs to be a more fundamental shift in how we generate electricity. And that is what will shut OPEC the fuck up!

STL

According to several articles I've read, I am getting a much different picture. For instance here some figures I've seen several different places:
"U.S. oil demand grew by 2.8% to just more than 20.5 million b/d. America accounts for 25% of the oil used worldwide and about 20% of the world's refining capacity."

curls

Remember, however, that the Middle East doesn't produce oil in exclusivity -- Venezuela, USA, Canada, Russia, etc... all produce lots of oil. The reason oil is still expensive everywhere is that it is sold at the world asking price and then contracts signed day-in-day-out with suppliers in the region. ie: The US will import from somewhere close before it goes 1/2 way across the world to the Middle East to get oil, because transporting the oil to the USA obviously costs money.

What STL said:
holds a lot of weight -- the USA is an oil consuming pig and is paying dearly for it, and causing the world to pay dearly for it. If they (and all countries, but mostly the USA) were to take a more energy-conscious stand and start taxing the crap out of SUV's, penalizing people for buying these unnecessarily gas guzzling vehicles, then the demand for oil would drop and consequently lower the world price for oil.

I'm not saying SUV's are the only problem, because they're not. But they're the "token bad guy" when looking at the US. As someone else mentioned, it's the American desire for bigger, more powerful vehicles, where a hybrid SUV or simply a smaller vehicle would do just fine.

MTLer

Human Methane lol, Woot, my car is out of gas, but I'M NOT. *FART* If you think gas stations stink, wait for Flatulence-Canada, now with 94 Fartane.

Man, i'm bored.

daniel1113

That's awefully narrow minded. A tax is hardly the solution to anything, despite what much of the world believes. The very fact that the US has a fairly hands off policy when it comes to the economy is has made this country so successful in the first place. Not to mention, automobiles make up such a small portion of oil use in the world. Even if everyone and their mothers drove hybrids that got 50+ mpg, little would change in terms of total usage, pollution output, and societal effects.

cconrad

An interesting read: http://www.oilendgame.com/

Also, 20 Hydrogen Myths: http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid171.php#20H2Myths

mmynatt

Some have mentioned that it would be best if water could be used. But we could probably run out of even that after a couple of years because people would think by looking at the oceans we have an unlimited supply

dmbfan36_23

You can convert a diesal engine to run on used vegetable oil (which you can get for free from restaurants) and turn it into a "Grease Car" http://www.greasecar.com/

Many people do it with the TDI Gulfs and Jettas

cconrad

Hmm. I am one who believes that gasoline (and other such fuels) may be undertaxed, and I've done some reading on this and don't consider myself narrow-minded. (Though I don't suppose the narrow-minded would ever point the finger at themselves, so my assertion is pretty much worthless ).

Anyway, I normally agree that market forces should be left to determine such things, but market forces only work correctly if the pricing is correct. It can be argued that the price of oil does not correct reflect its true costs (ie, environmental, political, military, security, etc.). These real costs that are not factored into the price of oil are what economists call, I believe, negative externalities. If the price of oil properly reflected all costs, then I'd say that market forces could be trusted to make the right supply and demand decisions. One way to attempt to adjust prices to make them more nearly correct is to analyse the externalities and add a tax to compensate for them.

The report I linked above recommends what they call "feebates": Extra fees on things society wants to be rid of, transferring that cash in the form of rebates to subsidize some things society wants to see more of. It makes sense to me. I'd love to see the price of gas increased to reflect its true costs (including, in my city, the costs of trying to keep up with the road infrastructure, excessive urban sprawl, etc.), while sending that extra taxation directly into more effective mass transit. (Along a similar vein, I'd like to see land developers charged more to compensate for land use, road/water/sewer construction, fire/EMS, etc. If the true costs of new developments were factored into new house prices, people would be encouraged to purchase higher-density housing closer in to existing transportation infrastructure, and make better use of existing urban land.)


Maybe it's a small percentage in the world, I don't know. But I think it's a significant percentage of use in the US and Canada:

See also http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=...icles%3F&meta=

supraken

iTrader: (1)

Not exactly gasoline, but I think we get the idea...

http://www.mindfully.org/Sustainabil...-24percent.htm