Has anyone heard of plans to build new refineries? Seems to me that it would be a good thing for the oil companies to spend some of their windfall profits on. Everytime there's a maintenance shutdown or any other problem, the price of gas goes up. How many of you noticed the sharp increase at the market? I think we're is some deep do-do!
Regulations and environmentalist protests are the biggest roadblocks to building new refineries. Read this story for perspective. It is pretty much the same level of hassle as building a new nuclear plant (something I do know about).
Well thank goodness for regulations and environmentalist protesters! Last thing in the world we need is a new source of fossil fuels. We should be evolving away from oil, not figuring out new ways to find and use it!
Funny, but since I got my hybrid I don't think much about filling up anymore. A tank lasts me about 3 1/2 weeks, and it only hold 11 gallons.
New fuels are fine. If someone builds a car that runs on H2 and gives me the level of performance I want and it is affordable, I'll buy it. In the meantime we can't shut down the world economy in the name of ending fossil fuel use. Processes can be improved. The new diesel engines and fuels are dramatically cleaner than older diesels and perhaps better than gasoline engines. I cannot and will not advocate skyrocketing gasoline prices as a consequence of roadblocks to new drilling and refining capacity - all in the misguided name of "forcing" energy companies to develop new fuels because of public revolt over high fossil fuel costs. Development takes time, regardless of what some might think.
Just remember that energy can neither be destroyed nor created. It can only be converted from one form to another. Lots of fossil fuels were used in the creation of that hybrid car.
We don't definitively know that oil is fossil fuels, just as we have no evidence to support global warming but that might be too much of a hot button so 'nuff said from the peanut gallerie
All I know is everything goes up but my pay check. It cost me over $30 yesterday to fill up my 11 gallon tank which was just under 1/2 full. I sure wish they could develop some type of nuclear power or water power or something that cut into the pocket books of the money hungry oil people. Hey Dave, maybe we should go shooting at some food and up through the ground would come a bubbling crude But with my luck it wouldn't be oil, it would be that I shot a hole in my septic tank
too much of a hot button so 'nuff said from the peanut gallerie
Right. We don't want this thread to devolve into acrimony which it can easily do, with people choosing sides and pointing the bony finger of indignation at each other.
We actually envisioned the Lido Deck as a place for idle chatter and humor, not hot button topics. There are other forums for that.
Those things are awesome. I've heard an inside story that the inventor is working with GM to get their designers excited about electric tech - and with battery developers here in MI. So even if he can't sell a $100,000 automobile, I'm sure he's still making a fortune teaching the wave of the future. I for one am glad that someone with a brain like that is kept active and well fed.
I like my combustion engine just fine. These kinds of things were talked about in the 70's as well. That was during the time when "scientists" were predicting another ice age, spot on as usual.
It wouldn't surprise me to see the cruise lines increase the fuel sur charge in the near future.
<sigh> I can easily see it happening.
I agree, but I don't think they'll announce it as a fuel surcharge—it'll probably just be an increase in the booking price. Hopefully, the dollar value will increase in the near future.
Originally posted by Hank R.: I like my combustion engine just fine. These kinds of things were talked about in the 70's as well. That was during the time when "scientists" were predicting another ice age, spot on as usual.
When you say "scientists" in quotes, I presume the inference is that people who weren't actually scientists were claiming we were headed for an ice age?
I can see why you'd be skeptical.
I was around then. I don't recall any such claims being made, but then again I was in high school so I may not have been paying attention.
No, just people who say they are scientists and actually don't use empirical data to support their claims. You know, kind of like today's activist-scientists who push an agenda. That's all I meant. How deep do you want to dig into a poster's mind?
I remember the next ice age predictions as well. All doom and gloom, "worst winters in the mid-west in history". Blizzards in Chicago, the city under 12 feet of snow! St. Louis would be a solid sheet of ice for the winter! In the 70s predictions the polar bears were not going to be in danger of extinction, they were going to be in your back yard. Then the Alar in apples scare. Alar was worse than DDT and it was in your baby's food. Headlines for months about poisoning your baby. Turned out Alar is harmless unless you consume it in quantities of a tanker truckload. Orchard owners ruined, baby food producers ruined but lawyers and news media did quite well. The chemical company that produced the pesticide facing bankrupcy. Sold lots of papers, ratings on the evening news were through the roof. Lawsuits by the thousands. All hype, just like the new Ice Age of the 70s. Breast implants will kill you, your cell phone will give you brain cancer or blow up the gas pump you're filling your car from!
Next time the media and their "scientists" tell you your children and you are going to die from something, including all the things that they're hyping will wipe us all out now, look back at the news of decades past for their track record on such predictions. You'll sleep better at night.
Many of these doom and gloomers are usually just a bunch of like-minded activists who form a tax-exempt foundation, give it a noble and worldly name, and the MSM (main stream media) comes running to the press conferences and gives these groups credibility. There is one group which shows up every so often to condemn certain foods. They are the ones who called a plate of fettucine al fredo a "heart attack on a plate".
Last thing in the world we need is a new source of fossil fuels. We should be evolving away from oil, not figuring out new ways to find and use it!
But with my luck it wouldn't be oil, it would be that I shot a hole in my septic tank 
