American Automobile Fuel Consumption Debate: 08/01/2004

Are they really as serious as they are made out to be? Scott Peterson discusses Results of high oil prices.

...The high oil prices, which climbed to a record high of $49.40 per barrel last Friday, may scare consumers and keep up gas prices. The effect worldwide is real, too. Every $10 added to a barrel of oil is estimated to knock "at least half of 1 percent ... equivalent to $255 billion" off world GDP, according to analysis in May by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris.

...One concern is government overreaction. "In the 1970s, governments went way overboard, and spent billions of dollars on alternatives," says Lynch. "I don't think we're at that point yet."

Still, a $50 barrel price was unforeseen just a year ago, and may be higher than black gold is worth.

"Between $48 and $50, there is no difference - it's psychological," says Roger Diwan, at the consultancy Petroleum Finance Company in Washington. "No one is really transacting at these prices, because people who buy oil think it is not a fair price. A lot of the action is happening in the paper market, among speculators, and they are driving the market."

"But at one point, those two realities have to collide," says Mr. Diwan. "And that is just a matter of time."

I specially like the government overreaction part!

David Suzuki on priority for Energy

According to David Suzuki, the current focus on hydrogen economy has things backwards.

Hydrogen has to be removed from water through electrolysis or from natural gas through reformation. Both methods currently require substantial amounts of fossil-fuel energy, which releases pollution and causes climate change. In short, the benefits of a hydrogen economy will be lost if we have to use fossil fuels to produce the stuff.

For a hydrogen economy to function as we want, it will require a massive transformation of our current energy system to become more efficient and to focus on renewable sources like wind, solar, micro-hydro, geothermal, and tidal power.

Only when we have large quantities of clean electricity available will it make sense to start producing hydrogen for vehicles. This shift to renewable energy will take decades, giving researchers plenty of time to overcome hydrogen fuel-cell hurdles. In the meantime, our air will get cleaner and our climate will start to stabilize.

Of course, this is my old question about the color of Hydrogen!

Demand drives up price for Prius Hybrid

I don't get it.

Crude Truth about Oil

So, I am back for good. I have a lot of cathcing up to do. Here is an interesting piece about the effect of oil price increase from a Canadian perspective.