According to the Detroit News
drivers are burning through gas at a greater volume than refineries can produce it.
Hmmm. Tha sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?
The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil and other fossil fuels production and depletion. It predicts that future world oil production will soon reach a peak and then rapidly decline.
You see, it's not that there's not enough oil, hell, we just gained control of the second largest known oil reserve in the world, otherwise known as Iraq, it's that we aren't refining it fast enough to meet demand.
"There is plenty of oil, and oil prices are well below their record highs," he said. "It's that we're not getting oil made into gas fast enough."
Look for the oil companies to blame this on environmentalists, or someone else other than their ownseves for not sinking those record profits from last quarter into building more refineries. But why should they? Paying less for oil and gouging, excuse me, charging us more for it just means that many more golden parachutes for retiring oil executives.
As for me, I'm planning on walking more, or maybe winning that Harley~Davidson at the company picnic next month.
12 comments:
We're bicycling a lot more around here and probably will do more. I heard one oil industry spin Dr. say it was because their MIGHT be a disaster. I suggest we check into the hospital as we MIGHT be sick.
I'm planning on walking more, or maybe winning that Harley~Davidson at the company picnic next month.
Harley, huh? Too bad. Harley's get rotten gas mileage...for a motorcycle. BMWs are the way to go, well-tuned efficient engines that get excellent mileage. Plus nothing feels quite like a boxer.
You guys beat me to it. I wanted to suggest that you either walk or cycle more.
I do about 150 km a week (college and back).
UNfortunately enough, I drive for a living. Other'n common-sense maintenance and daily route planning, not much I can do. . .
I feel your pain, John. My new job is a seventy mile commute...one way.
My neighbors and I have also started car pooling to the mall, grocery store, etc., on the weekends. We live in a rural area and walking to the store is out of the question, but there's no good reason for 5 of us to drive our separate cars there.
Damn, THAT is one great post.
The froggy guy speaketh the truth. Sadly for an American company like Harley D, there are better bikes that get better mileage at close to half the price.
If you win the Harley trade it in.
There's no oil shortage...I saw on one of the major news programs about 4 days ago. It's the oil companies getting away with their annual gouge for profits for the summer months. j And YES the prices will go down when that peak season ends. Yes they will profit quite enormously...and yes we will have bent over and grabbed our ankles yet another year for these robbers and wastrels. They deserve the guillotine I'm telling you! The Feds let them get away with...oh...I guess because the Feds have their hands in the cookie jar of corporate oil too. They look out for one another that's for sure.
bio-diesel has actually been going down...thank goodness...
and i agree with sumo -- it's the corps trying to gouge us for every last penny...
I walk quite a bit. I live right in town so I walk to my sons and out for coffee and lunch...
I am in the market for a new car. In looking into Hybrids, I have found that my old car, even with all of it's knocks and pings, get's better gas milage. So for now, I walk and keep my old clunker. At least until a real option comes along.
Lew peak oil also refers to the fact that what is left will be more expensive and slower to refine. peak oil is about supply, but also about the fact that as oil reserves deplete there will have to be more expensive production methods and the oil obtained will be worse and worse, requiring far more processing.The "Good" oil will be gone. It's not just a "halfway used up" point like people describe peak oil. There's supply and quality.
Also, people did not factor in the fact that other countries are getting more jobs and can now buy...guess what? More freakin cars! Peak oil theorists never anticipated the huge surge of population and poor people becoming middle class car buyers around the world. (then again, America might lose cars as we become poorer and lose jobs??)
The refinery inadequacy has been an issue for a long time, which is why I laugh when these fuckers talk about how their profits are deserved and how the public "just dont understand" how expensive it is to extract and explore! AWWW! Poor bastards!
Anyway, the solution to some is to just get more supply. Keep finding, keep killing, keep destroying habitat, keep drilling in parks- WHATEVER IT TAKES to get more oil.
We both probably agree that the answer is not supply but to decrease overall dependence. NOW.
Good post, Lew! And I think everyone here is on the right track.
I replaced a couple of 22/18 mpg vehicles with Toyota hybrids, and my family and I have been satisfied with getting from double to three times the gas mileage of the old cars. I have been walking more since having back surgery, and it has helped me keep off the 18 pounds I have lost over the last three months. It also gets me some sunshine, some fresh air, better circulation, and not as much time in front of a TV or computer screen.
Also, I think the Bush administration's "energy plan" is simply to drill for oil and conquer other countries who have oil reserves rather than to try and wean our country off of fossil fuels... the latter approach requires too much thought, and it is much easier to go with things the way they are, so the people who are making all the money now can continue to make money. Control of the world's primary natural resource has usually been shown to equal control of the world, to an extent. If the neocon agenda is a world empire, what incentive does the administration have to abandon fossil fuels? None.
Politicians are smart enough to not go biting the hands that feed them, and those hands appear to include the oil industry, the American automobile industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the religion industry. Those industries all need a big smack-down as far as I'm concerned... and there appear to be no politicians in Congress or the Senate who want to touch such a task. I think it is probably too late to get rid of the lobbyists, but if that could somehow be achieved, I believe things would be a lot better in our political process.
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