Are today's low gas prices the lull before the storm?

[Retmilleo909]

Is the sudden drop in gas prices the lull that comes before the hurricane and that prices will soon start going up and may reach $5.00 or more a gallon? Some experts claim that oil production has reached it's peak and that tapped and untapped oil reserves are rapidly depleting. What alternative source of energy would best replace oil as a propelling agent for a land, water or air vehicle?

[Five-0]

Is the sudden drop in gas prices the lull that comes before the hurricane and that prices will soon start going up and may reach $5.00 or more a gallon? Some experts claim that oil production has reached it's peak and that tapped and untapped oil reserves are rapidly depleting. Wrong What alternative source of energy would best replace oil as a propelling agent for a land, water or air vehicle?

[Morris]

Rather, it's a reflection of a hyper inflated bubble (similar to market playing and price fixing such as Enron did) at the cusp of a significant worldwide economic downturn. New oil deposits are being found but at much deeper levels. I don't subscribe to the peak oil theory while I do subscribe that we are looking at some reasonable advancements in propulsion fuels other than petroleum.

[irishmick]

I may sound like a conspiracy theorist or complete nutjob, but I really believe that the lowering of prices is a good way for them to start passing higher gas taxes. People will be OK with the 50 cent tax increase because it only raises it to $2. Unfortunately, that tax will still be there when it goes back up to $4/gallon.

[Car 4]

Try reading the geology reports published by Shell and others. We have enough oil in KNOWN reserves for 200 years at our current rate of consumption. But, hell, I am waiting for cold fusion.


Car 4

[Odd]

No clue when $5 gas will arrive. It might be five months or fifty years.

The problem is it could be tomorrow and we'd have little option other than to pay it. It's for that more than 'green' reasons I'm for implementing alternatives.

What alternative source of energy would best replace oil as a propelling agent for a land, water or air vehicle?

Depends on the vehicle and what it's used for. Compressed natural gas is a fossil fuel, but it still relieves market pressure on petroleum. I don't see it as a viable alternative for the general motorist, yet for fleet use on defined routes it can work great. Fill it up at the depot after the employee goes home.

Similar is the case for electric and many hybrids. The increased upfront price may never be overcome when a car like a Crown Vic is used as a family car. It may or may not be viable for police use even if the money works out. For a taxi though it may be ideal. A pure electric with a 200 mile range is great if you never drive over 150 miles, so while it won't work for that family trip across the country it's a great fit for fleet use and for the second family car in some cases.

Peterbilt isn't a name that comes to mind when most people think of hybrids. They have a few though, in the flavors of an electric/diesel and a hydraulic/diesel design for trucks used for trash pickup. When the brakes are applied the hydraulic system is charged and used to launch so a smaller diesel engine can be used.

My point being even for a particular model of vehicle the best power source depends how it's used. The last thing I want is for people to be forced into something they don't want. Not only is it against my political view, but it hinders progress. If the party of Pelosi mandates all new cars must be electric by 2020 it would result in a ton of old cars kept on the road. While there might seem to be a benefit through competition in the battery suppliers under such a regulation the opposite would likely be the case. Why innovate when others are forced to buy your existing product?

Ultimately I believe we should use every form of propulsion where appropriate and the same with energy production. Consider our ancestors as they moved across this nation. Before they could start traversing the continent they came across an ocean in a ship propelled by wind. They may have ridden a train powered by steam created through burning coal. They may have ridden horses or had oxen pulling their wagon - what's more flex fuel than a grazing beast? When they homesteaded they once again captured the power of the wind, and those next to a stream may have used the power of the moving water to grind their wheat. They found many and varied solutions to their energy needs. They had to.

For the last hundred years we've used oil exclusively for our transportation. Petroleum fuel might still be the best choice for your vehicle, but that's a choice you don't have now, a lack of choice that gives others too much control over our economy. It's time to think outside the barrel.

[Shoestring]

Bio-Fuels baby!

[dadyswat]

I think it will go back quickly, you new adimistration and Democratic Congress hate oil and coal. Look to pay for all your energy soon.

[10-42Adam]

It's going to go back up sooner before later in my opinion...

[Morris]

Well, with OPEC cutting output today, seems likely.

[Norm357]

Gas will go up.

OPEC, led by Chavez is dieing to cut oil supplies into the U.S., but Saudi Arabia is blocking that by stating that they will drop out of OPEC before they allow that to happen.

[dadyswat]

Carbon credits will increase the cost of all your energy but it will make the UN happy.

[narcodog]

I listen to Bloomberg Radio quite often and the experts on there have said that for the oil that they are now pumping from ND, SD and Wy that the price of a barrel of crude needs to stay between $72 and 80.00 Which means that the price will go back up but not for about nine months and then it will not be as high as it was.

The oil shale that is being mined in Canada must also stay at that level.

Last week thee was a tory on one of the news channels that showed the new oil facilities in Saudia Arabia which will not come on line for another two years. This place was freaking huge and the Minister said that it will be able to pump for fifty years. He was also questioned about the price of oil and he admitted that since 85% of Saudi's GNP was from oil it had to stay up. He also himself lost $4 billion dollars.

There has also been discussion that the spike in oil was from speculators not the lack of oil. Then the hurricans also put a damper on production so with the two combined it put the price on up there.

So it will go up but not to the levels that it was at last summer.

[ChesCopPodz]

Oil, as it has done in the past, will continue to roller coaster up and down. When? I don't know. As stated, it could be 50 days or 50 years until the next crunch. The prices came down again after the 70's gas fiasco. They came back down after the past 3 years worth of high prices. They'll go up again, and they'll come back down again.

I remember talking to people last year about this and I was dismissed as dumb for saying we would see prices under $2 again, yet here we are.