Scenes From What Could Be Our Coming Oil Nightmare

[NATO AIR]

WFB poses a frightening scenario that could become all too true unless we take steps now to become more energy efficent and self-reliant.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3315341
Scenes from what could be our coming oil nightmare
By WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY

Raymond J. Learsy has written a book memorable in the special sense that nightmares can be memorable, but also useful. If the nightmare is that you died of an overdose of drugs, and the memory of it causes you when in command to draw back from the marginal dose, then the nightmare has served a purpose. Raymond Learsy writes (his book is called Over a Barrel: Breaking the Middle East Oil Cartel ) about what could happen if we continue to go as we are going. The price of gasoline as I write is 60 percent higher than it was a year ago. Such data require extrapolation.

After 200 pages of history and analysis, telling the story of the founding of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, of manipulations and broken promises and extortion and opportunism, Learsy acknowledges OPEC's success. Sixty-dollar-a-barrel oil is certainly a success, but the body on which it feeds does not expand, pari passu, with the successes of OPEC. It does not matter how much you consume, if the supplies are inexhaustible and your capacity insatiable. But here is what we might be facing if oil rose to $100 per barrel.

I paraphrase the author: Commuters suddenly forced to pay double for a gallon of gas begin to brown-bag their lunches, inching away from restaurants and sandwich shops. Americans who can still afford a vacation go on shorter trips, putting a major dent in the tourist industry. Trucking companies hauling everything from wines and spirits to furniture to automobile parts impose a hefty surcharge on shippers, who pass it on to their customers, who then pass it further down the line to the retail buyer if they can.
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[Nuc]

It's not all bad. If people start riding bikes (rather than driving 2 blocks to go to the store), walking to work, or finding work close to home, or buying a home close to where they work, maybe America will be a better place. In fact it will look a lot more like it used to back in the days we tend to romanticize.

 

[sitarro]

It's not all bad. If people start riding bikes (rather than driving 2 blocks to go to the store), walking to work, or finding work close to home, or buying a home close to where they work, maybe America will be a better place. In fact it will look a lot more like it used to back in the days we tend to romanticize.

Oh shit I'm agreeing with you again nuc,
Yes this country is the land of the free, free to make stupid decisions. Living and commuting 40 miles to work is a standard all across the country, huge traffic jams of single driver 3 ton vehicles is so rediculously assinine it is hard to believe it is done by so many so easily.When I lived on the outskirts of Denver I road the express bus into the city. I slept or read the 45 minute commute and then walked the 4 extra blocks to work. No parking problems, no excess abuse to my truck and I read both Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead along with many newspapers and how to books.Now I work out of my home and fly to where ever my next job is located.I refuse to take part in the awful 8-5 lifestyle.I live about 35 miles from downtown and I see the traffic start getting serious about 5 am every morning.Why don't more companies stagger their start and finish times? Why aren't traffic lights more high tech? Why are drive-thrus still in use?Why doesn't this country have a modern high speed rail system? Why not reward people that make smart decisions with tax breaks? We need a government that will work with us rather than just take and give to the ones wth the strongest lobby.
We the people have the ultimate power if we could only work together to do the smart things for our survival. that is where the true freedom can be found. We the people need to demand more from the ones that want our votes. The political parties have marketed themselves as teams and the people as fans. This isn't a game, this is life and the team all of us should be supporting is America, we need to do what is best for our country. Career politicians need to be thrown out and a new politiical system needs to be adopted, one that doesn't produce these leeches tht are more concerned with reelection than the business of running the country. We the people should inform ourselves of the business practices of those that want to make their livings here and refuse to support those companies that don't share our interest. If Wal Mart doesn't want to stock American made products, screw them and any others that would sell out their country for more profit.
I know , this sounds impossible but unless we change we will lose our standing in this world and we too can look forward to third world status. The greed and materialism needs to stop, neither create happiness or well being and neither are what makes America great. :hail:

 

[alien21010]

Which is exactly what WILL happen when crude hits $100 a barrel. You have to also realize that even though crude may be $60 a barrel, depending on their operating costs... They may be making little profit.

Mass transit will take off when gas finally becomes prohibitively expensive... Until the next wave of cheap energy hits... At which point we will digress into our consumptive lifestyles.

 

[KarlMarx]

when crude gets to be $100 a barrel, guess what.... alternate energy sources will probably become more attractive.....

Back in 1973, when we had the so-called "energy crisis", Back then, many were talking about massive shortages, the planet was running out of natural resources, lo and behold, the environmentalists were right! Ecological calamity was at hand and with it a global depression! Well, they were (as usual) wrong..... the economy survived and so did our nation and we had fewer options back then. Suddenly, the economy started producing energy efficient cars, energy efficient windows, the insulation industry took off, and technologies for reusing and reducing energy use were born. (Hey, I remember it all, I was there!)

Now we have telecommuting, smaller, more energy efficient autos, our economy is more energy efficient in many ways than it was in 1973.

So... for those that think that the government should "do" something about rising energy costs and should "help" develop alternative energy, I say.... they can "help" by staying out of the whole bloody mess.

When the price of crude makes the internal combustion engine too prohibitive from a cost standpoint and people can't afford to drive automobiles any longer, the private sector isn't going to sit around and wait for the government to "do" something about it. No, GM, Ford and the others will start developing electric cars, the utilities will start to use other sources of energy that are cheaper. In short, the market will "do something" about helping to develop alternative energy sources by allowing the price of crude oil to push the economy in that direction.....

 

[Mr. P]

when crude gets to be $100 a barrel, guess what.... alternate energy sources will probably become more attractive.....

Back in 1973, when we had the so-called "energy crisis", Back then, many were talking about massive shortages, the planet was running out of natural resources, lo and behold, the environmentalists were right! Ecological calamity was at hand and with it a global depression! Well, they were (as usual) wrong..... the economy survived and so did our nation and we had fewer options back then. Suddenly, the economy started producing energy efficient cars, energy efficient windows, the insulation industry took off, and technologies for reusing and reducing energy use were born. (Hey, I remember it all, I was there!)

Now we have telecommuting, smaller, more energy efficient autos, our economy is more energy efficient in many ways than it was in 1973.

So... for those that think that the government should "do" something about rising energy costs and should "help" develop alternative energy, I say.... they can "help" by staying out of the whole bloody mess.

When the price of crude makes the internal combustion engine too prohibitive from a cost standpoint and people can't afford to drive automobiles any longer, the private sector isn't going to sit around and wait for the government to "do" something about it. No, GM, Ford and the others will start developing electric cars, the utilities will start to use other sources of energy that are cheaper. In short, the market will "do something" about helping to develop alternative energy sources by allowing the price of crude oil to push the economy in that direction.....

I agree Karl...

I think the time to move is NOW though, ahead of when the price of crude makes the internal combustion engine too cost prohibitive resulting in a collapse of the economy, not after. I too lived through the 73 "energy crisis", things are different now, this is 2005. More cars, people, demand both here and worldwide. International relations are strained too.

I'm not an alarmist, I think we can avoid a collapse, we hold enough reserves (raw in ground) to survive if we need to, but we surly face a crisis soon without action IMO.

On a positive note...I may invest in diesel engines. There's a guy here in Atlanta that converts
diesels to run on used vegetable oil. Here's a renewable resource that's cheap. So the private sector is already stepping up with solutions.

 

[KarlMarx]

I agree Karl...

I think the time to move is NOW though, ahead of when the price of crude makes the internal combustion engine too cost prohibitive resulting in a collapse of the economy, not after. I too lived through the 73 "energy crisis", things are different now, this is 2005. More cars, people, demand both here and worldwide. International relations are strained too.

I'm not an alarmist, I think we can avoid a collapse, we hold enough reserves (raw in ground) to survive if we need to, but we surly face a crisis soon without action IMO.

On a positive note...I may invest in diesel engines. There's a guy here in Atlanta that converts
diesels to run on used vegetable oil. Here's a renewable resource that's cheap. So the private sector is already stepping up with solutions.

I've heard that diesel engines will run on anything, with the right adjustments.

 

[alien21010]

I agree that the allowing the market to react in a natural manner is the best solution to the coming energy crisis (by crisis I mean shortage of fossil fuels). However, that being said, I still think that it would be prudent for the government to provide incentives for R&D by private corporations. On some of the more radical technologies (nuclear fusion for example) the government should foot a large portion of an incredibly large bill.

 

[Mr. P]

I've heard that diesel engines will run on anything, with the right adjustments.

Rudolf Diesel's prime model, a single 10 ft (3 m) iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, ran on its own power for the first time in Augsburg, Germany on August 10, 1893. In remembrance of this event, August 10 has been declared International Biodiesel Day. Diesel later demonstrated his engine and received the "Grand Prix" (highest prize) at the World Fair in Paris, France in 1900. This engine stood as an example of Diesel's vision because it was powered by peanut oil.....

Peanut oil and a running engine, in 1893!!!! Geeezzzz, what are we waiting for? Wait, I know, some politician to tell us about our "new" technology. :rotflmao:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel