tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5685203.post6944672057703464295..comments2008-09-08T17:13:36.075-04:00Andy Donaldsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14295083854547806440noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5685203.post-44119695120601127862008-09-08T17:13:00.000-04:002008-09-08T17:13:00.000-04:00jesse venture in 2012MegatonMaynardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14837656050412527149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5685203.post-88213799673000242552008-09-08T04:54:00.000-04:002008-09-08T04:54:00.000-04:00If a galon is 3.7 liters 1 galon of gas costs about 7.41$ in Germany. Still yesterday most cars were faster than me going like 85 miles on a german autobahn. And I can tell you from experience that you spend a lot more gas by driving like 130 miles per hour than 85. <BR/>We really need to save energy consumption. I had plenty to bitch about my country in the last years, but in this energy thing we are quite good (except driving limit on autobahn would be a good idea). <BR/>We have a great long distance train system, lots of alternative energy &amp; people using smart technology to save energy, partly due to subsidies, but also to people awareness. <BR/>You Americans can really save a lot by developing a more energy eficient mindset. Cheap gas prices won&#39;t help in the process. <BR/>The huge windfall profits due to high oil prices seems to foster a not very simpático breed of Governments in the producer countries (to name a few: Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran). It creates a nice environment for corruption and often hampers economic development by innovation, sound institutions, competition, etc.Axel Janssennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5685203.post-63985000701120259482008-09-08T00:04:00.000-04:002008-09-08T00:04:00.000-04:00I completely agree with the general idea that we need to move to energy independence. The difference between the goal of getting to the moon and attaining this independence, much as I like the concept, is that in the case of the moon, only the government and scientists they hired had to be involved. In the case of energy independence, the government has to be heavily involved, but so do all the people in the country. You drive a '02 Ford Focus, but nothing the government is going to do is going to make that use less gas, so part of the solution is going to require people like you (and me and everybody else) buying more efficient cars as they become available. Yet, if we all ran out and bought hybrids now, we wouldn't run out and buy more efficient hybrids in two years. Replacing individual automobiles is the hardest thing to accomplish, followed by making individual houses more fuel efficient (or more, switching to alternative energy).<BR/><BR/>This is a huge task, and one will will all have to fight for, no matter which party wins. Granted, Barack Obama has actually stated this ten year goal, but even if elected, the government will not, and can not, do it by itself.Ben Langhinrichshttp://www.geniisoft.com/showcase.nsf/GeniiBlognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5685203.post-18848741898724288092008-09-07T22:25:00.000-04:002008-09-07T22:25:00.000-04:00The US produces ~10% of the world's petroleum output. We consume 25% of it. We simply can not drill our way out of high gas prices. We would have to increase our production to 250% of what it is today just to become energy independent, and nobody -- Nobody! -- is proposing that drilling could do that, and it still wouldn't lower the price substantially even if we could. Why? Because demand in the rest of the world is exploding. The majority of the world's reserves are held by countries that work as a cartel to keep production in order to support higher prices, maximizing their long-term income. We have 2% of the world's proven reserves. As demand continues to increase around the world, we can not possibly increase our production enough to meet it, therefore the world price will still be set by the cartel, and our oil companies will sell at the world price (unless we nationalize them, which I'm sure nobody would be crazy enough to support). "Drill now!" is a slogan, not a solution. There is only one solution: reduce our consumption of petroleum and aggressively move to alternative energy. Only one side in this year's election recognizes this: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergyRichard Schwartzhttp://www.poweroftheschwartz.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5685203.post-27408314350171063992008-09-07T20:51:00.000-04:002008-09-07T20:51:00.000-04:00Andy,<BR/><BR/>Your right and when I say that I mean, if we would have drilled 10 years ago when they said it would take 10 years then where would we be today?<BR/><BR/>There is plenty of OIL here in the US and Canada for us to really not need the bad guys OIL.<BR/><BR/>I don't think we are that close to something other than OIL as a fuel for our transportation. I think we are a lot farther than we think, and even 20 years from now we are still going to need OIL for other things even if we are not using it for transportation. Anyone want to guess what's not in your house that is not mail with OIL? Not much.<BR/><BR/>I don't think OIL prices are going to drop that soon, but it's emotional more than it is supply and demand so we need to fix that too.<BR/><BR/>-DavidDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12174932366622416217noreply@blogger.com