Do you think that gas prices in excess of $3.00 per gallon will promote exploration of alternative fuels?

Question

I have read that since there has been more talk of increasing the fuel mileage mandated by the government, that the oil companies have decided to limit the refining process of oil. This will limit the amount of fuel produced, and keep the price higher. Do you think we will see effective alternative fuels produced, and marketed well enough to put the squeeze on big oil?

Answer 1

The search for alternatives to fossil fuel has been going on for quite some time and it's not going to be the present generation of drivers, like you and me, who ultimately will benefit...it's much farther "down the road" so to speak.

A "new" alternative is Ethanol, but, it's NOT so new...
Ethanol is not a new fuel. In the 1850s, ethanol was a major lighting fuel. During the Civil War, a liquor tax was placed on ethanol to raise money for the war.

E85, the alternative fuel that is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline is an interesting case study in the effort to bring down the high price of gasoline at the pump....whereas this might happen sometime in the future as cars are modified to run on E85, the amount of corn required to produce it is going to raise prices in other consumer areas....for example, corn is cattle feed....if there is not a sufficient amount of corn available and other feeds are necessary to raise our beef, then the price of beef will go up.
We may save money on gasoline but, the savings might be offset by higher prices being paid for food (meat) where corn is required in it's production.
There gonna getcha one way or the other.

Here's a sample of alternatives to fossil fuel:
Biodiesel
Electric
Ethanol
Fuel Cells
Hydrogen
Methanol
Natural Gas
Propane
Solar

Examining any one of those tells us that we are light years away from anything effectively taking the place of gasoline.

The thing that would have the biggest "immediate" impact on the price of gasoline at the pump would be to build more refineries..there is plenty of oil available on the world market but we are limited in number of refineries producing gasoline which keeps the price of gasoline as high as it is.

Answer 2

First of all, there are BILLIONS of dollars being spent, much of it by these "evil" oil companies, to try to find an economical alternative fuel.

But there are none as of yet. Prices will have to go much higher before the alternative fuels become economical.

Ethanol is only close to gasoline because the government is subsidizing it. But that will change as the demand for corn to produce ethanol goes up.

Answer 3

"Put the squeeze on big oil"?

You act as if they're the enemy. Their business is to find, produce and refine oil. They do that and do it well. They do it so well that the alternatives are no where near cost effective.

The price of oil and the price of the alternatives will meet some day but, in comparison to the alternatives, $3.00 a gallon is VERY cheep.

You will see drops in consumption rather than a switch to alternatives at first as prices rise.

Answer 4

I never really paid attention until I got a car in the late 80s. I remember one summer when I was working at a job that was about 30 miles away. I had a little Honda Civic hatchback, and I remember gas prices were down, and I was paying around 88 cents a gallon. It cost about 8 bucks to fill the tank.

Answer 5

Yes we have allot of thinkers on it now 3 years ago nobody thought about alternative energy just a hand full now its turning into the latest fad.

www.first-molecule.com
Alternative fuel company is just one of many but this one i found interesting because its for all and not for just who can afford it . Cold fusion does exists proved many years ago but was never introduced to the public because of the size it took to use this technology but with all the new tech we have today this guy managed to miniaturize it just like the cell phones and computers keep getting smaller

Email him ask questions what can it hurt

Answer 6

Yes. And if they still refuse to provide ethanol, we can grow it ourselves. An acre of switchgrass will produce about 1200 gallons, or about 1 year's worth of fuel. Considering the cost of land, a practical distilling unit, and an adequate mower, you're looking at an amortization breakeven point of about 7 years. Once people realize this, INDIVIDUALS will be able to kill the oil monopoly, one car at a time.

Answer 7

If gas prices ever get that high people will probably go to other alternative measures. They will probably try first to get ethonal fuel followed by car pooling then hybrid cars and if all out fails then they will probably stop using cars on a whole. Really when gas prices are that high who really wants do drive a car espeacally during rush hour traffic?

Answer 8

Leave big oil alone ,they are our only salvation we have. Of course u could do like the Japanese when I was there a taxi I caught was run on charcoal and a small boiler to produce steam and the motor had been changed so it was like a steam engine.

Answer 9

It only seems logical that someone will come up with some alternative fuel source that is both economical and practical - I hope. The more scarce a resource becomes, the more fervent we become to finding alternative solutions.

Answer 10

We already have one effective alternative ... nuclear. We should not be using oil to generate electricity. If the French can do it, we can.