GAS WARS/SOLUTION TO LOWERING GAS PRICES - Long
 

Interesting idea. Now for American Motorist reality.

Rule #1 in the gasoline business, PRICE IS KING! People buy price.

Rule #2 LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!! People have ZERO spare time and will buy where convenient.

Here’s the rest of the retail story:

99% of motorists have about a 2 cent conscience. That means they would buy from Saddam and Satan’s Gas and Go if unleaded was 2 cents below their FAVORITE dealer.

Now on the wholesale side:

#1 The petroleum business is global in nature. The big refiners make their billions on their crude production and refining. Their market is the world, what the US doesn’t need, the Chinese and Europeans are happy to soak up.

#2 Net profit off retail sales in America are a rounding error on Big Oil annual statements. Just look at ANY major refiner end of year report. The fact that all the big guys are dumping retail properties in every market (ever notice how many abandoned gas stations there are in urban areas?) means they could care less about the motoring public and the related volume.

#3 Global demand (driven heavily by China) is so high and supply is so tight anyone with either crude or a refinery will be printing money for at least the next decade.

#4 The majority of our electricity in America is powered by petroleum fueled generators. With virtually every home loaded with personal electronics which didn’t even exist 20 years ago AND heated and cooled by a heat pump, electricity demand is growing at an alarming rate. PLUS!! No one wants another nuclear power plant built anywhere. Talk about dumb, let’s see, contribute heavily to global warming while lining the pockets of those you hate and depend more than ever on unstable foreign governments because you don’t THINK nuclear energy is safe? Take note of France, the liberal capital of the universe! Clean dependable STABLE Nuclear power and an awesome mass transit infrastructure. You never hear them whining about the price of gasoline.

The moral of the story. Treat the cause, not the effect.

In summary.

Any intelligent activist should do two things.

#1 Invest heavily in Exxon, Shell, BP, Valero or any other company that controls crude oil or owns a refinery.

#2 If they execute #1 they’ll be so damn rich they won’t care about $4.00 a gallon as they pump it in their new X5!;)

Urban legend. Nothing else. http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

Yeah....this is much foolishness to think that the general public can do anything to manipulate gas prices. Gas prices are going nowhere but up and this will continue until the supply of oil in the world is depleted, sometime in the next 25-75 years most likely depending on how much the demand grows. As we get closer and closer to that point, the price will continue to rise. If you are curious about this, look up the term "peak oil" on google and you will find many good books on the subject.

The oil companies are doing their best to make sure we do not go onto other alternative energy sources, so they can continue to rape us as the cost becomes insane over the next few years. That is the great "conspiracy" if there is one. The price increases are just natural laws of supply and demand.

If we want to save on energy costs, we need to presure our government to spend money on developing alternative energy sources. But so far I have seen nothing from the government but cheap talk. If a 3rd World country like Brazil can do it, so can we.

The argument regarding Brazil is misplaced in that Brazil uses sugercane which is several times more efficient that corn based ethanol. Additionally Brazil can grow sugarcane 365 days a year. Chrystal meth seems to be the only thing you can make during a Nebraska winter.

Why in the heck don't we create private-sector tax incentives to establish hydogen fueling networks across the nation along with zero sales, income, and payroll tax for any US-based and US majority-owned company that designs, manufactures or sub-contracts to an entity which produces a viable hydrogen fueled internal combustion engine?

Additionally, establish 2 for 1 CAFE standard credits for every hydrogen powered vehicle on the road. Create tax credits for investors who buy stock in hydrogen power companies, etc.

Let the free market drive both the price of oil and the development of new technologies. Question: How many folks do you know who've purchased a Ford Excursion in the past 90 days? The force-Exxon-to-lower-it's-prices concept is urban legend. I doubt even Ceasar Chavez could sell fuel at $1.30 here.

The dead giveaway regarding chain letters is "All you have to do is send this to 10 people.

A few weeks ago Art Bell had on his radio program a guy who owns a company out in New Mexico that converts cars over to hydrogen fuel cells. Not only has he received no incentives from the government, but they have harassed him to death at every chance they get. He has been visited multiple times by every sort of building & health inspector you could imagine, he has been forced to pay large fees for various permits to operate his equipment, as well as many fines for what he says is trumped up BS, and he has been audited by the IRS every year his company has been in existance even though the IRS has never found anything.

Basically, all this harassment has raised his expenses considerably and have caused him to have to charge much higher prices. He also says he his offices have been broken into several times and trashed, even though the thiefs did not steal anything.

Anyway, I can assure you that not only is the government not going to give any incentive for this stuff, but they are going to do their best to make sure it never happens. They may give nice speaches, but it is all talk. The oil companies are too powerful and will make sure it never happens -- at least not in the near future.

There are hydrogen powered vehicles, but that isn't the problem. There is no hydrogen distribution network, but that isn't the problem. The problem is that hydrogen is being touted as a fuel. As long as it takes energy to produce hydrogen, hydrogen shouldn't be considered a fuel, but rather a way of storing energy.

It is analogous to electric vehicles. Until we have clean cheap electricity (compared to today's sources) electric vehicles in most cities aren't clean, they are just causing the air to be dirty over the power station instead of where they are being driven. And, the efficiency losses through the distribution channel from the power station to the vehicle battery mean that we are setting ourselves back, not helping, on the energy conservation front.

I thought the Germans have been making hydrogen with solar powered electrolysis for years. Don't they have these massive operations in North Africa? And does not Air Liquide or somebody already have this huge hydrogen pipeline? I was under the impression that low density and high volatility of the fuel was the issue. Tanks would be large due to the quantity needed to provide any meaningful range. Isn't there a hydrogen fuel celled bus in Chicago?

http://www.bmwusa.com/hydrogen

BMW 745h Concept Car (2001)

BMW's sixth-generation hydrogen concept car, used for testing and educational purposes, uses the current 7 Series as its basis. Like its predecessors, the 745h has two fuel tanks -- one for gasoline, one for liquid hydrogen. When fueled by hydrogen, its 4.4-liter V-8 generates 182 horsepower, which helps it reach 62 mph in 9.9 seconds, and a top speed of 134 mph.