I can make gas out of a lot of things.
Hot dogs, burgers, pepsi …
John you ain’t right man!!!
Lets go to Kentucky and buy up some coal and gasify some for our race cars and tow rigs. We’ll fox their jocks. I wonder why I never heard of that. I thought I was up on energy. At least I was before I retired. Now I gotta check my drivers license to see what my name is. I have CRS, Can’t remember stuff. Is that coal gasification process expensive? I wouldn’t put it past the oil companys to buy it out to keep it off the market. In the 70’s a guy contacted me about assisting him with the testing of a fully electric car. I did help him some.I went for several test rides in his car. It was really strange. The loudest thing I heard was the tires on the road. I didn’t hear from him for a while so I called him to see what had happened. He said he had sold the technology to an investor in Texas. I later found out that I think it was Exon that bought it and it never surfaced. He had developed batteries that were relativly cheap and an on board charging system. What I was helping him with was metering of the electricity it took to charge it. As I remember it was not much. I think he used about 10KWH in a month or something like that. Your AC unit kicks on and it’ll probably cooling your house for a couple hours and burns that much. That coal stuff and the hydrogen engines from europe look good. I read something about methane Gas in making fuel. Now thats where Tenney comes in. LOL! His hamburgers and french fries. Cabbage works good for me. But seriously haven’t they experimented with fuel from burning garbage? That’d be neat, get rid of the garbage and make fuel at the same time. Bob…
[QUOTE=john tenney;7723]I can make gas out of a lot of things.
Hot dogs, burgers, pepsi …[/QUOTE]
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Finally tenney says something I can relate with.
While converting coal to gas may sound intriguing, it’s not as simple or cheap as the coal producers would want you to think. The worse part is they want the taxpayers to subsidize the cost of building the plants, guarantee minimum prices for the new fuel, and guarantee big purchases by the government for the next 25 years. An informative article can be found at http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=worse-than-gasoline&colID=2
I think ethanol is a viable short term option BUT not ethanol from corn. That just doesn’t make sense. We need to develop inexpensive technology to produce ethanol from grasses and waste products that are cellulose based. For instance, just look at what is left behind in logging operations.
I also think the car companies have to keep developing energy efficient vehicles. I think there are ways to make vehicles more efficient. How about using the wind created by a car traveling down the road to turn a generator to charge the batteries of a hybrid car. Or even figuring out a way to harness the static electricity that is generated when a vehicle moves through the air. I’m not smart enough to do it but I’m sure it could be done, if the right people set their minds to it.
As for the current situation, I’m at a loss. There’s the economics of supply and demand, and as long as we keep demanding it the price will rise. I do almost no extra traveling now. I don’t go to races, or the beach, or even the movies often. I can’t afford it. I think the government could help if they chose to. I don’t know what the figures are but, I think a significant portion of the price of a gallon of fuel is taxes. I believe that’s why diesel is more than gasoline but I could be wrong. I live in Citrus county but I try to buy my gas in neighboring counties where they don’t have as high a tax rate on the gas. (Sure the county gets more income from the sale of a gallon of gasoline but how much income are they losing because of customers like me.) I think the greed of the oil companies, that are lying in bed with the politicians, are the problem right now. I think we need to try to use less by using more efficient vehicles and changing our driving habits. Ultimately, I think it’s up to the vehicle manufactures to develop alternative fuel vehicles. And it’s up to the consumer to demand energy that is not dependent on hydrocarbons. There is plenty of nearly free energy in the winds, sun, and sea. Let’s develop it and screw the view of the Kennedy compound.
OK, I’ve rambled on too much. I’ve been trying to restrict my posting so I don’t offend anyone, but I had to reply to this. 
Here’s a few tips
Don’t fill up, just put about a 1/4 tank, you may find it cheaper down the road. Don’t fill up before you go home, easy pickens for siphon hose or as some say Ga. credit card. Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, Mobil, Marthon, Amoco, and Citgo come from over seas. Try to buy Sunoco, Conoco, Hess, ARCO, BP-Phillips, Sinclair, Pilot, Flying J’s, Love’s, Racetrac, or Valero, these may be a little higher and are American made.
Hey up here in Ontario, Canada we pay around $1.25 per litre of gas. There are roughly 4 litres in a gallon so do the math. We pay around $5 for a gallon of gas. I am right on the border (Detroit/Windsor) so going over to the states is actually cheaper to fill up even with the toll $.
Was over in Michigan this past weekend and paid $3.60 a gallon so about .90 cents a litre. I got 40 litres (10 gallons) and paid $36. Back home that would have cost me $50 ($1.25 x 40). Even with toll which is about $4 each way I still came out ahead. Not that I want or can do this all the time but when you go over to the states for whatever, it is always better to go over near empty and fill up.
Just my 2 cents on the topic. Ours is so high because our government puts so much tax on gas. Guess they know what they are doing. HAHAHAHA!!!
Makes everything cost more now. Not only gas but now food and all other things are costing more because of cost to truck things anywhere.
Wish we could all go back to horse and buggy. Might make some races more interesting.
THANKS FOR LISTENING.
RON
Same thing here in Trois Rivi?res, Qu?bec, $1.28 liter
Montr?al this morning: $1.35 liter
Here in Qu?bec, we have been at $1.00+ for close to 2 years now.
I guess we’ll have to get use to it. I would be very surprise it would ever go back to 50//60 cents a liter. Would be way too nice.
Andr?
Andre…
thats what im having a problem with…“we just have to get used to it”… i dont think we have to be controlled by oil barons or politicians… we made them and we should be able to find a way to control THEM… i know they need to make a profit but having a trillion dollar debt and oil ompanies making zillions in profit in 2008 doesnt make sense. before bush came along we had reserve funds (our debts were paid too) and gas was about $2.00…somethings wrong and we need to do something.
i wonder if we sent out a country wide email to stop buying gas for a week if people would give up a week of comfort and stop buying if that would help. i just dont know. maybe that would make things worse.
bush sure has screwed up this country in a few short years.
i just know if we submit, we will pay!
carolwicks aka OZ
The solution for high gas prices
Since I have been called “The One Who Know Everything” by the wonder boy of all karnacians I will answer the question!
We need to start drilling all our own oil tommorow. Start building refineries like there is no tommorow. This should have been done a long time ago. It will take time but would get us independent of foreign oil even quicker! Once the rest of the world saw how serious we were about it the prices would start going down right away to discourage us from doing all this!
To say we wouldn’t have any nature without environmentalist is very nieve. Boneman is right they have done more harm to the environment than anyone else!
Also to answer the diesel question. When they stop the refining on a gallon of diesel they could continue cutting it and make two gallons of gas!
The one who knows everythingI work at a coal fired power plant. And you all need to call the Gov. and tell him to stop his ban on NEW COAL PLANTS in Fla. That only leaves gas and oil or nukes to make the steam that powers the turbines. And we all know what the prices for natural gas and oil are doing now a days.
Spoken like a True Democrat! Bush screwed everything up. Last I checked the House and Senate were controlled by Democrats and in situations such as this they have more power than the President. Any President, Republician or Democrat
Holding off on buying gas for a week won’t make any difference… we’ll just be filling up again in 7 days at a higher rate than we would have today/tommorow. We will still be dependant a week from now.
We need to get rid of so many gas guzzling “vanity” vehicles that are on the road. Every time you see (or are driving) a huge SUV or a Hummer, realize THEY (you) are a big part of the problem too… not just the government or foreign oil companies. We can all get from point A to B and back on 4 cylinders as much as we can with 8 cylinders. Of course, larger families make this impossible, but look around at how many huge cars and trucks only have 1 person in them at a time.
How many of you travel a fair distance to get to work and back (I know I do)? How about looking into moving closer to your job? With the real estate market so far down, I’m sure there are some great bargains that are half the distance you are traveling now. If I’m spending $200 a month on gas to get to work and back, and am able to cut that in half, then I’m buying 25 gallons per month less than I was… in other words, my DEMAND is down. If everyone’s DEMAND was cut in half, then the SUPPLY wouldn’t be worth as much as it is now.
I don’t think there is any kind of “coaltiion” we can form that is gonna make one damn bit of difference to our government, Mobil/Exxon or OPEC. It’s gonna take each and every one of us to USE less fuel whenever possible. It’s US that need to be ‘smarter’, because we will never become more POWERFUL.
Alternative fuels (which I like in principal) will be years of developement down the road. It will take a huge investment by the boys in Washington (who have already shown that they neither care, nor can control what’s happening now). It’s up to US… as individuals, to make a difference. Pissing and moaning about it while driving your SUV 30 miles to work each day is NOT gonna get us anywhere. Downsize your own lifestyle some, and then maybe we can all afford to splurge on a trip to the racetracks a little more often!
JMO!
P.S. - I have cut down my distance between work and home from 35 miles to 17. It’s still too much, but it’s HALF of what it WAS!
Using less fuel does not work. Its not a supply problem. There is plenty of supply. Using less fuel will only drive prices up even higher because the oil companies will want to make the same amount of profit so they will need a higher profit to cost ratio.
Rick Williamson
Hey Rick, What company do you work for? I am retired from FPL after 33 years. I never worked directly in the plant but I worked at the plant several times. Building lines into it to build boilers or at Manatee I built a Vault to run a water pumping station. I was a line man and Cable splicer, and a Trouble dispatcher the last 6 years. Bob…
Go alcohol!!!
I know the reasons that have been given in the past for not running alcohol instead of race gas such as “you can’t see the fires, you use almost twice as much etc, etc”. But maybe the time is right for a change. With race fuel being $7.00 and $8.00 a gallon who knows where it will go in a very short time. Methanol is less than a third of that! Yes there are some changes to be made in your equipment, but they are minimal compared to the benefits. Slightly more torque, easier on parts, less engine temperature plus you don’t have to worry about the dreaded “gas explosions” in accidents. I know our Sunoco race gas distributors at the track also distribute methanol. It’s pretty sad when a winged sprinter can buy fuel for less than we can. Obviously they are sitting pretty now!
There was a book out recently about the “old days” of the gas shortage in 1973. Something about how it was a plot cooked up by Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon to get the arabs more money since we weren’t allowed to give them money due to the Israeli situation but yet we wanted to earn their trust in diplomatic relations.
Interesting read, and probably not a word of truth in it, but I always loved conspiracy theories
Hi Bob, I work for The City of Lakeland. I have 34 years with them as of next Tuesday 4/29/08. I am what’s called a Control Center Operator. I fire the boilers, and run the turbine/generators. We have 2 units that fire oil (one high sulphur and one low sulphur) and those units can also burn natural gas. Unit 1 makes 90 MW’s of power and Unit 2 makes 115 MW’s. Our coal unit #3 makes 360 MW’s and burns about 3,400 tons of coal a day. Rick…
Cool Rick, we had control center operators too. The plant employees were in the union with us, but the only time we saw them was contract time. They seemed to always be filing greivences about all kinds of things. I think the thing was they had them under their thumb all day.When I was in the field I left the service center in the morning and I mabey saw the super once a day, if that. As long as I got my work done in a timely manner and it didn’t blow up when I made it hot I was ok. Is Lakeland union? I fully well believe that had we not had the union they would have killed a bunch of us. Especially the last several years I was there. I had a supervisor one time that came up with a dumb idea about something and I looked at him and said Think about what you just told me. He said if you think about it it won’t work. And that dude signed my time sheet, scary Huh? I some times thought I’d like the plant but you mostly do the same thing every day. In the field I did something different most evey day. I got used to that at a young age and it would have been hard to change.
Are you still racing with the Southern Sportsmen Series? Bobby at CCMP had a sportsmen race a couple of weeks ago and there was 21 cars I think. Was a good show. He has been getting good car counts in all classes. I have been traveling with the United Dirt Late Model Series this year and we have had 40+ cars for every show this year. I am really enjoying that. Bob…
Are you on drugs? Methanol is over 5 dollars per gallon. It takes a bushel of corn to make a gallon of methanol. How much does a bushel of corn sell for?
It does take 2 times as much methanol to go the same distance as gasoline so 5 dollars per gallon times 2 equals 10+ dollars for the same distance as gasoline. Oh yeah and gas is less maintenance. Alcohol motors have to be flushed with gasoline because the alcohol is very corrosive.
Ok, Comments to some of the posts, (i’m not gonna quote everyone.) “We should pump our own oil here in the US”. Why? the oil companies will still charge you for it based on the market. That’s what i have been trying to tell everyone. “if we buy less they will charge more”. yes, for a very VERY short spike, then they will drop the price to get us buying it again…(cheap sales are better than no sales). Frasson hit it hardest with WE need to change up and stop gobbling this stuff up! The government won’t do anything because there is nothing they can do…free business, many of you know what i mean. The owner of my company and myself now carpool and drop one another off at meeting while the other is… wherever. It kinda sucks but that is 1 less truck in our company on the road every day.