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techstepgenr8tion
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15 Mar 2012, 2:31 pm

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^Agreed, there's no doubt about the drag that high energy prices can put on economic growth. And we all know how cranky Americans can be when gasoline gets expensive. I guess the Republicans have finally found their election issue. But most thinking people understand that there's no short-term fix to this, that we can't bring down gasoline prices by passing a law.

Short term would be allow Keystone and ramp up drilling in the US. Intermediate term; keep aiding research into alternative fuels and batteries for electric cars as well as stay on top of solar as that will be the future. Where emissions are a problem right now as well as a couple centuries of stacked CO2 we should expedite patent on a lot of the carbon sequestration technology that's coming on line right now.


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15 Mar 2012, 5:47 pm

The article I'm about to link to may be a bit dated and its title may scream "pinko Keynsian socialist," but I found this article to be an erudite perspective on why commodities like oil are priced higher than we'd expect them to be.

How Wall Street is Literally Killing Us



androbot2084
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15 Mar 2012, 5:57 pm

I think we should plant more trees in order to fight CO2 emissions.



AstroGeek
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15 Mar 2012, 6:09 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:
Billybones wrote:
^Agreed, there's no doubt about the drag that high energy prices can put on economic growth. And we all know how cranky Americans can be when gasoline gets expensive. I guess the Republicans have finally found their election issue. But most thinking people understand that there's no short-term fix to this, that we can't bring down gasoline prices by passing a law.

Short term would be allow Keystone and ramp up drilling in the US. Intermediate term; keep aiding research into alternative fuels and batteries for electric cars as well as stay on top of solar as that will be the future. Where emissions are a problem right now as well as a couple centuries of stacked CO2 we should expedite patent on a lot of the carbon sequestration technology that's coming on line right now.

Keystone is an absolutely horrible deal for Canada. Environmental impacts aside, it essentially means that we export refinery jobs to you. No thanks. We have enough Dutch Disease already--we don't need more.

Also, I don't get how Americans talk about Keystone providing energy sovereignty when Keystone is sending Canadian bitumen. That's not directed at you, just at some comments I've heard from politicians.



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15 Mar 2012, 6:31 pm

AstroGeek wrote:
Keystone is an absolutely horrible deal for Canada. Environmental impacts aside, it essentially means that we export refinery jobs to you. No thanks. We have enough Dutch Disease already--we don't need more.

Also, I don't get how Americans talk about Keystone providing energy sovereignty when Keystone is sending Canadian bitumen. That's not directed at you, just at some comments I've heard from politicians.


I'm in the US and anti-Keystone Pipeline, but that would be expected of a Bernie Sanders fan.


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Last edited by goodwitchy on 15 Mar 2012, 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

enrico_dandolo
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15 Mar 2012, 6:50 pm

Billybones wrote:
That said, who among us would be willing to give up our automobiles? My pick-up truck allows me to go where I want, when I want, in comfort & privacy, to work, in pursuit of my obsessions, or just to wander about. To me, that's the very essence of freedom.

I would. And my sister. Most of my friendly acquaintances, too. Defining as "the very essence of freedom" a product that has been in widespread use for less than a century is strange.



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15 Mar 2012, 6:54 pm

Automobiles are such a part of our culture that for all practical purposes automobiles have existed forever.



AstroGeek
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15 Mar 2012, 8:04 pm

enrico_dandolo wrote:
Billybones wrote:
That said, who among us would be willing to give up our automobiles? My pick-up truck allows me to go where I want, when I want, in comfort & privacy, to work, in pursuit of my obsessions, or just to wander about. To me, that's the very essence of freedom.

I would. And my sister. Most of my friendly acquaintances, too. Defining as "the very essence of freedom" a product that has been in widespread use for less than a century is strange.

If there was adequate mass transit I would never buy a car. In my home city (which is very small, actually) they used to have a great little network of electric streetcars and a few trains a day to the outlying communities, back before everyone and their dog owned a car. I'd love for something like that to come back.



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15 Mar 2012, 8:20 pm

I'm convinced that driving causes road rage. I swear, everyone who drives is competing for the space in front of them.



Vexcalibur
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15 Mar 2012, 11:16 pm

Cars are the most stupid invention in the history of mankind. And most overrated too.

We drive those 4 ton pieces of trash. I mean, think about it, whenever you drive your whole family around with your car, you are actually spending 90% of your energy on moving the godamn car. What a genius idea!


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15 Mar 2012, 11:33 pm

Cars allowed Suburbia to spread like a cancer around cities and along highways


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goodwitchy
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15 Mar 2012, 11:47 pm

Would cars be an integral component of Capitalism? I'm thinking of Route 66 in the US.



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16 Mar 2012, 12:02 am

Food for though.....

I worked on an oilrig in North Dakota and Wyoming last year. The wells we drilled cost about 9-12 million to drill and they produced anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 barrels of oil per day. For easy math we will use $100 per barrel. That means these wells are breaking even from 36 to 120 days after they start producing. Im pretty sure the only businesses that make that kind of ROI are illegal.

Just something to think about.



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16 Mar 2012, 12:30 pm

AstroGeek wrote:
enrico_dandolo wrote:
Billybones wrote:
That said, who among us would be willing to give up our automobiles? My pick-up truck allows me to go where I want, when I want, in comfort & privacy, to work, in pursuit of my obsessions, or just to wander about. To me, that's the very essence of freedom.

I would. And my sister. Most of my friendly acquaintances, too. Defining as "the very essence of freedom" a product that has been in widespread use for less than a century is strange.

If there was adequate mass transit I would never buy a car. In my home city (which is very small, actually) they used to have a great little network of electric streetcars and a few trains a day to the outlying communities, back before everyone and their dog owned a car. I'd love for something like that to come back.


If there was adequate mass transit where I live, I would use it too. If there was infrastructure in place to make bicycle commuting a safe & viable option, I would use that for sure. I'm as strong an advocate as anyone for public investment in such transportation infrastructure, & for planning infrastructure in a way that doesn't facilitate urban sprawl.

What I was trying to get at with my original comments were the allure of travel & the open road, & the fact that personally, for alot of the things I like to do, my truck is indispensable. Also that, from a public policy standpoint, it's naive to expect that a significant many of our fellow humans would be willing to give up their private automobiles.

For many, many reasons, not just the automobile, I'm grateful to be alive today rather than a century ago. If I'd been alive then, I probably would have been imprisoned or institutionalized.



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16 Mar 2012, 2:06 pm

Magdalena wrote:
This is total insanity. We (the U.S.) subsidize this industry and this is how the citizens are thanked. I remember the days when less than $10 would fill my tank, even if I got gas in a major city (such as where I live).
Time to change things.


It cost me £65 to fill my car. I have a small car, ford focus.



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16 Mar 2012, 2:17 pm

Vexcalibur wrote:
Cars are the most stupid invention in the history of mankind. And most overrated too.

We drive those 4 ton pieces of trash. I mean, think about it, whenever you drive your whole family around with your car, you are actually spending 90% of your energy on moving the godamn car. What a genius idea!


You haven't ridden in the golf mk6. American cars are pants.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDvYVaMxaFM[/youtube]