OPEC Sucks

[hi-tech cobra]

Dean,
Good post, I agree about attacking short and long term. Thinking outside the current energy box is needed. But the powers that be want things to stay the same. Lots of money involved here.

Take this for example: http://www.eyebeam.org/reblog/archiv...grid_effi.html

We could have all America's power needs meet with 100 square miles of these. Not to mention wave power (GE and Ireland just teamed up on a big project), wind power and grid tied PV powered homes.

Speaking of PV home systems. Here is a good site: http://www.solardaily.com/index.html

If cost on these systems came down and they became widespread think what would happen. Terrorist could not take down our power grid. We could cut our oil usage in half. Appliances would become more energy efficient. The nations electric supply would not be so strained, etc...

Also, I believe there are going to be some great investments in this sector-check out this book on Amazon:
Profiting from Clean Energy: A Complete Guide to Trading Green in Solar, Wind, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Carbon Credit Industries, and More (Wiley Trading)"
Richard W. Asplund

[mjmacqua]

Ever drive by an office building at night. Notice how all the lights are on and no one is there. Talk about waste. What about parking lights with no one in them, what about motion sensors for that.

There is tremendous waste.

Goverment gets in the way of progess way too often. Here on Long Island, NY they spent millions, probably billions building a nuclear power plant only to have it never run due to local politics. There are proposals for Wind farms in the atlantic 10 miles off shore. People are afraid you will see them (not in my back yard). Changes need to be made, politics need to get out of the way and people need to stop complaining and do something about it. Hey I do not want to pay 4 and 5 dollars a gallon and only get 5-7 miles a gallon in my cobra, come on people save a little and help my cause.

[rbray]

Everyone here needs to go green and get a small block in their Cobra.

You big block guys are destroying the planet for the rest of us.

[SP01715]

Filling up the Cobra, the boat, the Harley, or any of the other toys is the least of the problems for me. We have a vacation house that is a 600 mile round trip drive for us that we do at least twice a month. The vehicle we drive is a 2500 HD with a Duramax diesel, and the price for diesel is more out of control than gas.

Why am I paying 50 cents or more than premuim for a fuel that is of less quality than any grade of gas? I bought my first diesel truck in 1999 and in less than 10 years it has gone over 4 dollars a gallon ($4.19 a gallon this morning at the local Chevron). The government wants people to buy vehicles that get better mileage like diesels, but why would I pay a premium for a diesel vehicle and then go pay a premium at the gas pump to fill it up?

Like I said in another post the government needs to step in and put some regulation on the oil companies. I am against big government, but as a former gas station owner I can tell you that the oil companies are evil IMO. They are putting station owners out of business by violating leases and other laws, but they don't care because they have an army of lawyers if you try and sue them. The only thing that matters to them is the bottom line, but fuel should not be looked at like other comodities IMO.

If you heard some of the stuff I heard from people that worked for ConocoPhillips you would be outraged. They know they have the public by the balls and there is nothing you can do about it. I am sure the other oil companies operate with the same principles, but my first hand knowledge is of ConocoPhillips.

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by SP01715

...but as a former gas station owner I can tell you that the oil companies are evil IMO...If you heard some of the stuff I heard from people that worked for ConocoPhillips you would be outraged. They know they have the public by the balls and there is nothing you can do about it. I am sure the other oil companies operate with the same principles, but my first hand knowledge is of ConocoPhillips.

I used to work for AtlanticRichfield ("AM/PM" mini-market fame). They were all crooks, too...that's why I left.