Man, you guys are making me nervous! It's my job to find
oil and gas. We will continue to be dependent upon oil and
gas until we can no longer afford to buy it -- or we begin to
run out, which will achieve the same result.
Personally, I feel that we should not be whineing. Americans
pay more money per unit volume, on bottled water than we
pay for gasoline. And many who complain about fuel costs
and how they're unfair to the poor, etc., are sucking down
alcohol and are addicted to tobacco products. We just need
a little more rational point of view.
Do the math: If we drive an average of 12,000 miles a year,
here in the land of plenty, and if we drive an SUV (or my
308GTB) at 18mpg, we consume 667 gallons of fuel a year.
If we drive what most Americans would call an economy car
that gets perhaps 30mpg, we burn only 400 gallons. (That's
ten total-fill-ups in the family Suburban. ;-) The savings is
267 gallons.
Yesterday, I filled my Corvette C4 with 93 octane and paid
$1.99/gallon. Let's call it $2 a gallon. That makes the operating
cost difference between 18mpg and 30mpg, fuel usage only, a
whopping $534, or $1.46 a day -- difference.
Now let's see; I don't take my lunch to work. If I did, I would
probably save $4 a day. I don't smoke so I save probably $5
a day. I don't drink so I save ??? a day. I have no credit
card debt so I pay no interest charges per day. I don't drink
fancy bottled water so I don't pay $1-$3 a day. And please be
reminded that ALL of the aformentioned expenses are
VOLUNTARY. But even if I DID have all these daily 'expenses',
would $1.46 make that much difference? I argue that it would
not.
What if we triple the cost of fuel? The cost difference now becomes
$4.38 per day. That might make one think about getting on the
50-cent bus ride and playing with the car only on the weekends,
assuming a bus is anywhere near by -- if at all.
My point in all this is that Americans have SOOOO much of
just about everything, compared to [most of] the rest of the world,
that the ONLY way to change our habits is to get strongly into
our wallets. Can you do that with taxes? Yes, but that is ugly.
Can OPEC do that with supply? Yes, but it is not good for their
business.
I would further argue that we should just be darned glad that we
have cheap gasoline, yes CHEAP even at $2/gallon, enjoy our
cars and continue to fund 'realistic' research into alternatives. But
that opens a whole new can of worms; a topic best left toanother
list...
Regards,
Rick Lindsay
Geophysicist
Tulsa, OK USA
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