"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:g7i2f.468745$xm3.183303@attbi_s21...
Another unfortunate conclusion is it's going to take fuel prices in
that range to make alternative energy sources widely competitive.

You make many good points, Roger, except this one. I keep reading (and
hearing) this statement over and over, from TV, radio and newspaper
commentators -- and everyone just blithely accepts it as "Truth" with a
capital "T".

Unfortunately, Europe -- supposedly home to some of the best minds in the
world -- has been subjected to gas prices two and three times what we are
currently paying, thanks to a generation of outrageous taxation. If your
statement were true, by now Europe should have developed many alternate
energy sources, rather than suffer gasoline priced at over $6.00 per
gallon.

Where are they? What are they?

The frightening answer is: There aren't any -- even at $6.00 per gallon.
The only other alternative is that Europe simply doesn't possess the
scientific and industrial wherewithal to develop them -- which seems
highly unlikely.
--


In Europe they are about twice as efficient using petroleum for
transportation as in the US. Instead of developing alternative fuels, they
have become more efficient at using existing fuels. In contrast, Brazil has
replaced about half of gasoline with ethanol (made from sugar cane), so it
can be done, it just doesn't make sense everywhere. You need a lot of land
and the right climate to produce enough bio fuels to run a modern economy.

When you say:

"I keep reading (and
hearing) this statement over and over, from TV, radio and newspaper
commentators -- and everyone just blithely accepts it as "Truth" with a
capital "T"."

I am reminded of you connecting the number of refineries with the capacity
to produce gasoline when there is no direct connection. You accepted this
as the "Truth" simply because you wanted to. Even when I pointed out that
gasoline production has risen by about a third in the past 20yrs (while the
number of refineries has shrunk) you continue to rant about the
"enviro-nazis" and how they have "prevented" new refineries, when the fact
is that there have been no new refineries because it is more economic to
expand production at existing refineries. Why would anyone want to build a
new refinery when you can more cheaply expand an existing one that already
has an adjacent deep-water port, pipelines to major markets ect?

Higher prices definately allow alternatives to become viable. In the past
year or two, petroleum extraction from tar sands has become economically
feasible for instance. It is now economic to drill for oil off the West
coast of Africa even thought the region is politically unstable, the
potential has overcome the risks.

All this isn't going to make the price come down to where it was three years
ago, that just isn't going to happen. Destroying or poisening the
enviornment isn't going to get the price of gasoline down that muich either.
Pay attention now, for here is the Truth, the fundemental reason why energy
is more expensive and why it will stay that way:

HERE IT IS:

****Until recently, only about 25% of the worlds population used any
meaningful amount of energy, now about 60% does.****

Read it again because that is it in a nutshell and none of the other BS
matters. Anybody who didn't see this coming and make a lot of money from it
is an idiot.

Mike
MU-2