$5 Gas in 2012?

Petroleum is so useful for so many things that it seems incredibly wasteful to just burn it.

 

Right on the money, Fuzz!

Not just wasteful to burn it to move out multi-ton vehicles... but to burn it so inefficienty in those vehicles. To WASTE about 3/4 of it in that burn. We don't value it because it is cheap... and always has been.

 

If SUV drivers didn't have to spend $400 a month on gasoline, I think they would have some extra pocket change to pay for the increase in the cost of plastic and polymers (keep in mind that the materials that go into a product (plastic in this case) are only a fraction of the cost of the product. Take your computer for example - the cost of the melted volume of plastic and silicon versus the price you paid for your computer). You buy a 2-liter bottle of soda - how much of your $1.25 pays for the plastic bottle? What about your Prius - consider what you paid for it versus the cost of the melted plastic, polymers, and rubber in it. What fascinates me is that you buy a 2-liter bottle of soda and they give you the plastic bottle, yet people pay $25 for a plastic cell phone case. It shows you how much profit is made on plastic goods. Consider the plastic next time you get in your car - each individual piece of plastic is just that ... just a piece of plastic that costs very little to make. (yes, a soda bottle is actually made out of HDPE (High density polyethylene), which is the exact same material that plastic grocery store bags are made out of) And yes, TNSTAFL, There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, but when they give you a plastic bag at the grocery store, we're talking a fraction of a penny.

I think about that all the time. Plastic and polymers are used in medical, health care, water sanitation, keeping food and water sterile, pharmaceuticals, housing insulation and seals to keep our homes clean and warm and dry, winter jackets, shoes, and the list goes on and on ... and to think that people are just burning away this life-saving finite resource.

I'm all for $5 gasoline - let's send those dinosaur SUVs to the impound yard.

 

It depends on whether we see minimum margin requirements (MMR) for commodities trading raised to stop price speculation on crude oil.

Right now, the MMR is 5%; raising it to 15% could send the price of oil plumetting to US$65/bbl or lower since a lot less speculators could afford to trade in crude oil with the higher MMR.

 

Very true.

I don't see that changing any time soon though (unless you've recently heard new news on this).

 

I smell a rat. I'm starting to think that the $5/gallon gas talk is simply a big set up to make it easier for the Republicans to push through expanded offshore drilling legislation and open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for urrestricted drilling (for oil) in the new legislative session. Kind of the opening salvo in a new public relations campaign to scare the US public - and it will work. After all, who wants $5 a gallon gas if you're driving some big SUV and a politician promises an immediate painless solution of just drilling a few holes in the ground and magically the price will drop back down again. Of course, this is all a bunch of lies.

 

Economics is just about the only thing that will bring energy independence/efficiency gains. Why? Because most people are like politicians - they won't pay attention to it until it's crisis-stage.

 

This wsa definitely one of the problems with the last run up. Given that oil futures took a dive of more than 60%, it would seem very risky to keep this low margin requirement for anyone but those engaged in the industry being airlines, trucking companies, oil companies. No reform seems coming. Financial companies do not seem to be reformed from the last crisis.

This run up has everything to do with opec supply targets, that is the monopoly keeping supply low. The indicators seem to be their target is a slow run up not a price spike. There is excess production capacity, but opec voted at the last meeting to keep targets where they are.

The executive that made the prediction voiced strongly his support for more gulf drilling. There was an overt not a hidden agenda in his remarks. He also is a major player in cape wind, so scary projections also help him get money for his wind projects. Remember the source rose to the head of shell from hr, not from any department that ran projections. The prediction should be read not as great projection from one that knows the industry, but from the man hoping to gain from projections of expensive oil. The analysts at his old company - shell - do not share his "optimism" for the price of oil to double in the next couple of years.

 

If price of gas goes up, just justifies our Prius even more.. I am not so sure the reasoning given behind the $5. Plenty of oil out there and the increase is nearly all based on the speculation...

 

It is already double that in Europe! I guess at $5 we will be getting away cheap. When my lease runs out on my Rav4 I will be buying an all electric something. The prius will be for long trips at that point.

 

That's like predicting what the stock will be like by 2012. Interesting, but we'll see.... At least the Prius prepares us either way!

 

Yep its about 2.5 times the US cost and shooting up at the moment - 20% since last year (£1.02 a litre Nov 09 to £1.29 Dec 10). It's getting harder for me to make things pay in my job as I am stuck with preset fares and times are still hard and customers scarce.

I am thankful of the Prius as it cuts my fuel costs by between 40%- 50% at least. I dread to think what some of my taxi driver colleagues are paying to fill their cars up 3 times a week. In fact I fear petrol will reach £1.50 a litre by summer next year ($2.32 litre $8.58 US gallon) and am seriously thinking of a Nissan Leaf as a cab if I can get access to a fast charger.

 

Oh believe me ... we ALREADY pay 2.5 times (the U.S. pump price) right here in the U.S. ... WAY above 2.5 times E.U. fuel prices ... only we lie to our self about what we call it. We couch it's label under "fighting for freedom" ... trillions in war machine debt ... that we keep passing on to our kids and their kids. Then we look away at the trillion dollar debt because it's too worrisome to look at. Yes ... we pay WAY more than the E.U. does, sadly.

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I had to read this twice. You mean you have a *gasoline* Rav4? Ick.

 

Gas itself is basically the same price worldwide. Its the taxes that make it higher than the US in most places and government subsidies that make it lower in some others.