Damnable oil companies

[rumpleteazaer]

Well, my much anticipated plans for this weekend got shot to pieces and completely re-arranged. I had been looking forward to making an appearance at Cleveland game. Been doing more on-line rp stuffs lately and was looking forward to seeing folks again

Comments

[2eclipse]

i think part of the real problem is that we are not set up for short commutes. in germany everyone takes public transit....but also everyone lives close to the city because "why would you want to live far from your job?" and so the tram and the trains rock! because everyone takes them....but when the majority of the work force lives far from the metropolitan area, public transit cannot be as efficient or reach as many people.
i live 7 miles from my job. and i expect that if i am still there come summer, i will bike to work. if i get the job i interviewed for last week, i will DEFINITELY bike to work. it is 5 blocks from my house. but most people can't do this. prices for living in the city are too high for most people to afford to have the space they want near their jobs.

i think the way we are going to go is toward cleaner burning fuel and more efficient cars, rather than toward mass transit.

[rumpleteazaer]

I agree with you to a point. Moving toward cleaner burning fuel including ethanol blends has had the effect of raising corn prices. That has been good for the corn farmers (feed corn not sweet corn) but not so good for the dairy farmers. Milk is quickly becoming a precious commodity with increased consumption in the US in the form of pizza and lattes and in China and India where milk is a sign of wealth and status.

I believe our best option is more efficient vehicles. We really need incentives for companies to put the money into R&D on moe efficient engines. That combined with more responsible conservation efforts would do wonders.

[2eclipse]

i think we are moving toward both of these...but not just ethynol as an alternative fuel, also bio-diesel and vegetable oil and other options.

[controlledfall]

Corn is also a horribly, horribly inefficent crop for making ethanol. Sugar is far better. Problem is, not a lot of America is set up to compete with our Latin American neighbors as far as sugar/biomass. This makes ethanol a very (artificially)expensive fuel to produce. But now every politician that comes from a corn-state will bend over backwards to get subsidies and tax breaks and ethanol initiatives for their constituents. In effect, we've institutionalized another inefficiency

[rumpleteazaer]

The source for the milk commentary was from a New York times article. I'm sorry, I don't have the link for it.

The crux of the story was that the US is becoming an exporter of milk because of our rate of production, as is New Zealand. The sources quoted were making predictions based on a number of factors, including the cost of feed for dairy cattle if their continues to be a rise in demand for grain-based fuels.

[controlledfall]

Ah, well, that makes more sense. Exporting milk must be an expensive thing. Any commodity that spoils when exposed to air would be. I'm not sure how much pizza and lattes have to do with it, though. We essentially overproduced for our domestic demand was my point. Thanks for the info, I'll try to track that article down.

[rumpleteazaer]

It comes into play because when most people think of milk consumption, they think of simply drinking it. Starbucks now sells more milk than coffee. The growing number of pizza chains uses tons of cheese annually. there are also a host of other industries that use either powdered or liquid milk. all of these uses are factored into the "consumption" of milk.

[dusken_tarot]

There is no money in R&D. If there was we wouldn't be using petroleum fuels today. It took an oil embargo to have Brazil switch to ethanol.

We also pay farmers to not grow crops. That needs to end as well. I understand they need to make a living too, but come on...

The overlooked crop for ethanol is sugar beets. Since most food companies switched to corn syrup as a sweetener sugar beets are not as profitable.

[controlledfall]

Agreed in that Oil Companies do not put money into R&D that will allow people to stop using their product. Auto-makers are pretty much in the pocket of Oil Companies. So are governments.

My argument is that there is current technology (electric car, anyone?) that was developed before R&D depts. were so overwhelmingly controlled by business interests that we could switch to *today*.

It just won't happen because of people's ignorance and acceptance of the manipulation of corporations.

[controlledfall]

Well, it's part of our legacy of wide-open spaces. Our country has a huge land-to-population ratio. Where in Europe do you see big paved-over truck-stop style gas stations? Pretty much just on a major highway (and rarely then), never in a city or a suburb. Hell, in most European cities, gas is sold on a little island the size of a photomat

[ashestoheroes]

Yea, oil companies have bought up the pattends for more efficient motor parts for decades. Screw em. THey pretty much run the world.

I heard somewhere that willie nelson has this tour truck that runs off old mcdonalds deep fryer grease. Maybe we should go to that.