Global Economy Bursting?

[EDWARD BERRY]

Restain,

I Just Did That.
My 2003 Sabaru Has 80,000 Miles-time To Put New Timing Belt- For First Time With 5 Others I Had A Head Gasket Leak--total Cost $2,100.

To D--m High, But Should Get 50-800m More Miles.
Paid For-only Use 1000 Gals/year-what Is $2/gal More In My Transportation Budget?

This Green Stuff Makes No Sense.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

Surviving $4 gas shock:

Consumer reports did a review of the Chevy Volt and essentially said, What the heck?! It doesnt make economic sense. Even with the govt subsidy, the cost would be almost twice what the Prius, etc are running.

One issue about the electric cars, which I found out about recently, is that it is inadvisable to work on these things yourself. I learned this because a friend of a friend did just this, and ended up in the hospital and still isn't right. So if you're one of those people (like myself) that work on your own car, the increase in maintenance cost must be considered.

 

[Big ole Boy]

..I am building a small shop to pull my engine and rebuild it .... a 1988 Toyota Truck ....

... I am fixing everything now ....

... anybody who can appraise and fix their own car is amazing ...

..when I appraised ... all I could do was appraise ...... I had no time ..

... the new narrative .... is fix it yourself or loose it all ....

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

the most efficient vehicle is one that is paid for.

exactly. I am thinking of taking my Jeep to PA in April...22 mpg or about 4 mpg better than my newer rig, but then I thought maybe take my #3 rig. The difference in cost for 2400 mi % $3.50 gas is about $80...I avg 30,000 mi. a year so its about $1000 a year additional cost...not good but could be worse. If gas gets over $4...especially if $5, the economy will tank and Bernanke will got to QE 3 and make inflation a serious threat....
To really understand why people who paid their bills are being screwed by those who didn't and the very people running gov are and were the problem you need to listen to the entire interview that Chas. Rose had with Nassum Taleb last night. Taleb minces no words. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11516

 

[c w d]

Surviving $4 gas shock:

Consumer reports did a review of the Chevy Volt and essentially said, What the heck?! It doesnt make economic sense. Even with the govt subsidy, the cost would be almost twice what the Prius, etc are running.

To survive $4 a gallon gas, the most efficient vehicle is one that is paid for. To go buy a new car just to get an additional 10 mpg is not a good idea. You have the cost, interest, increased insurance costs, etc on the new car to save a little. If the car is paid for, insurance costs decline sharply, no payment, no interest costs, and, unless you drop the tranny or blow the motor up, repair costs will still be far less than if you have monthly payments. Alternatively a decent used car is still much more cost efficient than buying a new car. Someone else has taken the 50% new car hit, without using up 50% of the car.

Can't speak for the Volt. But my mind was made up when the first hybrids came out. Cost of vehicle + Cost of maint. (battery) - fuel savings = Net gain of 0 savings over 5 years. What's the point of driving a more efficient vehicle if there is nothing benefiting the purchaser? I'll just keep driving my 30mph fuel burning car thank you very much. And you're right. Even if you have to purchase another fuel burning car the financial incentive favors a used fuel burner.

It's unfortunate. Whenever there is talk about incentivizing alternative energy vehicles it is always with higher prices for fuel (the stick) and never financial savings (the carrot). Oh unless you want to feel all warm and fuzzy "saving" the planet. But, I can get all warm and fuzzy doing a lot of other things that don't cost me anything but my time. So, that's not exactly a carrot.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

The worst part of the energy mess is that it has so many implications.
A - we are buying increasing amounts of it from unreliable suppliers (Middle East, Russia, Venezuela, etc.)
B - That propels our trade deficit into the stratosphere
C - That increases the chance our money is being used by terrorists
D - It makes us ever more dependent upon Chinese buying our debt which compromises our ability to respond to threats by them. What could we do if the insist on reclaiming Taiwan?
E - Our current energy policy is costing us drilling jobs in the Gulf and elsewhere
F - Our technology for energy and drilling is fleeing the U. S. for the reason E

Sadly, we have an alternative that could be relatively quickly brought to bear. T. Boone Pickens Energy plan is to rely upon natural gas as the "bridge" energy. The state of OK is offering a 70% tax break for people to convert their cars to nat gas and a similar break for gas stations to install natural gas pumps....We should be converting 100,000 - 250,000 autos every 3 months to nat gas. It would reduce demand of oil dramatically and with nat gas currently 1/3rd the price of oil (on a BTU content basis) it would be much cheaper. But even if it wasn't cheaper, that money would stay home in America not be sent to Middle Eastern countries that hate us.

 

[EDWARD BERRY]

Ukraine And Russia Use Natural Gas On Many Commercial Vehicles.
Does Take A Big Tank(s).

Many New Cars Are Equipped On Propane.

My 1960 Tractor Uses Propane.

It Is The Best "interim" Method Till We Get Hydrogen.

Very Little Trouble To Convert Most Any Engine.

Wonder Why It Not Pushed?

 

[DTB]

I'm thinking in a couple weeks of SELLING a couple hundred oz of silver.

The worst part of the energy mess is that it has so many implications.
A - we are buying increasing amounts of it from unreliable suppliers (Middle East, Russia, Venezuela, etc.)
B - That propels our trade deficit into the stratosphere
C - That increases the chance our money is being used by terrorists
D - It makes us ever more dependent upon Chinese buying our debt which compromises our ability to respond to threats by them. What could we do if the insist on reclaiming Taiwan?
E - Our current energy policy is costing us drilling jobs in the Gulf and elsewhere
F - Our technology for energy and drilling is fleeing the U. S. for the reason E

Sadly, we have an alternative that could be relatively quickly brought to bear. T. Boone Pickens Energy plan is to rely upon natural gas as the "bridge" energy. The state of OK is offering a 70% tax break for people to convert their cars to nat gas and a similar break for gas stations to install natural gas pumps....We should be converting 100,000 - 250,000 autos every 3 months to nat gas. It would reduce demand of oil dramatically and with nat gas currently 1/3rd the price of oil (on a BTU content basis) it would be much cheaper. But even if it wasn't cheaper, that money would stay home in America not be sent to Middle Eastern countries that hate us.

As the resident geologist and Jeep afficionado, I'll ask you. What's the main issue to convert to natty gas? Different injectors or carb jets? I want to start a Jeep CJ project this spring- lift- 35" tires-tube bumpers etc. and would LOVE to make it special by running natty gas.

Any ideas

 

[VegasWayne]

As the resident geologist and Jeep afficionado, I'll ask you. What's the main issue to convert to natty gas? Different injectors or carb jets? I want to start a Jeep CJ project this spring- lift- 35" tires-tube bumpers etc. and would LOVE to make it special by running natty gas.

Any ideas

Propane would be a better choice. It produces more heat than natural gas and is more readily available. This is why propane BBQ's are more popular than natural gas. The internet is a great source of information on how to do about anything. You should have no problem finding information. I had a summer job in the 70's driving parking lot trams at Six Flags Magic Mountain, These trams were propane powered back then so it is a long tested and proven technology.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Ed - Some Chinese buses have a huge rubber gas bladder on top to store NG at low pressure. In India, they have big vats of festering compost with a tub over them to capture methane and use it to fuel cooking stoves.
Propane is a good choice...but
http://www.gotpropane.com/p4.html
this guy said he doesn't know any that does NG but I don't think he's looked far ..

January 31, 2011: Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced today that its subsidiary, BAF Technologies, Inc., has been officially designated by the Ford Motor Company as a Ford Qualified Vehicle Modifier (QVM) for gaseous-fueled vehicles. BAF’s alternative fuel vehicle upfitting capabilities include aftermarket compressed natural gas (CNG) conversions of Ford-manufactured vans, cutaway shuttles, taxis, pick-ups and light-duty trucks.

http://www.facebook.com/BAFTechnologies