Hybrid Cars, Solar Energy, Alternatives....

[RitalinKid]

The cost of hybrids kills their gas cost saving abilities. On top of that, they're not that much more efficient than a regular car.

I put my money on hydrogen too. Sure, there's the infrastructure, but there's money to be made there, and where there's money to be made, there are investors and supply companies ready to make it.

Diesel is still very important though; most industrialized countries have diesel burning transfer trucks as their backbones. Luckily, they're making bio-diesel out of soybean oil. It burns much cleaner; it's cheaper; it extends the life of diesel engines. The guy that owns a place that makes it not far from my place says he can't make enough of it.

As for Alaskan oil, it can be drilled for in a completely environmentally safe way. I read a book by an environmentalist, and he even agreed that it's very safe if it's done right (by a major oil company).

Everyone should realize the importance of alternative energy supplies. Look at the way gas prices shift so quickly from week to week. Small changes in supply or demand result in relatively large price changes. Sounds to me like our demand completely outweighs our supply, so we're probably reaching the end of the Oil Age.

 

[KristoCat]

My aunt used to work for the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, which basically comes up with ways to help businesses use alternative energy sources that will simultaneously cut their costs DRAMATICALLY over time. For example, they figured out ways to construct buildings that involve the use of special materials and natural light to regulate temperature comfortably and to make people inside them feel infinitely better than they do closed in underneath flourescents. If businesses adopted their designs, their up-front costs would be fairly large but they'd save HUGE amounts of money in turnover and in energy costs.

 

[StillILearn]

Diesel is still very important though; most industrialized countries have diesel burning transfer trucks as their backbones. Luckily, they're making bio-diesel out of soybean oil. It burns much cleaner; it's cheaper; it extends the life of diesel engines. The guy that owns a place that makes it not far from my place says he can't make enough of it.QUOTE]

Jeep is selling a diesel Liberty model that I'd consider...

My fear is that we (being the way we are) will want to suck every last drop of oil out of the earth before saying "burp" and then beginning to look around for alternatives. We should have been having this conversation many moons ago.

 

[Motokid]

When gas prices are low, it will take longer to re-coup your investment in a Hybrid car. But as gas prices continue to rise that time period will get shorter and shorter.

 

[abecedarian]

My hubby brought home another great magazine I'd forgotten: Home Power www.homepower.com It has lots of practical articles. I haven't been to their website, so I don't know what they have there, but ya never know..

 

[Shade]

Friends of mine are having solar tubes fitted to the side of their house, for water heating - don't know if this is similar to the Real Goods system, though they did stress to me it was tubes rather than panels, perhaps something to do with the fact that we live in the UK, ie a country where the climate can best be described as 'temperate' or perhaps 'cold and sunless.' They are getting them free because the hubby works for some company which is testing them, though I gather it would cost around €6000 otherwise. I occasionally see wind turbines in rural properties - probably a better bet than solar energy round my neck of the woods.

I'd love a Prius but starting at £17,000 I think, it's out of my price range. But then as I live only 7-8 km from my workplace I was thinking of going retro with a bicycle... Would keep me fit too, and save on gym fees!

 

[Motokid]

Don't rule out the motorcycle Shade...but the long, cold, dark winter is always a deterant to any two-wheeled mode of transportation.

I flounder between finding a used Honda Civic/Toyota Corolla and a hybrid. The savings of buying used, plus the already decent mpg makes that arguement pretty tough to beat.

 

[cajunmama]

Just a little Q&A for ya'll. Do you know where the hydrogen for hydrogen fueled vehicles comes from? It doesn't just naturally occur in any form we can use as fuel. It has to be "produced". From what? To quote the EERE "Most of the hydrogen used in the U.S. today is produced by steam reforming of natural gas in large centralized reformers. " (read more here) Any other method of production is still in the research phase. So, at this time, hydrogen fueled vehicles do not solve any kind of fuel problem.

In a few years, I plan on buying a hybrid. I expect the price of fuel to have gone up, the cost of the vehicle to have gone down, and the number of people I have to fit into the vehicle to have gone down as well (as far as I know they don't make any that fit six).

The news had a tidbit on bicycles the other day. Apparently, the bicycle business here in America is having a banner year, the likes of which have not been seen since the oil embargo of the seventies!

 

[StillILearn]

And here's an interesting article on solar power.

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?newsID=4093

 

[leckert]

...Sounds to me like our demand completely outweighs our supply, so we're probably reaching the end of the Oil Age.

RK, I like your POV, and agree with what you are saying. I have a sick feeling in my tummy, though, that the escalating gas prices are more closely related to opportunity than supply/demand.

I hope it isn't true. I normally come down in favor of big business, but I feel that the oil companies are taking advantage of the system and lining their already fat pockets with what used to be my daughter's lunch money.

(okay, maybe a little melodramatic, but it still sucks )

 

[StillILearn]

I normally come down in favor of big business, but I feel that the oil companies are taking advantage of the system and lining their already fat pockets with what used to be my daughter's lunch money.)

Um, leckert, these two halves of your sentence seem to be opposed to one another in sentiment. Can you, will you, would you please explain?

 

[Motokid]

Something to look forward to....NOT!

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/12/news/economy/energy_outlook/index.htm?cnn=yes

So what do you keep your thermostat setting on?
How much will you change it this year?

I've always had it set to 68 F during the time we are awake and in the house, and dropped it to 60-62 at night when we are sleeping.

Not sure how low I'll go....it'll be a test to see when the family starts to complain I guess.

 

[StillILearn]

I think it may have been this one, Moto. The cigarette one was fun, too.

 

[SFG75]

I'm going to save gas by buying an Olds 442



I'm trusting that while others are driving gas sippers, that will allow more gas to go to me.

 

[mehastings]

I'm going to save gas by buying an Olds 442

So, I assume you'll be saving because you'll be too embarassed to leave the house in that thing??

 

[SFG75]

So, I assume you'll be saving because you'll be too embarassed to leave the house in that thing??

Gosh, you really shut the door(pun intended) on that one.

 

[mehastings]

Gosh, you really shut the door(pun intended) on that one.

No. I just know what you'll feel like. My first car was a poo brown 1980 Dodge Aspen with a tan top. NOTE: I was born in 1980, so I was driving that thing in 1997.

 

[Motokid]

I recently put down a deposit on a pellet stove for my house. It will be capable of burning either the standard wood pellets that are made of compressed sawdust, or I can burn shelled, dryed corn, or a combination of the two. Hopefully I'll take delivery of the unit before the end of January. The demand for these things is that high right now.

This is an alternative heat source, not a cooking stove. It will actually go into my exisiting fireplace in my family room and hopefully heat the entire first floor without much need for the natural gas heater that's part of the whole house heating system.

 

[mehastings]

It will be capable of burning either the standard wood pellets that are made of compressed sawdust, or I can burn shelled, dryed corn, or a combination of the two.

Go with the corn. Pellets smell funny. You also need to ensure that you've got good circulation in that area. Otherwise you'll end up hating the thing.

I'm looking forward to the day I can build my own house, because we're going to go with Geo-Thermal. It's costly to install, but worth it in heating/cooling savings and energy efficient mortgages.

 

[Motokid]

Go with the corn. Pellets smell funny. You also need to ensure that you've got good circulation in that area. Otherwise you'll end up hating the thing.

I'm looking forward to the day I can build my own house, because we're going to go with Geo-Thermal. It's costly to install, but worth it in heating/cooling savings and energy efficient mortgages.

I've not encountered any funny smell from pellet stoves. They are so efficient it's not funny.

And what do you mean by good circulation? My stove will vent right up the chimney. All I have to do is run about 6 feet of pipe from the back of the stove up into the chimney and pack around the pipe to seal off the rest of the flue opening.