I am not sure in the USA, however in Ontario we have a prediction of gas prices rising 100%. Every gas station today was packed with lineups! This is outrageous and I feel like I am getting ripped off everyday more and more. Gas at 2$/L just makes my eyes tear.
Our economy will go to hell if gas goes beyond $4/gallon for any length of time. People will just stop doing all the extra things. I'm so glad I got rid of my navigator - it was a $50 fillup under $2/gallon and I had to fill it up twice a week. OTOH - online shopping will probably increase at the expense of retail, and the web in general will have more usage because people will be at home more - especially with summer ending as well.
Very good point about online shopping and stuff, in the long run it works out better for us the webmasters. However, I don't think the impact will be that much greater, people learn to adapt.
I think that there will be a lot of Katarina's, Rita's, tsunami's because we are observing greenhouse effect. And there is no way to stop this therefore China is developing its economy by using more and more oil. If people wont do anything to withstand a greenhouse effect there will be a big global problem.
Most experts agree that this has nothing to do with global warming. They say it is a cyclical issue that has been happening every 50 years or so (last happened from the 30's through the 60's) and that could last for 10- 15 years. Also, this just goes to show the stupidity of the oil companies for putting the vast majority of their refining capability in an area that is so prone to these types of events. They make billions in profits and haven't built new refineries in decades. But maybe they aren't so stupid as losing the refineries in this area won't affect them because they will be able to fall back on $5 plus a gallon gas and still maintain their billions per quarter profits.
Agreed. Makes no sense to put all of our refining capacity near disaster prone areas. But its not that refineries haven't been built because they don't want to. Refineries haven't been built because they can't get approval to build them anymore. I think none have been built since the 70's or something. Its nuts.
Our central heating is gas and our prices go up 30% as of October 1st We're only renting at the moment so in 4-6 months time when we get our mortgage we'll probably have a better knowledge of what central heating is the best price wise.
Not to mention OPEC was open to release millions of barrels in excess of the usual but there aren't the refiniries in the US to make use of it.
Supply is definately not the issue. Not only was OPEC willing to release more oil, but the US released oil from the strategic reserves.
Yous guys should petition to get a refinary built in your town, I'm sure it wonders for the property value. Personally I perfer living next to the nuclear power plant
We just tore one down here It sucks about the gas prices but the oil companies know that they have us by the short and curlies, we have to have gas to get to work and have to work to have gas...it's a vicious cycle. My wife and I decided we will survive $5 a gallon, just barely, but we will survive.
There are plenty of rural areas in the central US where they could be built that wouldn't affect anybodies property values. Ever drive through central South Dakota . We are already seeing numerous ethanol plants cropping up here.
They usually aren't. They are in big fields in the middle of nowhere. Just like power plants, they are built way far away from where people live currently, but housing and stuff just tends to creep in slowly as the years pass. Besides, I'm sure there are towns that have a super high unemployment, no industry or anything that'd love to get some refineries there to get some jobs.
um, because to be cost effective it need to be by the water, otherwise it greatly increases the transportation costs land by the ocean is the worth more to the country for real estate and tourism even if its inland then you have a steady stream of trucks carring all types of bullshit in and out of it, the oil comes here is ships guys, think about it
WHo are these "experts", zman, Gtech and debunked (added: Henny)? More looting by the oil companies! Actually, I just read that oil prices have subsided because Rita has weakened a bit.
How would you explain the global warming on mars? Is that our fault too? We have little to no effect on global warming, heck Mt St Helen's spewed more greenhouse gasses in 1 hour than we as humans have over the last 100 years. As far as the price of gas, Americans can blame congress, they sat on an energy bill for 4 years, then took drilling for oil in ANWAR out of it. Can you say, "Putting all your eggs in one basket"?
I keep seeing the glabal warming debate coming up again and again are there any published peer reviewed scientific papers refuting global warming, or is all just hack studies? If a paper is published thru the scientific community it gets disputed and picked a part by scientists all over the world, is there any studies the refute gloabl warming that have gone thru that process? I'm not being sarcasictic this time, I am just curious.