why are we so gullible?

[deanbmx]

You can actually use veg oil in diesal cars, or used veg oil filtered. The gov could have explored this as a fuel, but they havnt. But we can use it anyway if we want to.

Only in older manual fuel pump diesels. New common rail diesels really don't like running it, it knackers the seals on the high pressure pumps.....hence it not being widely used on modern engines. Biodiesel has a similar effect also

 

[Pigo]

even though I do drive I still say hike petrol to th epoint where nobody can afford to drive except for emergencies....the greed comes from all of us consumers..we have the choice to stop driving.

Not sure that I (&millions of others) have the choice to stop!
I live in a rural area with one bus a day. Yes, I use the bike alot but not everyone is willing or able to do that.
Also, as a 'White Van errr Person' its my job - driving 1100 miles a week is the way I pay my mortgage......
The ridiculously high fuel prices have led to big increases in the price of things I supply which in turn has sadly led to some of my customers losing their businesses.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

even though I do drive I still say hike petrol to th epoint where nobody can afford to drive except for emergencies....the greed comes from all of us consumers..we have the choice to stop driving.

No offence but that is very easy to say but not always possible. We live in a village in Cumbria that has no public transport whatsoever. Stagecoach used to run a bus out here a few years back but despite it's popularity it was uneconomic for them so they just chopped the service.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I hear that...and sympathize..only one day..when this planet of ours finally gives up on us as a species none of that will matter because we wont have the choice to live let alone choose where we live.

 

[vernon]

My problem is that alternative fuels and alternative (long distance) transport are being supressed by somebody somewhere.

If we've been so aware of the "shortage" of fuel, then why is there nothing else in place if the need is so urgent?

And why do electric vehicles cost twice the price of a petrol vehicle if the government is so serious about reducing our carbon footprint and the fuel shortage?

I do belive that yes, we have a finite supply, but the oil companies are using this idea as a money spinner.

Alternative fuels are not being suppressed. They are economically self limiting.

The acreage needed for biofuels would displace food crop growing - where will we get our calories from if we are also limiting the airmiles travelled by food stuffs?

Electric vehicles are not cheap because the batteries are very expensive and only a limited number of folk can afford them. When they do become affordable for the masses the demand for electricity will climb. Where is this extra electricity going to come from?

As for government subsidised electric cars - is is fair to burdon the public transport using population with the extra taxation needed?

The oil companies are caught be tween a rock and a hard place. They are expected to extract diminishing supplies of oil and gas from increasing hostile and challenging environments at affordable prices in the face of increasing demands for energy from developing economies.

We have been spoiled by historic low prices for energy and the current reality check is a bit of a shock. The high prices and demand outstripping supply was taught as part of my engineering degree thirty five years ago and my fellow undergraduates and I laughed and thought that it would never happen.

We can rail against the injustices of high prices but in a supply and demand environment, the driving down of demand could well lead to a depression in energy costs.

So who's up for:

Increased use of public transport at the expense of privately owned cars?
Turning down thermostats by a couple of degrees and wearing an extra layer if you feel chilly?
Reducing the time spent in showers and reduce the temperature of the water at the same time?
Forsaking foreign holidays for domestic holidays?
Road taxing to penalise single occupancy car owners during the rush hour?


There's no simple solutions and I doubt that there are any cheap solutions. We can all personally 'export' the problem and burden our fellow citizens with the responsibility of making it possible for profligate use of energy but the initiative and responsibility has to belong to each and every individual.

I'm off now for a drive in a fellow CCer's Audi Q7 4.2 TDI S-Line while I can afford the petrol and think about what I can do about making my own contribution towards manipulating energy prices downwards if i can be bothered to make a sustained effort.

 

[ComedyPilot]

....................I'm off now for a drive in a fellow CCer's Audi Q7 4.2 TDI S-Line............

PMSL

 

[Melonfish]

the one big problem i have with the OP's analogy is this: you can't grow oil.
if there is a shortage of sugar/coffee/chocolate you simply plant more and you get more.
Oil and gas however are finite, granted there will be reserves down there we do not yet know about but eventually it will run out, whilst at the same time our population keeps growing.
its been said for a long long time now but we really need to be making a move onto alternative fuels. the key warning signs are when expensive techniques are being used to release oil/gas (fracking anyone?)
pete

 

[Archie_tect]

Things like tea/coffee/sugar have had wild price fluctuations every so often for hundreds of years. Given the higher living standards we enjoy these days and in some cases the pretty brutal ones some of the people growing some of these things put up with haven't we got better things to worry about?

Think you've perhaps missed the point about the bigger picture in gavroche's post....

 

[Maz]

A farmer I know gets 8p a gallon for the milk. So its not the farmers that are raking it in.

Someone must be milking it...

 

[Archie_tect]

Mr Tesco and Mr Sainsbury like to help the common man...

 

[vernon]

(fracking anyone?)

Fnaar, where are you?

 

[Ludwig]

When the oil runs out it will be the end of civilisation as we know it and there is no alternative fuel at the moment. If you want an interesting book Oil Apocalipse by Vernon Coleman is quite good

 

[col]

I think there is a look after number one attitude from most out there, coupled with greed and lazyness. The planet is already nackered. All the goodwill acts in the world cant stop the inevitable, just slow it a bit.Inflation aside, I think the price rises in petrol are the way it will go anyway, as a way of slowing its use. But at the end of the day there will be none left. If the government can get a massive stockpile of cycling parts made and stashed, the future of transport is going to be just that, in all its forms and shapes. And when there isnt enough power to make things, ie blast furnaces and generators , the size of the stash equates to how long we can travel, albeit slow by todays standards. This is a long way away, but it will happen. Being green is admirable, but futile in reality. Just depends when it all goes wrong, in our grandkids time or theirs, maybe it will take longer, who knows? But then if we as a planet manage to survive for the next billion years, its all in vain anyway. Because unless we get the technology to travel to the stars , which is unlikely, and maybe find another earth like planet, we are all going to disappear when the sun goes supernovae anyway.

 

[col]

Only in older manual fuel pump diesels. New common rail diesels really don't like running it, it knackers the seals on the high pressure pumps.....hence it not being widely used on modern engines. Biodiesel has a similar effect also

Ah I see, maybe some slight adjustments to cope ?

 

[MissTillyFlop]

Let's just walk and cycle and use the chip fat bus like they have in Durham.