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PeakOil is You

THE Ford Motor Company Thread (merged)

What's on your mind?
General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Postby BiGG » Mon 16 May 2005, 09:50:41

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')
I pity you. I honestly do. You just can't seem to get "it".


I really don’t think I am the one missing something here at all as I used to think just like you do after first hearing about oil being at the half way point of “known” reserves. After I started looking around it didn’t take long to see where we are already building a world void of antiquated oil usage whether it’s in decline or not.

Oil is a dirty, filthy pollutant to the extreme causing all kinds of environmental & health problems that man now has the technology for moving away from substantially and wholly soon. It’s just a matter of the logistics involved in the move and that process is happening right now. It will be completed long before this planet sees the end of oil imo.

EROEI is important yes, but EROEI numbers regarding oil are not the only numbers that can be run to achieve the same end result. So your car doesn’t run on antiquated oil anymore, plug the sucker in to a nuclear power plant and you are still getting to work no matter what the EROEI numbers were for oil.

I think you will find answers to the rest of your perceived problems by simply looking around. The most telling thing I see here is very few are talking about any answers at all. Knowledge is power and knowledge this side of doom scenarios is readily available for those looking.
"The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil" ............ Former Saudi Arabian oil minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani,
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Postby BiGG » Mon 16 May 2005, 10:53:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Agren', '
')You sound like a proponent of the "new economy" in 1999. Screw all the old, screw calculations, screw everything but faith.

You don't have a scientific background, if I guess correctly? Of course numbers are needed, of course hard data is needed. If anything is to replace oil it's going to be needed on a massive scale. If you (not necessarily you personally, but someone that you can link to) can't show calculations showing how that is going to happen, how much of oil usage that can be switched to ethanol or whatever why should anyone belive you, it's all down to faith at that point.

You are aware that we are using more oil than ever before, right? "Hardly moving away from".


My main point on all of these boards here is I think most of you are missing some very important points when running your “calculations”. It seems everybody can only add up how much we are using and not add up replacements and how much we can save if we “want” to. I have mentioned this several times where macroeconomics insist we make the move slowly or we will have the crash everyone here is afraid of. Forget about new era fuel replacements right now and start with looking at what we can save …….What about these calculations?

We “have” cars that get 40-60 mpg right now instead of 15 or 20…. Getting switched over to them takes several years but it is coming quickly now and that cuts consumption in in that category by at least half using old technology. All of the alternative fuel cars cut consumption dramatically even more. This alone is gigantic here

Geothermal can save up to 70% of heating air & water and up to 50% for cooling air in homes. Look at the numbers of homes in the United States that could cut huge portions of consumption “calculations” …. This isn’t even showing the zillions of business that could do the same and this is very easy to do. You can have one installed right now by simply having a well drilling machine poke a few shallow holes in your yard …….. look what this alone would save if half the homes switched over or 75% of them! 75% of the homes in the US are single family/duplex detached homes btw. Bigger systems can be used for bigger building also but look at what we could be saving right now and think about the rest of the planet doing the same.


Housing units primary Heating Fuel:

*54,928,000 Piped Gas
**6,134,000 Bottled Gas
**9,501,000 Fuel Oil
.***635,000 Kerosene or other Liquid Fuel

Housing units with secondary Heating Sourses:

**4,323,000 Piped Gas
**1,378,000 Bottled Gas
.***571,000 Fuel Oil
.***768,000 Kerosene or other Liquid Fuel

Cooking Fuel:

*37,552,000 Piped Gas = Could Be Switched to Electric
**5,060,000 Bottled Gas= Could Be Switched to Electric
.****16,000 Kerosene or other Liquid Fuel= Could Be Switched to Electric

Water Heating Fuel:

*54,444,000 Piped Gas
**4,063,000 Bottled Gas
**5,398,000 Fuel oil
.****23,000 Kerosene or other Liquid Fuel

Natural Gas Air Conditioners:

99,000 Gas.

Why isn’t hardly anybody here talking about these types of things and other oil replacements? Scalability & EROEI has little to do with any of this transition …….Macroeconomics’ does though and after looking into that issue I think you will see how we have many viable options already existing for replacing what’s needed regarding consumption. It’s all about Logistics of putting it in place and that’s happening right now by the powers that be.

Doomers = “We can’t”

Rational thinking = “We can & are” Macroeconomics & Logistics = prudent planning and enactment like what we are doing right now.
"The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil" ............ Former Saudi Arabian oil minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani,
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Ford having trouble selling Explorers

Postby Leanan » Sat 04 Jun 2005, 19:44:13

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ord Motor Co. said Friday it was offering cash rebates for the first time on several new cars and sweetening incentives on its slow-selling Explorer SUV.

Ford has warned that its automotive operations may not be profitable this year, and the move came after the second-largest U.S. automaker reported Wednesday its 12th straight month of declining U.S. sales.

Earlier, rival General Motors Corp. ratcheted up Detroit's long-running incentives war with a new aggressive consumer rebate program.


http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/03/Autos/f ... /index.htm

On another topic...a large fund has bailed out of home building stocks:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/03/markets ... /index.htm
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Postby MicroHydro » Sat 04 Jun 2005, 20:03:46

Ha Ha!
"The world is changed... I feel it in the water... I feel it in the earth... I smell it in the air... Much that once was, is lost..." - Galadriel
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Postby cammo2004 » Sat 04 Jun 2005, 20:17:28

I've been making an effort to keep an eye out on the number of 4WDs (pretty much the equivalent of your SUV's - just a different name) and I swear, they're starting to take over the road! It's good to hear that they're declining in sales. About bl00dy time.

I'm in Australia by the way. Apparently 1 in 5 new sales is a 4WD vehicle.

Just as much of a problem here, mind, is the "Aussie V8". Even my mate, who loves his car, admits that's just a tad too much power.
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Postby cube » Sat 04 Jun 2005, 20:56:37

giving a rebate on a new car? ouch! That's gotta hurt. Funny how the news section of this website mentions there's a waiting list for hybrids. For all those who think that hybrids are nothing more then a passing fad for greenies think again.

I never cared for SUV's and the "soccer moms" who drive them so they can all just get scrapped at the junk yard. The world will be a better place without them. :-D
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Postby RonMN » Sun 05 Jun 2005, 06:35:31

I'm hesitant to give up my '95 ford bronco simply because of the safety issue. People are driving worse each year...it's like drivers ed' classes ain't teaching them what they need to know (like stop and yield).

If it wasn't for the safety factor i would have no problem driving a geo metro or even a motor cycle for that matter. But when you get into a "close call" almost every time you get behind the wheel...i'll keep my bronco thank you!
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Postby FoxV » Mon 06 Jun 2005, 12:24:36

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', 'I') never cared for SUV's and the "soccer moms" who drive them so they can all just get scrapped at the junk yard. The world will be a better place without them. :-D


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'I')'m hesitant to give up my '95 ford bronco simply because of the safety issue. People are driving worse each year.


My wife and 4 year old son were almost creamed by some twit in an explorer (too young to be a soccer mom) talking on a cell phone while rushing to park in the fire zone of a crowded parking. She never had a clue what she almost did.

Some people ask why we want to see the crash, and a lot of it is to see the idiots like those burn :twisted:
Angry yet?
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Postby ubercrap » Mon 06 Jun 2005, 13:01:10

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'I')'m hesitant to give up my '95 ford bronco simply because of the safety issue. People are driving worse each year...it's like drivers ed' classes ain't teaching them what they need to know (like stop and yield).

If it wasn't for the safety factor i would have no problem driving a geo metro or even a motor cycle for that matter. But when you get into a "close call" almost every time you get behind the wheel...i'll keep my bronco thank you!


Um, dude, those are notoriously unsafe- high center of gravity, short wheelbase.
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Postby MD » Mon 06 Jun 2005, 13:14:45

The safest vehicles on the road are mid-size sedans, not SUV's which have real accident avoidance problems.

I will take my 13 yr old Camry for safety over most vehicles on the raod.
Stop filling dumpsters, as much as you possibly can, and everything will get better.

Just think it through.
It's not hard to do.
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Postby Leanan » Mon 06 Jun 2005, 13:35:40

Yup. SUVs/minivans are notoriously unsafe. Not only are they too high to be stable, they are considered trucks, not passenger vehicles, and therefore do not have to meet the same safety standards as cars. Especially the older ones. IOW, not only is an SUV more likely to roll over, the passenger compartment is more likely to crumple if it does.

Also keep in mind that most of our infrastruture was built to accommodate cars, not SUVs. While there is some effort being made to upgrade our roads and bridges, funding is limited. An SUV will vault right over guard rail designed to protect cars.
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Postby jmacdaddio » Mon 06 Jun 2005, 16:30:35

I understand why someone would feel "safe" in an SUV, and the laws of physics do favor an SUV over a Corolla in a collision. From what I'm able to gather if you compare fatalities in car vs. suv crashes to car vs. car crashes, the car occupants in a car vs. suv crash are much more likely to die than the occupants of either car in a car vs. car collision. SUV occupants in SUV-on-car collisions have a fatality rate similar to car occupants in a car-on-car incident.

What the dealer won't tell you as he sweet talks you into getting the Leviathan XXXLT is that most accidents are single vehicle incidents rather than collisions and in a single vehicle crash you're at a much greater risk of death in an SUV because the odds of rollovers go up. Since we all think we're great drivers and that we have to protect ourselves from the other idiots on the road, the salesmen can use our egos and insecurites against us.
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Postby uNkNowN ElEmEnt » Tue 07 Jun 2005, 00:23:57

I recently rented a mini-van to scout out places to move to. I can't believe that thing... I was going around average sized corners and it felt like it was going to tip right over. I was seriously scared at least three times (I was going through twisting mountain passes though).
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Ford and GM: Big Giant Stupid Fools

Postby PenultimateManStanding » Thu 29 Sep 2005, 12:25:52

How could they be so blind? SUV sales are dropping and they are losing their cash cows. They sink into junk bond status and it's only getting started. Don't they have anyone looking ahead? For that matter, don't they have anyone looking backwards to the last energy crisis when Honda and Toyota and Datsun (as it used to be called) stepped into the US market with economical, small cars and took away a huge chunk of the American car makers market share? Why do those guys have their heads up their asses? I'm an American and it's damned embarrassing. Why don't they just start putting big tail fins on their cars and try the 'retro look'?
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Re: Ford and GM: Big Giant Stupid Fools

Postby emersonbiggins » Thu 29 Sep 2005, 12:47:12

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'W')hy don't they just start putting big tail fins on their cars and try the 'retro look'?


Pen, you have uncanny timing. Here's a look at the new Bel Air concept from Chevrolet, no joke. Link here

Image

The tail fins aren't nearly as pronounced as, say, a 1957 Bel Air, but you get the picture. They are, however, heavily 'suggested.'

:o
"It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it."

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Re: Ford and GM: Big Giant Stupid Fools

Postby Starvid » Thu 29 Sep 2005, 13:53:36

The irony is heavy.

Energy crisis #1. American carmakers stay the course and lose the market to Japan.


Energy crisis #2. Rinse and repeat.


Some people never learn from history, maybe because they don't have it in very good supply.
Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
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Ford posts loss. Sales slump

Postby KevO » Thu 20 Oct 2005, 08:28:04

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4360372.stm

US car giant Ford Motor has reported a third-quarter loss of $284m (£160.8m) after a sales slump, as motorists shun gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles.

It is the first time since the final quarter of 2003 that the firm has failed to turn a profit.

In the same period last year, Ford made a profit of $266m.

Ford and rival General Motors, which posted a quarterly loss of $1.6bn this week, are suffering from high gasoline prices that have hit demand for SUVs.

US sales of Ford vehicles have declined by 1.3% so far this year, despite a big discount programme.

(full story at link)
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Re: Ford posts loss. Sales slump

Postby BabyPeanut » Thu 20 Oct 2005, 08:39:03

You are suffering from a propaganda deficiency.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')url=http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/12947179.htm]Fed reports decent growth (link)[/url]
Posted on Thu, Oct. 20, 2005
The Federal Reserve's Beige Book report showed good economic activity across the nation despite recent hurricanes.

By JEANNINE AVERSA

Associated Press

Most of the country managed decent economic growth in September and early October even amid soaring energy prices from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
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Re: Ford posts loss. Sales slump

Postby EnemyCombatant » Thu 20 Oct 2005, 08:44:56

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. (Applause.)

-- Dubya
Now why didn't I take the blue pill.
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Re: Ford posts loss. Sales slump

Postby glug_glug » Thu 20 Oct 2005, 10:50:01

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnemyCombatant', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. (Applause.)

-- Dubya


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he great masses of people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. Especially if it is repeated over and over.

-- Hitler
Look out for Donkey Kong as we get closer to the Peak.
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