[Peepers]

Maybe not, but rural bus services flourished in the Great Depression, as people could no longer afford to own or maintain cars. And, what would you say if I told you that in many cities throughout the nation, the old streetcar tracks were never ripped out? In most cases, the tracks and the brick streets in which they were laid were simply paved over with a layer of asphalt. The tracks are still down there.

In Dallas, on McKinney Avenue, they pried up the asphalt, made some repairs to the rails, and strung wires over the tracks hung from new and existing poles. Historic streetcars were put back into service and now operate frequently throughout each day. Imagine how many cities could restore this energy-efficient infrastructure for a relatively small price.

Don't be doomerish! Be creative, and look for opportunities like these and others near your town. Make a list of them and be ready for when the SHTF -- you'll be looked upon as The Expert and you might even earn a little income in offering such expertise.

[Chuckmak]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... ices_N.htm

Drivers cut back — a 1st in 26 years
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he average American motorist is driving substantially fewer miles for the first time in 26 years because of high gas prices and demographic shifts, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal highway data.

[pup55]

I have been waiting for the new traffic data to come out.

Anyway, if the number of vehicle miles has dropped, and if the amount of fuel usage has gone up, which it most assuredly has for the first few months of the year, it all goes back to DantesPeak's argument that we are becoming even less fuel efficient than before, if that is possible.

Another side note: February 2007 was terrible weather this year, compared to 2006, and March was no picnic in most of the country either. This could easily have been responsible for a nominal decrease in miles driven.

[Chuckmak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', 'I') have been waiting for the new traffic data to come out.

Anyway, if the number of vehicle miles has dropped, and if the amount of fuel usage has gone up, which it most assuredly has for the first few months of the year, it all goes back to DantesPeak's argument that we are becoming even less fuel efficient than before, if that is possible.

Another side note: February 2007 was terrible weather this year, compared to 2006, and March was no picnic in most of the country either. This could easily have been responsible for a nominal decrease in miles driven.

[dukey]

nothing has changed in england
roll on the new suvs ;p

[DantesPeak]

I don't know if could break out the specific figures for gasoline, but the growth of all oil products supplies still exceeds growth of Industrial Production so far in 2007 by about 1%. Since the industrial production figure should be an unbiased indication of actual economic activity, and includes the use of oil for cooling/heating, I can only conclude that the US is getting less energy efficient in the use of oil.

This probably has much to do with the less energy content in ethanol as compared to RBOB gasoline, and is a symptom of the bigger picture of declining EROEI. The conclusion is especially true if actual miles driven have declined.

[mefistofeles]

If we really are at Peakoil it doesn't really matter,especially with demand in the China and India growing.

Personally I feel that unless the US (as a whole) doesn't take drastic steps to change its pattern of energy consumption as well as its way of life and spend ALOT on alternative energy we are just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Too much our energy is simply wasted by going from point A-B. Also we just don't have the economic incentives to install solar cells.

With the vast deserts of Nevada and Arizona there is no reason the US cannot be THE LEADER in solar electricity generation.

Of course this would require a change of priorities, unfortunately I suspect by the time it dawns upon Americans that they need change it will be too late. Its sort of like that time I feel asleep at the wheel at 70 and then woke to realize I was going to crash! Unfortunately I did not have enough time. Fortunately however I am still alive to tell my tale, so perhaps this hope.

[mefistofeles]

If we really are at Peakoil it doesn't really matter,especially with demand in the China and India growing.

Personally I feel that unless the US (as a whole) doesn't take drastic steps to change its pattern of energy consumption as well as its way of life and spend ALOT on alternative energy we are just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Too much our energy is simply wasted by going from point A-B. Also we just don't have the economic incentives to install solar cells.

With the vast deserts of Nevada and Arizona there is no reason the US cannot be THE LEADER in solar electricity generation.

Of course this would require a change of priorities, unfortunately I suspect by the time it dawns upon Americans that they need change it will be too late. Its sort of like that time I feel asleep at the wheel at 70 and then woke to realize I was going to crash! Unfortunately I did not have enough time. Fortunately however I am still alive to tell my tale, so perhaps there is hope.

[frankthetank]

I tried to get my wife to walk to work today. That didn't fly well. I said i'm going to get a child carrier, attach it to my bike, and i'll wheel her ass there... .... I don't see much of a slowdown, but i'm in a smaller city.

[aahala]

Appearing in my local paper Wednesday, May 16, 2007 was
an article from the AP, written by John Wilen. Here's an exact
quote:

"Only during the first week of May, when prices jumped to
$3.05 a gallon, did demand for gasoline abate slightly - by
about two-one hundredths of a percent, EIA figures showed."

It's not entirely clear from the article from which point the
.02% decline was calculated from. Perhaps that was the
week I didn't fill my car.

[Pixie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'I') tried to get my wife to walk to work today. That didn't fly well. I said i'm going to get a child carrier, attach it to my bike, and i'll wheel her ass there... .... I don't see much of a slowdown, but i'm in a smaller city.

[TreebeardsUncle]

Opened the paper this morning and saw that crude oil was up 42.31 TO $64.86.

Note these 2 adjacent articles in Friday May 18's Issues of the San Francisco Chronicle Section.

Gasoline Prices Hit New Highs
& Key Gauge Shows Economy Slowing.

Here is the first article
Gasoline Prices Hit New Highs

by John Wilen
Associated Press

New York - Gasoline prices set records at the pump again Thursday, while gas and oil futures rose on concerns that refiners aren't making enough gasoline to meet peak summer driving demand.
With the summer driving season set to begin on Memorial Day weekend in just over a week, the 1.7 million-barrel increase in gasoline inventories reported by the government on Wednesday simply wasn't enough to convince traders that supplies are catching up to demand.
And that means retail gasoline procies are likely to continue rising for at least another month, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Ill.
"We might have to wait until post-Fourth of July," to see a significant decline in gasoline prices,
-> OIL: Page C3

Record Gas Prices
-> Oil
From Page C1

Ritterbusch said.
The average national price of regular gasoline rose to an all-time high of $3.114 per gallon on Thursday, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's up almost 25 cents in a month. [Well the price of gas was coming up about 30 cents a month from late January till early May.] Prices in some parts of the country, including California, have already passed $4.
Gasoline futures for June delivery jumped 9.96 cents to settle at $2.436 per gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil for June delivery climbed $2.31 to settle at $64.86 per barrel on the Nymex.
Heating oil and natural gas futures also rose after the Energy Information Administration reported a slightly lower-than-expected increase in inventories.
Oil prices also got some support on Thursday from comments by a top OPEC leader that the oil cartel will not pump more crude to meet an expected surge in summer demand.
But analysts said traders were more focused on the tight gasoline market.
"It's still 99 percent gasoline-led," Ritterbusch said. "We're still not building gasoline supplies enough."
The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that gasoline stocks, while increasing to 195.2 million barrels, remained well below the average for this time of year.
"Those were insignificant figures," wrote Cameron Hanover analyst Peter Beutel in a research note.
Crude oil supplies rose by 1 million barrels last week to 342.2 million barrels.
"Crude may very well become a sideshow to gasoline as we enter the critical spring and summer months," wrote Man Financial analyst Edward Meir in a research note.
The gasoline shortage is due to a number of unexpected refinery outages this spring and continued strong consumer demand despite rising prices.
"Gasoline demand remains quite strong," said Antoine Halff, an
analyst at Fimat USA.
Every day's news seems to bring a new list of refinery problems, and Thursday was not exception. BP, Conoco Phillips and Valero Energy all reported planned or unexpected shutdowns at a number of U.S. refineries, Barclays Capital analysts said in a research note.

[Here is the second article.]

Key Gauge Shows Economy Slowing

Stocks pause as investors mull mixed signals.

by Candice Choi
Associated Press

New York -- A guage of future economic activity showed the U.S. economy will slow in coming months, reversing recent gfains and suggesting higher gas prices and a sluggish construction industry are beginning to take their toll.
The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of leading economic indicators dropped 0.5 percent, higher than the 0.1 percent decline analysts were expecting. The reading is designed to forecast economic activity over the next three to six months.
The increase almost reversed an amended 0.6 percent climb in March, which analysts say should relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
"The data may be pointing to slower economic conditions this summer. With the industrial core of the economy already slow, and housing mired in a continued slump, there are some signs that these weaknesses may be beginning to soften both consumer spending and hiring this summer," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist for the Conference Board.
The reading tracks 10 economic indicators. Two of those readings were positive in April: stock prices and real money supply.
The negative contributors, beginning with the largest, were building permits, weekly unemployment claims, manufacturs' new orders for nondefense capital goods, consumer expectations, vendor performance, average weekly manufacturing hours and interest rate spread.
With the latest decline, the cumulative change in the index over the past six months has dropped 0.2 percent.
The slowdown should ease concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, said Mark Zandia, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. The interest rate standstill over the past nine months has driven the Dow Jones industrial average to record highs.
The Conference Board's report came amid a batch of mixed economic data, reflecting the ongoing uncertainty over the direction of the economy.
The job market showed surprising strength Thursday, with the Labor Department reporting a drop in jobless claims for the fifth straight week to the lowest level in four months.
"The job market is holding together better than any other part of the economy. Otherwise, we might be sliding into a recession," Zandi said.
While the stock market should keep advancing as the economy keeps growing, albeit slowly, analysts say data indicating otherwise could cause a tumble.
Brian Bethune, an economist with Global Insight said the Conference Board report indicates the "economy is pretty much hovering right now."
Still, he said the positive contributors -- stock prices and real money supply -- may point toward a pickup in growth later in the year.
"Stock prices in particular are anticipating what activity is going to be like in the future," Bethune said.
Wall Street retreated modestly on Thursday, with the Dow falling 10.81, or 0.08 percent, to 13,476.72, after rising as high as 13,516.71. On Wednesday, the index reached its 23rd record close of the year.
Broader indexes also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 1.39, or 0.09 percent, to 1,512.75, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 8.04, or 0.32 percent, to 2,539.38.

[emersonbiggins]

Keep your eye on Oklahoma; near highest gas prices in the nation ($3.39 for regular, as of today, in some spots), combined with a rather low average household income. Things are going to come apart there sooner than in other places. Keep those cameras rolling!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')ooth puts the blame on the major oil companies for the sudden rise in gas prices. “I feel they are taking advantage of us as people and I believe they don’t care about us any more,” he said. “The government is not doing anything about it because they are making money on it too. They are standing there with their hand out. They’re getting gasoline tax off it.”

[Heineken]

Nevertheless . . .

Oil consumption in the US in the first quarter of 2007 was 2.6% higher than during the same period in 2006. Also: "All of the major petroleum groups contributed to that growth."

That's all she wrote.


http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html

[Niagara]

Here's a question for you chemists:

Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons. Is it possible for the refineries to produce a "watered down" version of gasoline? Kinda like light beer? In other words each gallon of gas is still one gallon but contains less energy and therefore give you fewer miles on a gallon?

I'm wondering if the mixture could be sneakily adjusted so there is more fluff (low enthalpy hydrocarbon crud) and fewer "meaty" molecules.

That way refiners could cope a bit better with demand by providing a degraded product.

If that were the case, it would explain a slide in efficiency and today's gas prices would have to factored up even higher.

Or is this nuts? Is all gasoline equal?

[ChadP]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Niagara', 'H')ere's a question for you chemists:

Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons. Is it possible for the refineries to produce a "watered down" version of gasoline? Kinda like light beer? In other words each gallon of gas is still one gallon but contains less energy and therefore give you fewer miles on a gallon?

I'm wondering if the mixture could be sneakily adjusted so there is more fluff (low enthalpy hydrocarbon crud) and fewer "meaty" molecules.

That way refiners could cope a bit better with demand by providing a degraded product.

If that were the case, it would explain a slide in efficiency and today's gas prices would have to factored up even higher.

Or is this nuts? Is all gasoline equal?

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Niagara', 'H')ere's a question for you chemists:

Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons. Is it possible for the refineries to produce a "watered down" version of gasoline?

[Niagara]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ChadP', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Niagara', 'H')ere's a question for you chemists:

Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons. Is it possible for the refineries to produce a "watered down" version of gasoline? Kinda like light beer? In other words each gallon of gas is still one gallon but contains less energy and therefore give you fewer miles on a gallon?

I'm wondering if the mixture could be sneakily adjusted so there is more fluff (low enthalpy hydrocarbon crud) and fewer "meaty" molecules.

That way refiners could cope a bit better with demand by providing a degraded product.

If that were the case, it would explain a slide in efficiency and today's gas prices would have to factored up even higher.

Or is this nuts? Is all gasoline equal?

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Niagara', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ChadP', '
')I'm no chemist but I know adding Ethanol did just that.

[Falconoffury]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'b')ecause of high gas prices and demographic shifts