at-the-water-cooler.com

Oil has been driving the high price of fuel although you may not know this by watching network news.[1] Most people tend to only consider the high price of gasoline and release that using less for a supply and demand effect is nearly impossible without permanent changes in how we do things. Plastics, Synthetic rubber, Jet Fuel (high grade diesel), Plexiglas, are all made out of Oil.[2] This post documents Goodyear now using natural rubber rather than synthetic rubber. Free market forces are at work which reduce the demand for Oil. We are talking about a global market, Australians - 1 million tonnes of plastic materials - A new Australian venture is producing affordable biodegradable plastics that might change all that.

Threesources: Get ready for the oil price drop points out the largest demand for Oil is industry and across the globe industry has not increased.

[1] Media ignore OPEC’s control of oil market when covering America’s pain at the pump. From Jeremiah Films Blog Scan on the Media. The system is currently only running in beta mode.
[2] The Naked Scientist on PLA, PHB and PA 11 Bioplastics

Related Blogsphere

blogs.wsj.com Time to Short Oil

Popularity: 59% [?]

Democratic Congressman Admits Democrat Budget “Hurts Families

Newly-elected Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) released a statement last week, reacting to the recently passed liberal budget resolution, admitting:

“This bill hurts families all across the 14th District by eliminating the 10-percent bracket for lower-income taxpayers, reinstating the marriage penalty and increasing taxes on small businesses and investments.

Popularity: 13% [?]

ACLU unveils big expansion plans for US heartland

The American Civil Liberties Union announced by far the largest fundraising campaign in its 88-year history Monday, eying a dramatic expansion of its work on social justice issues in relatively conservative states such as Texas and Florida.

The campaign’s goal is $335 million, with $258 million already raised through behind-the-scenes solicitations over the past year, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said.

Major donors include billionaire financier George Soros, who gave $12 million through his Open Society Institute.

“The purpose is to build a civil liberties infrastructure in the middle of the country — where battleground states are often under-resourced and our efforts are most needed,” Romero said.

He cited issues such as immigrants’ rights, gay rights, police brutality and opposition to the death penalty as causes that would be pursued vigorously as the ACLU expanded in heartland states. At present, the ACLU’s biggest offices are in the Northeast, the Pacific states and Illinois; targets for expansion include Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico and Tennessee, with even the smallest ACLU affiliates in line to get extra funding to hire new attorneys and launch new advocacy programs.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Well first any tax on energy is a tax on industry. The standard of living is higher in countries that use energy. It appears to come down to a rather simple truth, A man with a power driven drill can drill 10 times as many holes as a man with a hand powered tool. With 10 times as much production for the same man hour, the man is able to collect more wages, the country has more products, the standard of living is higher.

Total output of energy, or efficiently is not flat across all fuels. Diesel engines produce an on the ground 30% increase in gas milage [source] A CO2 tax targets diesel, a fuel that is easier to produce than gasoline (should be cheaper) - logic clearly is that a switch from gasoline to diesel would be a step in the direction of using less crude oil … A CO2 Tax blocks this course of action by the free market.

Popularity: 14% [?]

This floating wind mill electric turbine looks like a interesting concept for solving the problem of space on the ground for generating power from the wind; and solving the problems of obstructions buildings, trees, local Terran (or even generating power anchored at sea). It places the generator in the location that the wind is blowing with the most force.

The direction of the arrows troubles me - lift is generated by the speed of air over the air foil, It seems that the turbine should turn such that the downside blades generate the power and slow the air and the airfoil exposed on the top moving faster compared to the air speed helps to lift the device. A ground turbine system would have air flow as shown in the picture.

One of the benifes of turbines in they don’t have problems with birds. Which is not the case with propeller based wind mills which often kill birds who try to fly through.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Popularity: 29% [?]

Here is a summary:

McCain (stealing headlines from Obama getting enough delegates) read a speech, it was not a bad reading - He has disagreed many times with President Bush over the years, he has a history of working across party lines, regardless if he gets criticism. He is not happy about the war, Gas prices. The country needs to change because the world has changed but we need to go in the right direction, Obama is not the right direction for a number of issues.

Clinton, had the opportunity to gracefully step out of the race. She did not, Obama now has enough delegates, she lost.

Obama, announced he won, apparently did not see Clinton on TV. And the country needs change, McCain is Bush III, apparently he did not see McCain on TV. Lots of cheering (apparently nobody there watched TV).

Popularity: 18% [?]