10 Facts About Oil
...from the Environmental Defense Fund.
96 Percent of the world's transportation energy currently supplied by oil.
$75 Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2007.
$131 Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2008.
9.6 billion Number of fewer miles Americans drove in May 2008 compared to May 2007.
10.3 billion Number of trips taken via the U.S. public transportation system in 2007, the highest in 50 years.
44 Percent increase in price of diesel fuel paid by public transit agencies.
20 Percent of America's public transit agencies that are cutting services due to budget constraints.
46 Percent of population that has no access to public transit.
$6,251 Amount the average two-worker household saves annually by taking public transportation instead of driving a car.
2030 Year by which lifting the ban on offshore drilling may start to impact the price of gas.
Some of these make me wonder if expensive oil isn't good for the planet and all of us. No offshore drilling - instead let's put more money into public transit and alternative sources of fuel.
posted by kate @ 8:05 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
It's good for us if we bother to learn the lessons expensive oil teaches. Oil dependence is a back monkey worse than heroin and five times as hard to kick. We have to pour our efforts and the fabled American Ingenuity into finding alternative fuel sources and not just acclimatizing to higher prices.
We've had a taste of the end of oil. The question is, will we accept this nasty flavor or will we learn to cook better.
The last fact "2030" is flat wrong.
The price of oil, and hence gas, is set on an open market by people looking to make a buck. Some want oil to go up, others want it to go down.
Just like the stock market.
So psychology has as much to do with the price of oil as the actual supply and demand for it.
Hence the reason we saw a $25 drop in the price of oil after Bush rescinded the executive branch ban on drilling. If Congress would act as well, oil would drop another $10 to $15 per barrel.
While actual supply and demand does have an important role, so does the psychology of the marketplace.
Will we ever see $80 per barrel and $2 per gallon? Probably not. But it won't be $200 per barrel and $6 per gallon any time soon.
uh-huh...
Exxon Mobile: 11.86 profit.
Highest ever.
Pffftttt...
I'm with you Kate. Some other benefits besides the ones you listed: fewer fat people and fewer highway deaths.
However, I think US drilling restrictions are stupid. We are simply outsourcing the pollution. Where do you think environmental controls are the most stringent? Certainly not in Nigeria, Venezuala, Russia or Saudi Arabia. It's in the US. If you care about the planet (the entire planet), then you should support expanded drilling on US soil.
Natalie, Will Smith made $80,000,000 last year. Not once did he pay to fill up my gas tank or offer me a ride to work. Bastard.
Hey, why don't we just use bio-fuel. that'll solve everything right?
What? Buy old fuel? Would that work?
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