The difference...

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German Fuel Prices Query Reply to this

Where I fill up in Seoul, Korea: $6.65.

Oil is about $115 a barrel. A man would have to work 20,000hrs to produce an equivalent amount of energy = free energy!

But we are now living in the age of peak oil, and it won't be free for too much longer...

In 2002, for example, Oil was $20 a barrel.

Travel while you can.


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Why not, it's economical for Americans to go fill up their tanks in Baghdad! Reply to this

Using the price of standard unleaded at the fuel station down my road (supermarket) of £1.109 (110.9p)... todays exchange rate (£:$) and the US gallon conversion factor makes it $8.90 a gallon!

holy cow.... boy am I glad I cycle to work and rarely drive my 1 litre engined car!!!!! :) Reply to this

Time is running out...does anyone have a contingency plan?
Oil price 'may hit $200 a barrel' Reply to this

Unfortunately I missed the coconut contingency plan!

Here are some other options;

Hydrogen - it takes 6 gallons of gasoline to make enough hydrogen to drive a car the same distance as one gallon of gasoline.

Biomass - we currently put more fossil fuel energy into making ethanol than we currently get out.

Bio Diesel - even if we cut down all the rain forests and cranked up production to the max and then multiplied that by a hundred, Bio-diesel would only replace a fraction of the energy we currently gain from oil (Not to mention the starvation and environmental degradation that would occur). Oil is formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants and animals exposed to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust over hundreds of MILLIONS of years. For example, it is calculated that the total fossil fuel used in the year 1997 is the result of 422 years of all plant matter that grew on the entire surface and in all the oceans of the ancient earth.

Nuclear - we currently use 10 terawatts of energy from Oil per day. To replace that with nuclear power we'd need to build 10,000 of the biggest power stations. If this were to happen the world's stock of uranium would be exhausted in 10 years.

The contingency plan I was referring to, was one which would see us living without the energy from oil, or it's 'substitutes'.





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>If every house in the developed world put a solar panel or two on their roof, we could cut our fossil fuel use in half.

Sadly, I don't think that is the case, although I'm no expert and am just going from other people's analysis. Obviously solar panels will help a little but local wind turbines are relatively unfeasible at the moment for most households. Although related to climate change rather than peak oil, George Monbiot's book "Heat" covers the alternatives in a significant amount of detail. It is rather depressing but there appears to be some potential for positives.

He describes the introduction of long distance direct current electricity cables that have much lower loss than existing ones. This reach means solar panels in the Sahara could be powering Northern Europe, and offshore wind farms (for example) can be further offshore than previously.

Similarly he blasts the British Government for spending billions in adding extra lanes to motorways that will immediately fill up with cars and remain clogged and frustrating to use. He describes an integrated public transport system that would actually cost very little at all and dramatically reduce both oil usage and greenhouse gases. From my own perspective driving anywhere in England during the week is a nightmare and such a vision seems a really positive thing in that it could actually improve the quality of experience of many regular travellers irrespective of the environmental benefits.

Interestingly it seems much of continental Europe already have versions of such systems, although currently without sufficient capacity to cope with all the car users who would need to switch. Nonetheless the existing systems work really well - it's a very rare occasion when I need to rent a car for a business trip to Europe and almost as rare when the only feasible way to get to someone's office is to use a taxi.

Alas, Monbiot draws a blank when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from flying. Dirigibles anyone?
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/05/06/travelling-light/

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Malaysian Petrol is around MYR 2.70 per litre (Around US$0.85)as our government subsidies part of the expenses. Reply to this