...don't exist here.

-The few Oil Ponds we do have, like in Alaska, should not be burnt, but kept stored (for free) in the ground for horrific National Security Emergences.

-Oil is a finite resource. The last of it should not be burnt at all, but turned into foam insulation, medical supplies, etc.

Making the last buck on these Ponds, for inbred Aristocrats, is not the work of men with balls nor those with brains. Engineers, Scientists, and non lard asses can do better.

Chevron on Tuesday estimated the 300-square-mile region where its test well sits could hold between 3 billion and 15 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids. The U.S. consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude-oil in a year.

It is going to be a very long time I think before we can run a tank on alternative fuels. Wouldn't it be great if we stopped the war because we couldn't fuel it any more? But that won't happen as long as we control Iraq's oil.

If you aren't worried about your carbon foot print and the atmosphere we are poisoning for our children there is still oil under the oceans. It is just going to cost us a lot more even than it does now to get it into those barrels. The oil people stopped refining oil in this country because they make bigger profits doing it elswhere.

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." ~ Sinclair Lewis

"I'm just pissed off that not enough other people are pissed off."~Bill Maher

Common sense. Saving energy where ever we can! Going alternative where ever feasible and possible. But we should no longer use oil and gas - like here in Hawaii - to generate electricity.

The technology for cars, heating and power generation without using oil is well known and we must start to use it now and stop making excuses. Are we that stupid that we will one day wake up and can't do anything?

I think we the people should know better. We also should send a clear message to car producers by not buying any of their guzzlers. What for anyway? US is a speed limited country maximum 75 miles/hours are allowed in some states and for that we don't need 300 horse powers of V8, V8 engines. 

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Increasing the domestic supply of oil will only encourage the manufacture and purchase of more of these foul Nineteenth Century internal combustion behemoths, and postpone the developement of zero-emissions electric vehicles. Ethanol, and other biofuels rob crops and land from food production, resulting in scarcity, as witness the ever increasing cost of eating.

Those "men" who are still addicted to the roar of their mighty engines need to get a life and find less wasteful (and annoying) ways to compensate for their inadequacies and low self-esteem.

Most of the electric cars on the market have very, very short ranges, crawl along the ground at bicycle speeds and have extremely small cargo capacity. Coupled with very high price tags, these deficiencies do not hold much attraction for me. I am forced to commute 48 miles one way, to school three times a week, nine and half months out of the year. I already have to get up at 5:30 AM, so I can drive for over an hour to get to school by 9:00 AM. Living closer to college would be ideal for me, but then my wife would just have to commute in the other direction to work. I want an electric car! They could be a lot of fun, as well as being good for the environment. They've got to be affordable, go faster and farther, first.

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You can add all kinds of 'sophistication' to an electric motor to squeeze a few extra miles of range (and more profit for the manufacturer). But, it makes more economic sense to have four conventional motors, and a cheap on-board gas engine to give you infinite range (when you actually need it).

If brushes eat that much power, simply increase their cross-sectional area. (Remember, there are four motors sharing the load). If I'm not mistaken, you need conventional commutation for regenerative braking (which, instead of dissapating it as heat, uses the excess energy to recharge the battery).

Railroad locomotives have been hybrid for almost 60 years, now. "Gearshift" is accomplished electrically with relays.

The lightweights may be more vulnerable in a crash. But, owing to their nimbleness (coupled with skillful driving), are much less likely to be involved in an accident in the first place.

How much does this VW diesel sell for?

Please. I hate the smell of diesel -- and french fries -- with a passion. I would never buy one. If one were given to me, I would sell it.

The advantage of a plug-in hybrid with each wheel a motor (besides the operating ecponomy), is greatly reduced maintenance cost (no complex, heavy, and expensive engine; no transmission, or differential), and never having to visit a gas station again (except when on an extended trip).

I believe present technology makes such an economical and simple plug-in hybrid practical. If I'm wrong, then we need another Manhattan Project to make it happen.

Moving your body through air requires a certain amount of power.

Double your speed, and the power required goes up by a factor of...
.
.
.
EIGHT!

and

Doubling your frontal area, by placing people side by side roughly doubles the power required.

Finally:

No matter what source of energy we use in the future, the above remains true.

As you see, those are HUGE effects.

There is no law of the universe that says that when a planet runs out of oceans of hydrocarbons one must be able to create the very same standard of living via technology.

There are certain truths that remain true no matter what future technology we develop. I mention just a few above. I hope we can all encourage a mixed bag of solutions. One of them, I think, must be somewhat oddball vehicles for some: enthusiasts, the young and able, etc.

We'll need a cultural change if those odd vehicles are to be accepted onto our roadways.

The link below sends one to the page describing a bit about their hub motors:

http://www.wavecrestlabs.com/automotive-products-wheelmotor.php

The VW way above uses a tiny 8.5 horsepower diesel engine.

(Remember too that when you burn 1/10 th the fuel you have the possibility of producing only 1/10 the pollution).

Still, that vehicle would cost $25,000 and had other issues like noise, so VW scrapped it.

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The VW Lupo is closer to what might penetrate markets here:

-78 miles per gallon.

-top speed 102 mph.

-simple diesel (sorry;)

It was discontinued in 2005 but I hear rumors it will be back in another few years (maybe sooner). I almost went to Canada to get one a year or two ago.

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By the way, diesel engines today can provide the power for 75 mpg cars AND produce LESS pollution than gasoline/electric hybrids.

Drill oil in our pristine lands and our back yards or inundate our lands with nuclear reactors.  Is that the best we can do?  I thought we were leaders of the free world, the most advanced nation on the planet.  We have all these space crafts on these other planets or speeding through the universe, and telescopes that see farther than we ever dreamed and technology that practically is glued to our ears to talk to each other etc etc,.  And all we got in a crisis (that we new was coming by the way) is a couple of warn ideas short term at that, that keep us going down a dark road of environmental and health problems just because the money is good (but only for the few) and we are scared of change.   The people who control these industries are very intertwined with our government and they will only change when whatever next thing to replace oil or nuclear power is in their control.  They could care less about the masses or the burden being placed on us.  The fact is there are many technologies out there that have been around for a while that could indeed help us bridge the gap between change  but they are usually either suppresed, shelved, or made to be so expensive that they are not redily available to us.  Money and politics the root of all problems is still the root of all problems and a closed door to change.  Now money in itself or politics in itself is not evil but put the two together and change hides away.  We must crash down these closed doors with demands for better of ourselves and our representatives.  And if companies refuse to work toward better safer products we can react by not purchasing their products.  There are plenty of companies that are beginning to embrace environmentaly and healthy choices of the products they create that we can switch to.  That can speak volumes on our behalf.

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Jim, I thank you for the images and links, especially the motor/wheels. To think, a fellow Arkansan and Democrat had his hands in it for a time.

I grew up near a RR yard, and still remember the "ker-chunk" of those big contactors (relays) as the switch engines "shifted gears" -- I suspect that they controlled field-winding configuration, i.e., more poles for high-torque/low speed, and progressively fewer as speed increased. Those diesel-electric locomotives could get a whole passenger train moving with a top speed approaching 100MPH, and this was before high-current transistor technology.

I still get a kick out of watching the old "Star Trek" episodes, hearing the clicking relays in the Enterprise's computer. But I digress.

While today's solid-state technology is considered to be very reliable; in today's world, with all the nuclear material unaccounted for, I would have more confidence in mechanical contacts -- brushes and relays -- unless the electronics could be economically hardened against the threat of EMP.

Back in the 70's "Mother Earth News" magazine had an article on replacing a pick-up's gas engine with a surplus jetengine starter motor. Powered by a bank of deep-cycle lead-acid batteries, and a small constant-speed gas-powered generator back in the bed.

You are correct, today's VW's are "not your father's diesel." I had a few Rabbits, but they all ran on gas. I had a timing belt break on me, once, and replaced it,no sweat. If it had been "der diesel," every one of the valves would have been toast (owing to the necessary clearance required for the required compression). So maybe I'm just prejudiced, but considering the smell, poor acceleration, and now the cost, diesel has always been an anathema.

I confess, I have always been a "conspiracy theorist" when it comes to big corporations maximizing their profits through planned obselesence. A case in point -- I have a "Craftsman" electric mower, and would never go back to the noxious gas models. But, at the top of the DC motor, instead of a ball-bearing, they "engineered" it with a bushing, which overheated, melting the plastic housing, shifting the armature axis, which them chipped a portion of the powdered iron permenant magnet field. Fortunately, I had saved the plastic housing from a previous motor (which had suffered a similar fate). I was lucky to have found a suitable ball-bearing, and with some carving out with a pocket knife, kludged it in. So I now have a reliable mower, that doesn't deafen me, or make me sick with its fumes.

To best break our addiction to foreign oil, we need a low-cost, reliable, plug-in hybrid. Given the auto-makers' proclivity toward screwing their customers to increase their profit-margin, national security concerns justify a new Manhattan Project toward this end. I look forward to the day, when we'll no longer need to regularly gas-up, sending our dollars to OPEC, and ultimately to terrorists.

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My Dad drove five miles to school, and back every day; in a cart pulled by actual horsepower. Once he got that behind him, the autmobile itself (even it its most spartan form) was considered a 'nicety' for sure.

It would be nice not to depend on foreign oil.
Biodiesel from waste cooking grease?

Ah, "Living off the fat of the land."

I love it.

Maybe I could make a McDeal with a fast food chain or two. In return for taking that putrid stuff off their greasy hands, I could get discount coupons for their wares. (Which I would promptly try to sell on e-Bay.)

I guess you could call it "Carbo-credits."

But back to the niceties.

My car thinks I'm an idiot.
It thinks than whenever I use the remote to lock it;
that I want its parking lights to flash --
indicating to every would-be thief up and down the block,
that I will be away from my car for a time. Duh.

Yes, I like the feature where my '05 Ford Focus's factory CD player's volume can be programmed to automatically increase (by incremental pre-set values), as car speed (and ambient noise) increases. But I freaking hate having go through a freaking menu every time I freaking need to freaking adjust the freaking bass and freaking treble.

Niceties, schmiceties.

Guess I should concentrate my efforts on inventing some sort of a pick-up coil, that could steal power from the overhead electric wires, to run my car as I drive along the road. The power companies would likely then do the sensible thing; bury their cables, and install their sub-stations underground. We'd have fewer outages due to wind, lightning, vehicle accidents, solar magnetic storms, and errant squirrels, owing to their present exposed vulnerability. And, did I mention acts of terror? We'd also get better scenery -- the ultimate "nicety."

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go out and check my Focus; to be sure it turned off its dome light, which, as usual, came on as I locked its doors for the night. I guess it just misses me.

The reason for the high cost of gasoline is the failure of our government to act in a responsible manner. The "Energy-Independence and Security-Act of 2007" requires a 35-mpg standard by 2020. Whoop de do!!! Evidently none of the people who created and signed this act did any research on available technology. To require 35-mpg is ridiculous considering the achievements of Shell Oil with modified automobiles; 49.73-mpg around 1939; 149.95-mpg with a 1947 Studebaker in 1949; 244.35-mpg with a 1959 Fiat 600 in 1968; 376.59-mpg with a 1959 Opel in 1973. If you lived in Europe, during 1983, you could purchase a 72-mpg diesel or 65.7-mpg gas fueled Peugeot. Toyota is complaining they can’t meet the mpg standard. Evidently some people at Toyota didn’t get the memo about the 104-mpg diesel sold in Europe during 2002. Do you wonder why these automobiles were not available in the USA? In 2006 every congressional member of the energy committees was informed of this technology, they did nothing. Ask your members of congress for an explanation why these automobiles were not sold here, I did, they don’t respond.

A Philippine inventor has fueled engines with the components of water for more than 30-years, the Japanese have a water fueled mini-van on the street. This is not new technology, more than 200-years ago one of the attempts to make a self-powered vehicle was fueled with the components of water. The technology is not only applicable to automobiles, any device fueled with "fossil" oil can be fueled with water. In January 2007, Dominion Energy sent a "doom and gloom’ letter to customers, I responded with information about commercially available water fueled electricity generators. Dominion did not respond, consider this when paying your electric bill.

You hear, and read, of the presidential candidates expounding about our reliance on foreign oil. Yet, every candidate for president was offered a free computer disk with videos of six automobiles fueled with water, none wanted the disk. You are told there is an oil shortage. A chairman of Exxon/mobile doesn’t think so nor does the governor of Alaska. The governor says there is a 200-year oil supply for the USA in that state. Do a search for "Lindsey Williams" and learn the truth about the oil in Alaska

It is apparent there is an effort by our government, and major media, to keep the citizens in the dark concerning achieved energy technology. We must make all politicians, including wannabes, address the energy issue with truth and solutions, not rhetoric. DO SOMETHING don’t whine about the cost of gasoline. Demand that our employees earn their salary by action, if not, replace them.