The Electrics ARE coming!

Nissan which has lagged behind its fellow Japanese auto companies Toyota and Honda in producing hybrids hope to lap them by introducing an all electric car. File this under 'interesting, if true.' The most unbelievable part of it is the price. I might be driving one yet.

and then there's the Chevy Volt.

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Why we need a stiff gas tax

It's not to be green, nor to feel good and virtuous. It is a vital issue of national defense. Why empower our worst enemies? Here is what is happening now that folks are no longer buying gas at their usual rate (due first to high gas prices, now to the fact we all fear poverty):

But Russia's budget for 2009 requires oil to sell at $95 a barrel to break even, Venezuela at $60, Iran between $55 and $60. Many producer states, it seems, have fallen into an old trap, expecting booms to last longer than they actually will. Let it be granted that those forecasts seem modest given the $147 high witnessed last summer.

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it's difficult to imagine these states taking more aggressive tacks then those that which they're already on. I wonder if we might, ironically, see the opposite: domestic aggression combined with a softening toward the international society.

Or as Bill Maher once put it, "When you drive alone ... you drive with Osama!" So keep conserving that gas and support a tax on gasoline.

I'm still trying to save by not going to work, but it doesn't seem to be a viable plan.

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Exxon Mobil update

Interesting take on offshore drilling and Exxon over on Salon.com. It tries to explain why Exxon, with record breaking profits, is desperate for offshore drilling. It seems their ability to pump oil has been decreasing all around the globe (ie Congress is not to blame - it's a worldwide problem).

Offshore drilling will have only a trivial influence on the price of gas and will not decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil one whit. Only a massive reduction in demand and the development of alternative sources of energy will achieve such a promised land. But even just the prospects of increased production could do wonders for the share price of Exxon, should the oil company get some new leases.

Exxon's executives must currently be tearing their hair out at their inability to increase production when the price of oil is at an all-time high. Because, as the events of the past few weeks have demonstrated, when the price of oil gets high enough, demand destruction follows, and the price inevitably drops. And suddenly, $11 billion in quarterly profits is ancient history.

From that point on the post becomes an ugly rant against the energy policy of the Bush admin and I certainly wouldn't want to be a party to that.

it's too easy, for one thing.

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And working hard for every penny of it!

Exxon-Mobil. Top of the heap.

But I am sure they want to thank all the little people out there who helped make their success possible.

Pickens and Wind: the movie

Here is a clearer presentation of T Boone Pickens' plan for replacing the natural gas component of our electrical power with wind power. For an old guy, he makes a great presentation in front of the class.


so there 's hope for me yet.


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