Comments on: Oil Hits $88 per Barrel!

By: Sky King

Sky King — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:45:19 +0000

I reduced my home heating oil consumption by 65% by installing solar thermal evacuated tube solar collectors that make hot water for DHW and space heating using radiant floor heat. Cost is double that of a conventional forced hot water system but adds $2 to your property value for every $1 you invest and system payback is 8 years or less with oil at $3/gal that will hit $3.50/gal here in New England before the heating season is over.

By: Van

Van — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:48:16 +0000

When oil actually comes into short supply, we will not be able to get it at any price.
PHEV offer protection from this coming reality. But do we have “billions” being poured into battery production and nuke generators? Nope. This feels like the days before WWII, where everyone knows it is coming, but we cannot muster the will to prepare.

By: John FK

John FK — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 01:20:39 +0000

I’m overjoyed. I’m been waiting for this for a long time.

If you wonder why look at all the IR&D going into alternative energy now. Look at all the new eager adopters. There is something about a $100 price tag that causes people to think, ‘ This is too expensive. I’ve got to change something.’

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:54:19 +0000

That’s “peak” oil.

And the reason U.S. production peaked was economics.

Even with transportation costs, by the late 1970s it was much cheaper per barrel to pump oil out of middle eastern oilfields than those in Texas.

>we have passed the point of Peek Oil

By: Steven B

Steven B — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:27:48 +0000

There is plenty to do to eliminate our need for oil. But the most significant current grid-tie to the oil markets is the transportation sector. We need electric drive transit and we need it now. There is currently not enough biofuel sources to provide the transition. We can also get into biogas to do so. Effective insulation is also important, as are PV and micro wind power. If you’re in a place that gets enough wind, you can by your own wind power turbine for significantly less than PV. My recommendation is to do some serious financial evalutions to decide what kind of alternative to fuel oil you can get. It’s probably not a bad idea to allow in your financial evaluations an increase in oil prices, as well as natural gas. I’ve also seen that Honda has a co-generation furnace that you can use to heat and power your house, so that’ll cut down electricity costs as well. Plus it is also a generator, obviously, so if you can have that to use too. Here in central Texas, we’re not that prepared for winter, ever, and we do tend to experience blackouts when things are iced over. Make sure not to be grid-bound in terms of oil dependence! There are options, and make sure to explore as many as possible. And explore the market for investment opportunities in the future of energy!