Succeed where 8 Presidents have failed.

[Steverino]

Jon Stewart hilariously reviews the history of the last 8 President's who all promised to end our oil addiction and who all failed. Each set a deadline, none were met. Thanks DonC for suggesting this clip! The ending was very funny as you'd expect.

Sometimes, we need to lead the politicians by taking personal responsibility to slash oil consumption. I slashed my personal oil addiction by 80% by simply driving a Volt. And the quality of my driving experience actually improved!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/we...pendent-future

(Tried to embed to clip, but no success)

energy-independance.jpg

[marlow]

The Official Chevy sponsored Volt site is now saying that Volt oners have allready saved over one supertanker of oil.

[JamesMcQuaid]

That's a great video: hilarious and informative. IMHO, Congress, not the presidents, are to blame for U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The last 8 presidents have made energy independence a goal, but the necessary legislation was not passed.

We need not look back any further than what is going on today: President Bush got the electric vehicle tax credit passed, and now the fricking dummies (i.e. House Republicans) want to revoke it. This a product of their crooked campaign contributions, and vapid bromance with energy security traitors like Rush Limbaugh. In an environment where the American Petroleum Institute distributes more than 200,000 publications each year all designed to further the use of their product, bought and paid for Congressmen have little to fear. This is undue influence.

[Steverino]

I do give President Bush and the congress of that time credit for the using the tax credit to give people an incentive to buy car's that drastically reduce our oil habit. Had he not done so, I likely would not be driving a Volt today. I give Obama and the congress of that time credit for extending it and enhancing it.

Those who now want to derail any and all efforts to go electric are very misguided at the least.

[islander]

Great Video!

Follow the money... and that will show you where much of the corruption is in American politics. Most other countries are laughing their a$$ of at us and our citizens continue to struggle and don't even understand why.

[ShannonVolt]

As a registered Republican, I've seen where both party sides give lip service to whomever they are entertaining. It's what you and I want to hear right? I believe independence from foreign oil is an American issue and "should" resonate with most Americans. Any elected official who will not represent the people have probably been offered the moon which ultimately delays Americas progress and may even put Americans at great harm. As we look ahead, gas prices are beginning to fall nearly $1.00 which I believe is not helping the EV cause but don't worry as I have faith it will rise again very soon.
Question, how are fuel prices able to drop so much in few short weeks? Tension in the middle east easing?, US using less fuel?, have we expanded exploration is the US?, election year prop?, or is it something more that neither you or I are privileged enough to know?

[Rooster]

Hey it’s not so bleak, we actually have an alternative energy vehicle in production, it’s call the Chevy Volt. It consumes domestically produced alternative energy for the first 40 miles of use. In 2003 U.S. passenger cars consumed 74.6 Billion gallons of gasoline , which roughly equates to 3.8 Billion barrels of oil . In 2003, the US imported 4.1 Billion barrels of oil. If every passenger car in the United States had a 40-mile electric range, then 78% of the demand for passenger car gasoline would be eliminated according to the BTS survey. That equals 3.0 Billion barrels of oil, or 72.7% of all net imported oil for the year.

[Rooster]

As a registered Republican, I've seen where both party sides give lip service to whomever they are entertaining. It's what you and I want to hear right? I believe independence from foreign oil is an American issue and "should" resonate with most Americans. Any elected official who will not represent the people have probably been offered the moon which ultimately delays Americas progress and may even put Americans at great harm. As we look ahead, gas prices are beginning to fall nearly $1.00 which I believe is not helping the EV cause but don't worry as I have faith it will rise again very soon.
Question, how are fuel prices able to drop so much in few short weeks? Tension in the middle east easing?, US using less fuel?, have we expanded exploration is the US?, election year prop?, or is it something more that neither you or I are privileged enough to know?

When given a choice, the vast majority of consumers will purchase the least expensive fuel that meets their need. If you truly want to develop domestic alternatives fuels to petroleum, you need a national energy policy that guards against a crash in the market price of petroleum. Investors in alternative fuels would be foolish to ignore this potential. In 2008, Americans drove 5.6% less than in 2007 according to the U.S. Department of Energy due to the global economic downturn. Consequently, oil dropped from an average weekly high of $133.60/barrel on 4 July 2008 to $62.82 on 24 Oct 2008. That is a 47% reduction in price in 3 months from a 5.6% sustained reduction in US demand for petroleum.

Once vehicles like the Volt penetrate the domestic market, they have the real potential to drastically reduce demand for gasoline and collapse the market price of oil. That’s great on the one hand, but it would be disaster for a domestic alternative fuel startup. Should the price of oil collapse, it will mean bankruptcy for any alternative fuel start up unless they are protected. Would you be willing to invest Billons in alternative fuel production facilities given this foreseeable risk? The answer of course is no. So the bigger question is what policy can the US government implement to encourage investment in alternative fuel production, and should they?

The answer is simply, but controversial. The best policy to facilitate investment in alternative fuel production is to implement a floor tax on the price of a barrel of oil imported or produced in the United States. While at the same time, any alternatives fuels produced in the United States would not be subject to any tax. We would need a policy that has no impact on the market if the price of oil stays high, but has a profound effect should the price of oil crash. That is the definition of a floor price, and it is the best strategy to protect a fledgling domestic alternative fuel industry. Should the price for oil remain high, as predicted by peak oil theorists, a floor tax would have no impact other than a psychological one akin to insurance. If the price of oil on the market is higher than the floor tax, there is no tax. However, should the price of oil plummet, a floor tax would keep the price of petroleum products sold in the US at a minimum dollar amount that would be designed to protect alternative fuel start-ups. A floor tax would also have the added benefit of increased tax revenue whenever the market price of oil is below the floor price. The cost to consumers would be an artificial price above the “market equilibrium price” for petroleum. This artificial high price serves to reduce demand, and would likely create a surplus that would further depress the equilibrium market price for petroleum. Nevertheless, strategically why would a surplus of oil on the world market be a bad thing for the United States?

Unfortunately, in today’s political environment, a petroleum floor “tax” will never pass both Houses, thus we won’t get a policy in place to encourage alternative fuel production capacity investment. We will remain addicted to oil for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, vehicles like the Volt will help mitigate that dependency.

[JamesMcQuaid]

Both of these interesting analyses speak to the severe economic risks of oil price volatility. One discusses marginal costs, and the other addresses the potential for supply disruption:

Caution: Increasing Marginal Costs Ahead
http://energypolicyinfo.com/2012/05/...l-costs-ahead/

Oil prices have dipped recently, but amidst the enthusiasm about decreased pain at the pump and prices per barrel sliding to slightly below $100, a number of sources have pointed out that this respite doesn’t change the fundamental fact: the era of cheap oil is over...

Intelligence Report: Barrels at Risk
http://energypolicyinfo.com/2012/05/...rrels-at-risk/

The oil market carries very little spare capacity to cushion these disruptions. If as few as two flashpoints occurred simultaneously, demand for available spare capacity could easily be overwhelmed.

Due to a fragment of local history, I have given some consideration to the possibility of supply disruption (which a lot of people probably view about as likely as an alien invasion).

I live about a mile from where R.E. Olds' daughter's (Gladys Olds Anderson) Woldumar mansion once stood (it burned in December 1969). R.E Olds had built it for her in 1930. Incredibly, during World War II, the Olds family closed the mansion, due to an inability to adequately heat it - a consequence of fuel rationing.

When I was a young teenager, I recall that there was fuel scarcity and long lines at gas stations during the OPEC oil embargo.

I'm very pleased to have the Volt for many reasons, but they do include personal energy security.

[Koz]

Good comedy. Of course a little thing called growth has made reducing dependency on foreign energy sources a moving target. We certainly could have done a lot more and a lot better but think of what it would be like if we hadn't been trying at all.