Average Oil Price at 150 Year High: Not your father's recovery

[cimon9999]

you might if you needed one

America is one big place like..

This isn't solely a case of D4 Mommies buying luxury range rovers to bring their little Tammy's to school

Some are even used as; wait for it; pickups

Yeah, but did transportation needs really change that much in the last 30 years? Cars went from 80% of the market in 1980, to 50% today.

[riven]

I have one small quibble
When using data for US, you should use the West Texas Intermediate price as this is more relevant to the situation there and correlates even better with recessions in the US.

[hairylemon]

It seems to me that fuel prices will continue an upward spiral, as such, we should be looking for alternatives, by this, i don't mean the current con job of promoting garbage electric cars.

Electric cars are powered by energy derived from primarily carbon based power stations, in reality, the source of power has shifted from individual co² power units, (engines) to ESB power stations, this makes no sense, given that the life expectancy of batteries are just 3 years, the average battery powered car, has a distance of just 100 miles between recharging, this figure doesn't account for additional strain on the batteries such as additional weight from extra passengers or for cargo.

One of the biggest disgraces in recent years has been the closure and wrecking of the sugar beet factories, the government at the time, were probably correct in the assessment, that it is cheaper and easier to produce sugar from cane rather than beet, however, surely investment into sugar as a fuel source would have been cost effective.

Instead of reducing the incomes of those that were once employed in that industry, surely retraining would have been much more beneficial, not just for the former employees, but for agriculture as a whole, instead of importing ever increasing oil, why did we not radically reduce our dependence on it.

secondly, as fossil fuel is not infinate, why are we not looking at other alternatives, such as hydrogen, we are surrounded by the raw ingredient, therefor why is Ireland lagging behind as per usual.

If we must import oil, why are we not utilizing a crop that has been used by man for ten thousand years, HEMP, this product as a crop can produce high quality plastic substitutes, insulation, bio diesel even food substitutes.

If Ireland is to drag ourselves of the economic floor, then our exports will have to outperform our imports, in essence, low cost fuel = low cost manufaturing costs, without the need to impoverish the workforce.

[feargach]

It's the economics of energy. Energy = environment. It's suitable for both categories.

Well, putting it into environment seems to me to require two leaps whereas you can slot it into economy with only one leap.

It has "recovery" in the title so I´d have said it automatically has much more of an econ slant than an eco slant.

No biggie, I just think too many important economic threads are found in places which they have only a tangential relationship with.

As a rule of thumb, I would say that unless climate change or pollution are directly mentioned, it´s probably best not to go into Environment. Just my tuppence, and I won´t be miffed if anyone disagrees.

[riven]

One of the biggest disgraces in recent years has been the closure and wrecking of the sugar beet factories, the government at the time, were probably correct in the assessment, that it is cheaper and easier to produce sugar from cane rather than beet, however, surely investment into sugar as a fuel source would have been cost effective.

I agree with much of what you say and this point is something I highlighted in a previous thread many moons ago. Sugar beet, while not being an effective way to make cheap fule would have given the possibility to keep the Irish sugar industry alive and perhaps develop the expertise required for future chemical production and interest from biotech. It is a bit of a leap but the cost to the government over a decade period would not have been large.

A wasted opportunity for Ireland potential biofuel industry

[Analyzer]

Oil is getting very expensive for your average suburban consumer.

Time to liberate another country from it's oil....modern lifestyle demands it.

[conservative green]

They do when they are free. Thanks to Bush Jr you can get a big 'gas guzzler' for free -

USATODAY.com - Bush plan gives huge tax break to buyers of big SUVs

Also remember they pay a fraction of what we pay for petrol, so the prices really don't hit them like they hit us. They are currently paying about $3.00 a gallon, which is what? 3.78 litres for about €1.50 - about €0.39 a litre? We are paying on average about €1.59 a litre, so if the price even tripled they still wouldn't feel it as much as we already do.

Your arithmetic is way off.

Current US gas prices average $3.44 per gallon

U.S. Gasoline and Diesel Retail Prices

There are 3.785 litres in one US gallon, so this is $0.91 per litre = €0.71 per litre at today's exchange rate of 1.2764, around double, not four times, the average Irish price:

Pumps.ie - Ireland's fuel price website

[Pat Gill]

I agree with much of what you say and this point is something I highlighted in a previous thread many moons ago. Sugar beet, while not being an effective way to make cheap fule would have given the possibility to keep the Irish sugar industry alive and perhaps develop the expertise required for future chemical production and interest from biotech. It is a bit of a leap but the cost to the government over a decade period would not have been large.

A wasted opportunity for Ireland potential biofuel industry

riven,

It should be back up and running within 2 years along with the cluster of both support and dependent businesses. One or two of whom will be pleasant surprises.

Of course a high oil price suggests that the cost of imported sugar will remain high along with many other commodities.