"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
25 October 2005Aw, shucks, it's back to $2.05
Strategic resource or not, the oil industry is not a public utility. Supply and demand ought to be allowed to operate just as it would in the snack cake industry. Those who want to bring a final end to our dependence on fossil fuels ought to have faith that if supply and demand make fossil fuels no longer economically feasible, alternatives will become available; thus they ought to be perfectly okay with high prices for petroleum-based fuels. And if I were CEO of Conoco-Phillips or BP-Amoco or any of the other oil companies, I'd already be funding research into alternatives. You can't patent gasoline, but a viable gasoline substitute?
(1) Have you seen the prices of snack cakes lately? (2) Alternatives will suddenly appear at the exact point where they're price-competitive with our old-tech stuff; if there's a stumbling block, it's with the fact that we don't have much of an infrastructure to deal with alt-fuels. (How will we know when the fuel cell has been accepted by the marketplace? When there's a hydrogen-dispensing unit at 7-Eleven.) (3) It's a shame Scotty never finished up that second transporter. Posted at 7:50 AM to Family JoulesAccording to Gasbuddy.com it's BELOW $2 ($1.999 to be exact) at I-40 and MLK.
Remind me to check the price of diesel. It's stubbornly stayed up there while gas prices were in free-fall. Posted by: CGHill at 10:21 AM on 25 October 2005At least in these parts, diesel normally holds a little above at least two grades of gasoline -- which means if it's lower than gasoline you can pretty well bet gas will eventually go down. Unless diesel goes up... Posted by: McGehee at 9:24 AM on 27 October 2005Right now, while 87-octane unleaded is below $2.10 at many locations around town, diesel is holding stubbornly at the $3 mark. I'm guessing this has something to do with regional changeovers to heating oil. Posted by: CGHill at 9:44 AM on 27 October 2005Ah. Well, heating oil demand wouldn't be a factor here -- it's either natural gas or electric in this market. Posted by: McGehee at 9:47 AM on 27 October 2005 |