7.15.07 Another trip through San Diego. So far its getting so much better. $3.06 for ethanol (2.99 for cash price) They were selling reglar gas for $3.05, but ther Mobil station accross the street was 3.23 for regular.

 

Most of the oil imported into the midwest and upper midwest comes from our northern neighbors. The refinery I work at in the upper midwest is 100% dependent on Canadian crude. And Canadian oil companies are reaching further into this market. Look up the activities of Enbridge Pipeline Company/Suncor/Husky Oiland see how much they are spending on pipelines into the Chicago market. One of our other main suppliers is North Dakota. The Canadian boys are very busy buying up refineries and partnering with American companys to upgrade refineries to run their "extremely heavy" crudes. There is a ton of untappedoil up there, wether it is"oil sand"or very heavy crude,with the price of $60 + /bbl, it is well worth the time and investment to go after it. Oil atless than$30/bbl and you can forget about it.
The other issue is production capacity, we run maxed out all the time, therenow a huge demand to import finished product, that's expensive.
Corn based ethanol? not theanswer,perhaps sugar cane based.
oh well, sorry i got carried away...am i at work?

 

Like Dennis Miller said tonite, we'll find a replacement for oil when we run out. Therefore he's going to keep driving his SUV to hurry up the process. I'm with him.

I agree re: corn based ethanol. It's a disaster to use one of our main food constituents for fuel. Have you noticed that corn prices are about triple what they were three years ago? That affects beef, milk, soft drinks, tacos, etc prices. []
[sm=rant.gif]

Some one on TV stated that Bush offered closed military bases to the oil companies for new refineries thereby eliminating a lot of red tape. Supposedly "BIG OIL" turned it down. Know anything about that?

 

I forgot to post the latest price I saw in San Diego. $2.96 (credit price) I just found out there is a station in L.A. now.
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/prog...tion.php?32298

Here's someting cool I found
http://www.drivingethanol.org/ethano...g_ethanol.aspx

 

Not sure if this has been posted before:The articleat the link belowaddresses some of the issues with current ethanol production.


GM, Coskata Partner In Breakthrough Ethanol Technology Sunday, January 13, 2008


Coskata, which was formally introduced at GM’s opening press conference at the North American International Auto Show, uses a proprietary process that leverages patented microorganisms and bioreactor designs to produce ethanol for less than $1 a gallon, about half of today’s cost of producing gasoline.

“We are very excited about what this breakthrough will mean to the viability of biofuels and, more importantly, to our ability to reduce dependence on petroleum,” GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said.

Coskata’s process addresses the issues most often raised about grain-based ethanol production.

According to Argonne National Laboratory, which analyzed Coskata’s process, for every unit of energy used, it generates up to 7.7 times that amount of energy, and it reduces CO2 emissions by up to 84 percent compared with a well-to-wheel analysis of gasoline.


http://renewableenergystocks.blogspot.com/2008/01/gm-coskata-partner-in-breakthrough.html

 

Did ANL's analysis include the energy used to plant, harvest, and get to the ethanol plant to process?

A word on CO2: Humans contribute 3.5% of the CO2 in the atmosphere and CO2 represents 3.6% of all greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Therefore mankind is resposible for 0.11% of all greenhouse gases. So it's very hard to see how we can affect global warming one way or another.