Sorry Chris - you import an awful lot of it from Saudi, Iraq, Kuwait and
Alaska. (Yes, that's an import). You don't have anywhere near enough in
mainland USA to meet your demand. You do use waaaaay more than your share. It
costs more elsewhere mainly because they have swinging excises to discourage
overuse and encourage more economic practices like smaller vehicles.
We are technically self-sufficient - apart from some swapping to get the right
blends. By your logic, it should be dirt cheap here. But the base price is kept
artificially high in line with West Texas Crude and Brent North Sea levels to
encourage further exploration. Then heavy excises are applied to help defray
the cost of road infrastructure in a 'wide brown land' (like you area, small
population and long distances,only more so). And because they'd like us to use
less. Oh and because the Federal government is slightly addicted to the huge
revenue stream.
I can get my vehicle converted to run on Liquid Petroleum Gas (Propane/Butane
blend) which is developed from the local offshore fields (South Eastern
Victoria). The government will throw me a $2K grant which almost covers it and
then pegs the price of gas (no, real gas) at 50% 0f petrol - they'd like me to
do it because the emissions tend to be, er, water. The energy yield is down to
70-85% depending on tuning in vehicles in a dual fuel installation but almost
identical to petrol in a gas-only vehicle like a taxi or urban delivery truck.
This price control is achieved by excise reduction as it is with ethanol
blends. It's a bit slower, more sluggish, (like unTurbo'ed diesel) but a
helluva lot cheaper. (About $2.50 per US gallon at present). I've had it done
on any large and thirsty vehicle I've owned in the last twenty years.
In other words, unlike you we really are close to self-sufficient but we are
encouraging more responsible fossil fuel consumption by price control through
evil Federal government interference in our fundamental freedom to consume and
pollute. :-)
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Author/Publisher:
The SLR Compendium,The TLR Compendium
http://www.soultheft.com/storehouse_photopublish/
On 28/06/2014, at 8:02 PM, Chris Crawford wrote:
> We do pay a realistic price for it. We have extensive reserves of oil,
> gas, and coal to provide us cheap energy until we fully develop more
> modern sources. We're getting heavily into wind energy, and we've used
> hydroelectric power since the 1930s. No country is able to exist without
> use of fossil fuels, not even Europe. It costs you more because you don't
> have any. It costs us less because we do have it. That's basic economics.
> Hell, in Saudi Arabia, gas is nearly free. They have LOTS of it, and a
> very small population (so little demand domestically). You guys sound like
> the American people owe you something because we have 'cheap' gas. We
> don't. Different countries have different advantages and disadvantages. We
> have cheap fuel, you have better health care, just to cite one example.
>
> --
> Chris Crawford
> Fine Art Photography
> Fort Wayne, Indiana
> 260-437-8990
>
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio
>
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>
>
> On 6/28/14 4:55 AM, "ChrisB" <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Chris
>>
>> Yours was a well-argued and enlightening post until the final paragraph.
>> It's everyone's business whether one of the largest economies pays a
>> realistic price for its energy.
>>
>> Chris
>>
>> C M I Barker | Gamlingay
>>
>>
>>> On 28 Jun 2014, at 08:54, Chris Crawford <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> The US has serious problems. Cheap gas isn't one of them, and in any
>>> case
>>> its none of your business. The European Union has serious economic and
>>> structural problems you should be worrying about.
>>>
>> --
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>
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