4 dollars a gallon...

[littleriver]

greater than one percent is small but significant... this is in comparison to the contribution from
wind and solar which is much, much less than one percent in actual power contributed but
well over 50 percent in regard to the hot air flopping around the media about how to generate
electricity.....

but never fear.. help is on the way..................


Was talking to an old Mechanical Engineering buddy today who stayed in the industry whereas I just quit because
I got sick and tired of listening to the the ridiculous ideologies about energy policy that took root in this country in the early seventies and are still, unfortunately, alive and well and very nicely articulated by Sam and iprodder.....

anyways, this old mechanical engineering buddy is telling me that the company he's working for (a big engineering firm) is doing nothing but nuclear stuff now..... they will be breaking dirt on a new 600mw nuke plant in North Carolina next year and the paperwork is being processed for a one in New Mexico................. but this story isn't just about a couple of 600mw plants (the two together would be the equivalent of maybe 1/3rd of a Grand Coulee dam)..... these plants represent a new "standardized" design that has been approved by DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and once these two are under way these things are going to start springing up everywhere.......................... this is good news......

I know most can't make the correlation between Global Warming and wind power and carbon dioxide and nuclear waste and high gas prices and I really can't blame you. If I didn't have a technical degree and some experience in the industry I would be in the same boat cuz all I would know is the garbage they feed me in the newspapers and on the nightly news..........

here's a quick primer...........................

nuclear power plants, unlike windmills, don't kill birds, they don't make a lot of noise that annoys neighbors and waste management is one of the advantages of this technology because the waste "can be managed"... waste quantities are extremely small in comparison to power generated and containment methodologies are proven and effective.... by contrast the waste from windmills, solar panels, coal plants, automobiles, etc.... just get pumped out into the environment and we lose control of it...

just a second, just a second Sam says... there's no waste from windmills or solar panels is there???? Well.. actually there is..... concrete used to build foundations for windmills is made by burning lots of carbon based fuels and this is true for coal plants and nuclear plants the difference being that coal plants and nuclear plants produce so much power per yard of concrete used to build the plant that the waste from making the concrete is pretty much negligible.... with windmills this isn't true... total power generated per windmill is very small and so lots and lots of windmills need to be built to provide even a negligibly small contribution to our needs... in this situation all the energy and resources and associated wastes used and produced to build the windmills need to be accounted for.... most windmills built in this country over the last several decades were ultimately torn down and disposed of because they didn't produce enough energy to even pay for the maintenance necessary to keep them operable... I won't mention the radioactive isotopes present in the concrete because they are present in the concrete used to make the foundation for the house you live in... so that source of radioactivity really doesn't count..... as for solar panels... they don't last very long before they crap out and need to be replaced... Lots of neat stuff in the panels.. selenium, gallium, arsenic, stuff like that.... how do you get rid of it safetly????? nobody really knows.....





one of the primary reasons this country cannot meet Kyoto carbon limits is because of all the coal burning power plants we need to generate electricity to keep the lights on back east (53% of our electrical power nationwide is still produced by burning coal)..
I know that Sam and Iprodder think that all these easterners should be very happy to just install some windmills and some solar panels and cut themselves off from the grid and that's fine.. all I'm saying is, why don't you two go ahead and take the plunge yourselves.......

With new standardized 600mw (older plants were 1000 to 1200mw but when you get over 600mw the power levels are too high for "walk away" cooling to be effective in a scram situation... by dropping the standard output to 600mw we effectively make it impossible for another 3 mile island situation to occur, not that the death toll from that accident was all that impressive) nuclear power popping up all over the nation we now have a chance to replace those coal plants with a clean and inexpensive alternative that doesn't kill birds or ravage landscapes or make too much noise for the neighbors......... so say goodbye to the Kyoto conundrum.. and we will be able to do it without having to buy any carbon credits from a company owned by Al gore..

even better, we can stop burning natural gas, diesel fuel, propane, and other "fully utilized fossil fuels" to generate electricity.. and that's another dirty little secret the media refuses to talk about.... over the last couple of decades there has been a huge increase in the use of fossil fuels to generate electric power and with the new nuke plants coming on line that frees this energy resource to heat our homes and power our road vehicles..... they built a huge new natural gas, propane, diesel fuel burning power plant a couple of miles from where a live a few years ago without even posting an annoucement in the local newspaper.... they just slipped that sucker in and let it start burning diesel, gas, and propane without making a big deal about it...... these fuels account for somewhere between 10% and 20% of the electricity generated nationwide now....


even better, with a new and expanding electrical energy technology (e.g. nuclear) we now have the option to start exploring new electrical transportation technologies and that's where I think we will finally put an end to the enormous influence OPEC has had in our daily lives........


so, bottom line... three cheers for George Bush and his courage in appointing Spencer Abrams (of Arab descent himself) as the Secretary of Energy in 2001 and supporting his efforts to get the nuclear power program going again...............


Hopefully Al Gore won't be showing up in the White House in jan. 2009 grasping a hand full of carbon credits and spouting a bunch of anti-nuclear nonsense thereby sending us spiraling down the slippery slope of "over dependence on foreign oil sources" one more time.....

[A9]

I was being sarcastic about those windmills littleriver....

[Easy Limits]

Looks like some relief is on the way. As of today, the wholesale price (the price gas stations pay for gas) of gas is down to $2.90/gallon. Down from $3.40/gallon before the holiday weekend.

[A9]

Hopefully...I'm tired of putting $50 just to fill up my Honda (daily driver)....even more rough too on the towing rig and the boat...

[Easy Limits]

Today: 2.86/gallon

[Easy Limits]

2.84/gallon. Prices are steadily heading down.

[panfisher]

what bothers me about the milage the cars get today on a gallon of gas is that it really hasn't changed much in the last 50 years. i drove a 57 chevy pickup went to minnesota and back with it. kept up with traffic and averaged almost 17 mpg on its original 235 engine. was looking at some stickers the other day and alot of the new ones don't get much better!!?

[bigastrout]

Ever wonder why it takes just as long to pump $20 worth of gas today as it did 10 years ago when you were pumping twice as many gallons for that $20?

[Easy Limits]

Wholesale price is down to $2.75/gallon.

[Easy Limits]

Up a little bit to $2.88/gallon.

[littleriver]

looks like we aren't going to hit $4 this year... maybe next summer...

got filled for $3.05 at the hawkes prairie costco on thursday... it's probably down even more since then...


was talking to another old buddy from my days in the nuclear industry on monday...

he says that utilities nationwide have applied for permits to build a total of 12 new nuclear plants.. groundbreaking for
the first one (in North or South Carolina) will be sometime next year...

this is good news for our power bills.. good news for gas prices..... and good news for the environment (i.e. Nuclear plants don't kill birds and they don't exhaust greenhouse gases, or acid rain, or any of that mean, nasty stuff)..


seems like everytime I drive north on I-5 these days though I pass a huge tractor/trailer rig hauling very, very large windmill blades... they seem to haul them 2 huge blades at a time.... wonder if these are going to those big new wind farms I've heard they are building near Walla Walla.???..... if so, you will probably want to avoid any possible moves to that area... Walla Walla is in a flat area surrounded by the blue mountains on the south and eastern sides... this would tend to amplify the noise from the wind generators when wind speeds are within ranges needed to turn on the power generators.. very ugly .. very annoying....... let someone else listen to all the noise.. we'll just use the electricity....

[littleriver]

I was in downtown Bellevue yesterday just kind of walking around checking out the babes
and enjoying the weather when I happened to walk by a "Proselytizing" greenpeace activist.

Oh Lord forgive me but I do so love it when I meet greenpeace Proselytizers


so I address him by saying...

Hey.. you're greepeace.. One of your founders went pro-nuclear last year.. I read his
op-ed on line. guy is pretty smart...


he responds with the name of the founder (I'm still forgetting it)... and that this person isn't
associated with greenpeace anymore and started to go into the problems with nuclear power when I break in with a..

(you have to constantly interrupt these people because they just never seem to be able to stop talking)


"but nuclear power doesn't kill birds, it doesn't make noise that bothers the neighbors, it doesn't deface landscapes, it doesn't make any greenhouse gases......." at this point he's going nuts, I mean the hands are over the ears and he's acting like some school kid when the teacher runs his fingernails down the blackboard to get everyone's attentions and I get rudely interrupted myself... and we just exchange very thought provoking verbage (nothing is really too coherent because we keep interrupting each other all the time) the next few minutes and the debate is intense enough that a crowd gathers and I am actually applauded lightly when I walk off....


One lady even comments that "he's" the reason I always walk on the other side of the street when I come this way...

Man.. do I love an audience....

[Anonymous]

Here we go again. I payed $3.49 going to Seabrook this weekend. I think by the end of next month we will be paying over $4 a gallon.

Did you see Bush and his Press Conference acting a fool. Here is the Q&A, word for word.

Q What's your advice to the average American who is hurting now, facing the prospect of $4 a gallon gasoline, a lot of people facing --

THE PRESIDENT: Wait, what did you just say? You're predicting $4 a gallon gasoline?

Q A number of analysts are predicting --

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yeah?

Q -- $4 a gallon gasoline this spring when they reformulate.

THE PRESIDENT: That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.

Q Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I know it's high now.

Q And the other economic problems facing people. Beyond your concern that you stated here, and your expectations for these stimulus checks, what kind of hope can you offer to people who are in dire straits?

THE PRESIDENT: Permanent tax -- keep the tax cuts permanent, for starters. There's a lot of economic uncertainty. You just said that. You just said the price of gasoline may be up to $4 a gallon -- or some expert told you that -- and that creates a lot of uncertainty if you're out there wondering whether or not -- you know, what your life is going to be like and you're looking at $4 a gallon, that's uncertain. And when you couple with the idea that taxes may be going up in a couple of years, that's double uncertainty. And therefore one way to deal with uncertainty is for Congress to make the tax cuts permanent.

Secondly, it's -- people got to understand that our energy policy needs to be focused on a lot of things -- one, renewables, which is fine, which I strongly support, as you know; two, conservation. But we need to be finding more oil and gas at home if we're worried about becoming dependent on oil overseas. And this -- I view it as a transitory period to new technologies that will change the way we live, but we haven't built a refinery in a long time. We're expanding refineries, but we haven't built a refinery in a long time. I strongly suggested to the Congress that we build refineries on old military bases, but, no, it didn't pass. But if you've got less supply of something, as demand continues to stay steady or grow, your price is going to go up.

Secondly, on oil, we -- the more oil we find at home, the better off we're going to be in terms of the short-run. And yet our policy is, you know, let us not explore robustly in places like ANWR. And there are environmental concerns, and I understand that. I also know there's technologies that should mitigate these environmental concerns. They got a bill up there in Congress now. Their attitude is, let's tax oil companies. Well, all that's going to do is make the price even higher. We ought to be encouraging investment in oil and gas close to home if we're trying to mitigate the problems we face right now.

And so, yes, there's a lot of uncertainty, and I'm concerned about the uncertainty. Hopefully this pro-growth package will help -- this, one hundred -- I think it's $147 billion that will be going out the door, starting electronically in the first week of May, and through check in the second week of May. And the idea is to help our consumers deal with the uncertainty you're talking about. But, yes, no question about it, it's a difficult period.



I will still except the fatty check with open arms. No stimulas out of my family though, we decided already that all the money is going towards credit.



fishnislife

[Anonymous]

We can thank the soon to be $4.00 gasoline to a wonderful little word called stagflation...when inflation is running rampid, with an economy that is spinning its wheels...all coupled with rising unemployment and estate prices that aren't going anywhere soon (up). Our current President is actin a fool, and not taking this seriously. We have STAGFLATION. It's not good. I wouldn't be surprised to see gas top $4.15...all to the chagrin to of the gas companies. I find it alarming, but nonetheless, things like this are cyclical, even as an Econ major I'll just have to roll with the punches...

[AdsBot [Google]]

I was in downtown Bellevue yesterday just kind of walking around checking out the babes
....

Hey littleriver you're getting me antsy for summer now...cool it man. When the ladies start coming out...I'll have to put the fishing rod down for awhile...also, littleriver, where have you been man? I miss you on the boards!

[fishnislife]

I was in downtown Bellevue yesterday just kind of walking around checking out the babes
....

Hey littleriver you're getting me antsy for summer now...cool it man. When the ladies start coming out...I'll have to put the fishing rod down for awhile...also, littleriver, where have you been man? I miss you on the boards!

He is talking about last year. I bumped this post back up from June of 07'. The last time the gas price was close to $4 a gallon.
I haven't seen him around here lately either.



fishnislife

[A9]

He's been quiet, actually MIA for a few months now...

[lskiles]

We can thank the soon to be $4.00 gasoline to a wonderful little word called stagflation...when inflation is running rampid, with an economy that is spinning its wheels...all coupled with rising unemployment and estate prices that aren't going anywhere soon (up). Our current President is actin a fool, and not taking this seriously. We have STAGFLATION. It's not good. I wouldn't be surprised to see gas top $4.15...all to the chagrin to of the gas companies. I find it alarming, but nonetheless, things like this are cyclical, even as an Econ major I'll just have to roll with the punches...

What planet are you living on?

Were doomed!
Were doomed!
Were doomed!
Were doomed!
Were doomed!
Were doomed!
Were doomed!

You said, "Our current President is actin a fool, and not taking this seriously."

What would you have him do?

Every report I hear (outside of the pop-news on the major networks) says our economy is in great shape. I am better off than I was five or even ten years ago.
I think our economy will continue to grow at least until the tax-and-spend Demos reverse the tax cuts helped into place by President Bush.

[Anonymous]

What planet are you living on?

You said, "Our current President is actin a fool, and not taking this seriously."

What would you have him do?

I think our economy will continue to grow at least until the tax-and-spend Demos reverse the tax cuts helped into place by President Bush.

Haha, ok, tax-and-spend Demos? Ok there. That's some stiff language. See here's the problem. All the republicans and democrats are too immature to discuss issues like this because terms like "tax-and-spend Demos" are used. In all reality, republicans and democrats are equally to blame for our weak economy right now. Look at the value of the US Dollar right now. The economy is suffering from stagflation. It's not about democrats or republicans...it's about gas at an all time HIGH, the dollar suffering mightly, and top it off, commodities are trading at an all time high...if you call that satisfactory then so be it, but I find it far from so. President Bush along with a do-nothing Congress has dug this country into such a colossal hole that it will take quite some time to pull us out. Oh by the way, I do live here on planet earth, I think, with everyone else. Maybe I'm mistaken, I dunno know. I'm concerned for my future youth, future generations, that they too will have a chance to land a job, make payments on a home, own a boat ]Democrats [/i]say economy in bad shape
By James Salzer | Tuesday, February 5, 2008, 06:04 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Democratic presidential primary voters say the economy is in bad shape, and they say it’s the most important issue facing the country, according to exit polls today. About 92 percent of the Georgia Democratic voters in the exit poll said the economy was either in poor shape or not doing well. By comparison, only 57 percent of Republicans gave the economy bad marks. Another 43 percent of Republicans in the exit poll said the economy was in good or excellent shape. About 53 percent of Democrats also said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, followed by health care (22 percent) and the war in Iraq (21 percent)

[iPodrodder]

Watch the stock market for a week or two. I have been very closely. Actually managed to make 25K (complete luck) in a stock game (not real money, but real stock quotes) over a couple months. My competitors? The nearest is 10K in debt. Check msn.com every day once a day. Do any of these things sound good?