[sseth]

I wrote this article about oil consumption and what scientists are doing to try and make cars more fuel-efficient. Also have some predictions for the future of oil from a goldman sachs analyst.

Check it out:

http://blastmagazine.com/2008/06/commen ... we-handle/

It's published in a boston-based magazine, run and launched by a boston globe reporter.

[MonteQuest]

Several projects aimed at reducing oil dependency are currently underway, the most prominent of which were recently ranked by Forbes Magazine. These proposed technologies are not fuel-alternatives, rather adjustments and improvements to vehicles to make them more fuel-efficient.

The last thing we need is more cars, no matter how efficient.

"In the economics literature it is … well known that increased efficiency in the use of a resource leads over time to greater use of that resource and not less use of it" Jevons' Paradox.

Second, there is nothing we can do to reduce our oil dependency. The best we can hope for is a slowing in the rate of growth of our dependency.

With a suffocating rise in gas prices looming, it’s now imminent that an alternative is found, a possibility that is consistently being hindered by global warming. All of these technologies seem promising and help to create a greener, more optimistic outlook for the future.

"Happy motoring" must continue, eh?

Get a real grip. You have a bad case of denial.

[kpeavey]

Your article misses the boat in regards to Peak Oil. While the techno-fixes may help improve vehicle efficiency, projections of petroleum production show a decline rate of 3-5%/year, starting in the next few years. This will halve the global petroleum production level in 25 year period. While the car may be around, the fuel will be unavailable and/or unaffordable; operating a car will be the least of our worries.

You need to do more homework before you do any writing on a subject with which you are unfamiliar.

[Twilight]

Another issue arises in China and India. It is unavoidable that as these growing economies expand, their demand for fuel will rise as well.

Ten times as many people as there are Americans suddenly want a moped or a little buggy, and a few incremental changes are supposed to accommodate them?

As these demands rise oil prices will rise higher, and cheaper, carbon-based fuel sources will be used to power cars in the two countries, further contributing to the environment’s deterioration.

This should be more specific.

You need to respect the scale. Incremental changes involving $98,000 cars are not going to make a dent in a problem that has already happened. Those kids have grown up. They want cars. Now.

While they were being born, cars were available with double or triple the mileage of American cars of today. Some were even built by American companies, and still are. Just not in America, for Americans. And even that would have bought only another ten years, maybe twenty.

Those tinkerers are trying to fix the past. Re-inventing the wheels of the 1980s. Only now returning somewhere we have already been. I find it difficult to be inspired by recycled optimism. Maybe if the article explained what makes it different this time?