Oil Issue

[jasonxctf]

so with the skyrocketing price of Oil & Gas recently, I was trying to think of some creative issues to reduce the US's demand on Oil. lets keep adding to the list.

 

1) Consumers closely read their auto manuals on oil changes. Every 3k miles for some cars is a myth. Hondas, Accuras and Toyotas suggest every 5-8k miles, depending upon model.

 

2) As a sign of good faith, Nascar cancels 1-2 events per season.

 

3) Semi-Truck engines get a major overhaul, increasing performance.

[Rex Kickass]

Here's one:

 

The largest supermarket chains give up plastic bags.

[jasonxctf]

To add to #2...

 

NASCAR officials estimate their sport consumes about 6,000 gallons of specially refined racing fuel during a typical race weekend, including practice sessions, qualifying and the race.

[jasonxctf]

Here's one:

 

The largest supermarket chains give up plastic bags.

 

 

I'd like to add to that one... give up plastic bags (or charge customers 5 cents per bag, like Ikea does)

[vandy125]

Here is an interesting take on buying a used car that gets good gas mileage instead of a Hybrid to actually save overall energy. The difference is that it takes a whole lot of energy just to make that Hybrid car.

 

Buy Used

Edited May 20, 2008 by vandy125

[Y2HH]

Kill all commodities speculators.

 

Fixed.

[BigSqwert]

Take public transit when you can.

[iamshack]

Allow office workers to work from home. They could have computers with webcams so the boss or supervisor could observe them if necessary.

 

Could save a ton of gas as probably 10% of the workforce could cut down their commute or nearly erase it entirely.

[Brian]

Allow office workers to work from home. They could have computers with webcams so the boss or supervisor could observe them if necessary.

 

Could save a ton of gas as probably 10% of the workforce could cut down their commute or nearly erase it entirely.

 

This. Or they can log into a server and monitor them.

[NorthSideSox72]

Kill all commodities speculators.

 

Fixed.

And bankrupt half the farmers in this country, as well as all sorts of food companies. That would be a very bad idea.

 

[Y2HH]

And bankrupt half the farmers in this country, as well as all sorts of food companies. That would be a very bad idea.

 

Speculators do nothing but drive up the costs of resources in certain situations, these costs rarely, if ever, benefit the food companies or farmers.

 

Take the prices of rice right now, speculator driven, alongside oil, gold, etc. Before these drastic price increases I didn't see farmers, food companies, or jewelery companies going out of business...

 

So I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you here. Speculation is good to a degree, but this is and has gone way WAY beyond the degree of sanity.

 

So perhaps I should rephrase.

 

Kill all the vultures in the commodities market who are ultimately preying upon the poor, because there is no excuse for these prices anymore. The supply/demand curve is being completely ignored in these prices. It just makes no sense at all, this is market gambling at it's WORST.

 

Oh, and I can't wait for this bubble to burst. I love laughing at newb speculators who sunk their 50k (or whatever small savings they have) into these ventures and wind up losing it all to the billionaires that didn't want them there.

Edited May 20, 2008 by Y2HH

[NorthSideSox72]

Speculators do nothing but drive up the costs of resources in certain situations, these costs rarely, if ever, benefit the food companies or farmers.

 

Take the prices of rice right now, speculator driven, alongside oil, gold, etc. Before these drastic price increases I didn't see farmers, food companies, or jewelery companies going out of business...

 

So I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you here. Speculation is good to a degree, but this is and has gone way WAY beyond the degree of sanity.

 

So perhaps I should rephrase.

 

Kill all the vultures in the commodities market who are ultimately preying upon the poor, because there is no excuse for these prices anymore. The supply/demand curve is being completely ignored in these prices. It just makes no sense at all, this is market gambling at it's WORST.

 

Oh, and I can't wait for this bubble to burst. I love laughing at newb speculators who sunk their 50k (or whatever small savings they have) into these ventures and wind up losing it all to the billionaires that didn't want them there.

You can't have speculators without hedgers, and vice versa. One needs the other. Otherwise, there is no liquidity in the market. That's the reality of commodities markets.

 

 

[Balta1701]

Kill all the vultures in the commodities market who are ultimately preying upon the poor, because there is no excuse for these prices anymore. The supply/demand curve is being completely ignored in these prices. It just makes no sense at all, this is market gambling at it's WORST.

I for one would like to see this demonstrated. If I understand what you're saying, you're telling us that as the price of oil is going up, either supply has been increasing or demand has been decreasing at such a rate that there should not be increasing stress on oil supplies with time. With the constantly increasing demand pressure out of Asia, this strikes me as probably incorrect. Can you present the graph you're referring to?

[southsider2k5]

Sign #1 crude oil isn't going to $150 soon... I bought 150 calls. We'll be back to $100 in no time

[southsider2k5]

Speculators do nothing but drive up the costs of resources in certain situations, these costs rarely, if ever, benefit the food companies or farmers.

 

Take the prices of rice right now, speculator driven, alongside oil, gold, etc. Before these drastic price increases I didn't see farmers, food companies, or jewelery companies going out of business...

 

So I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you here. Speculation is good to a degree, but this is and has gone way WAY beyond the degree of sanity.

 

So perhaps I should rephrase.

 

Kill all the vultures in the commodities market who are ultimately preying upon the poor, because there is no excuse for these prices anymore. The supply/demand curve is being completely ignored in these prices. It just makes no sense at all, this is market gambling at it's WORST.

 

Oh, and I can't wait for this bubble to burst. I love laughing at newb speculators who sunk their 50k (or whatever small savings they have) into these ventures and wind up losing it all to the billionaires that didn't want them there.

 

With all due respect. No. Not even close. I don't know who is your economics professor, but he is wrong.

[EvilMonkey]

I read an article somewhere that had GM engineers pushing for all their cars to have milage/MPG gauge installed on all their cars, because some study showed that people managed their driving better when they could actually see that they were saving gas. My HHR had an MPG counter on it, which I check often. Especially after the leadfoot Juddling drives it on deliveries.

[jasonxctf]

I read an article somewhere that had GM engineers pushing for all their cars to have milage/MPG gauge installed on all their cars, because some study showed that people managed their driving better when they could actually see that they were saving gas. My HHR had an MPG counter on it, which I check often. Especially after the leadfoot Juddling drives it on deliveries.

 

 

that's a very good idea.

[jasonxctf]

again, another small idea but in parking garages/lots, free tire inflation to the proper level?

[lostfan]

With all due respect. No. Not even close. I don't know who is your economics professor, but he is wrong.

Is it fair to say that people buying oil futures right now are helping drive the cost up more than it's headed on its own?

[southsider2k5]

Is it fair to say that people buying oil futures right now are helping drive the cost up more than it's headed on its own?

 

Unless they are all taking delivery of those futures contracts. No. Every speculator has to eventually sell, or they have to figure out what to do with 1000 barrels of oil. Net effect is zero. That "speculators drive the market up" isn't true, no matter how many pundits repeat it.

[southsider2k5]

BTW in the theme of the thread, make mass transit costs a tax credit, and quit giving tax deductions for people to claim parking that isn't a legitimate car pool.

[lostfan]

Unless they are all taking delivery of those futures contracts. No. Every speculator has to eventually sell, or they have to figure out what to do with 1000 barrels of oil. Net effect is zero. That "speculators drive the market up" isn't true, no matter how many pundits repeat it.

I admit don't know that much about economics. I can understand simple things, like "the gas tax holiday won't work" or "India and China are getting industrialized and they are pushing worldwide demand up" or "printing more currency weakens the dollar." After that I'm kind of a n00b.

[NorthSideSox72]

I admit don't know that much about economics. I can understand simple things, like "the gas tax holiday won't work" or "India and China are getting industrialized and they are pushing worldwide demand up" or "printing more currency weakens the dollar." After that I'm kind of a n00b.

You cannot buy an oil contract in the futures market without someone selling it to you. You can't sell it without someone buying it. The amount of contracts in the market can fluctuate a lot, but the number of contracts bought versus sold is always identical.

 

[lostfan]

BTW not sure if this fits exactly in the thread but I'm seriously considering putting some solar shingles on my roof or something. It costs a lot of money though.

[Balta1701]

BTW not sure if this fits exactly in the thread but I'm seriously considering putting some solar shingles on my roof or something. It costs a lot of money though.

Well, my advice on this issue is multi-fold. First, do the math. There'll be a fair amount of it. Try to get an estimate of the amount of power you'd generate per unit time in your area with photovoltaics on the roof, look in to your options on how much the solar panels would cost, and try to think through whether or not the energy savings right now is worth the additional cost to you given your current economic situation, whatever that is. And the last thing to keep in mind is, as technology improves and we get a new set of people in the White House, it's possible that the price of those solar panels could go down or be subsidized significantly.

 

If I was sitting on a lot of cash and wanted an investment that would pay off in the long term, that might be a sensible time to take those steps. Otherwise, I might wait 1 or 2 years.