Great News: I paid > $3.00/gallon for gas today

[edward]

If the summer/winter blending change is going to cause a price hike twice a year permanently. It looks like big oil has another built in windfall profits scheme.

The other is: "The markets are nervous because a little known Ayatollah farted in Iran last week", or something similar.

It is the only industry where profits soar when production is cut.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Refining capacity is still down due to Katrina and a fire.

It didn't take a hurricane or a new Middle East conflict to push local gasoline prices above $3.15 a gallon this week. All it took was a refinery outage near Chicago at a time when supply and demand were already in precarious balance.

BP's refinery in Whiting, Ind., went down a month ago, and the company says it might not return to full production for several months. There's no good time to lose production of 420,000 barrels a day, but gasoline markets are especially sensitive in the spring. [continued]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/columnists.nsf/davidnicklaus/story/D579EDB6F3326B37862572D2000581A5?OpenDocument

Whether you think this is a practical issue or a conspiracy to keep the price of gas high, here's the bottom line: Support your local biodiesel supplier and take the power and the money away from big oil. Tell your friends about biodiesel and the new generation of clean diesel cars that are coming - they get better mileage than hybrids. And forget about ethanol - IMO it's a suckers game for big oil. At best, ethanol from corn appears to yield a net 10% return on energy invested, and at worst a net zero gain.

 

[scorpa]

They are saying gas will be a $1.50/liter before the end of summer , it is $1.05/litre now I think but I'm not sure, really expensive either way.

Several months ago, I came across a cyclist who had been hit by a car. The driver was exiting a parking lot and not paying attention.

I HATE it when people are cycling on busy roadways, seems like a deathwish to me. Drivers not paying attention, and idiot cyclists who seem to think that all of the 'favourable' rules of both vehicles and pedestrians apply to them are a bad combination.

 

[mattmns]

Once we hit 3 bucks we started rolling, we are now at 3.25 with most of that coming in the last week or two.

 

[Pyrrhus]

No kidding. I've been thinking for some time now that allowing just everybody to be in control of a deadly hunk of metal is a big mistake. I dream of automated "rail cars" that drive themselves instead so you can nap on your way to work and not swerve into pedestrians. Cars have replaced horses but it may be time to start replacing cars with something more efficient now.

You know, i once heard on TV that civil engineers and other specialists were/are (?) doing research on this with magnets trails on Highways. Maybe you can look it up?.

 

[hypatia]

Well, yipeeeee, gas topped $3.50 a gallon {regular grade} in Metro Detroit today. Which makes it the highest priced gas in the country.

 

[moose]

I just need to pay off my wife's car so I can by a more fuel efficent one, but I am seriously thinking about cycling 6.5 miles to work. It's a bit hazardous with all the hills and curves and limited shoulder/bike path, but it would be good exercise and much more fuel efficient.

How cheap is your water, your food?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Well, yipeeeee, gas topped $3.50 a gallon {regular grade} in Metro Detroit today. Which makes it the highest priced gas in the country.

Wow, that's too bad. If you were driving one of those slick new diesel cars, you could buy diesel over at Marathon gas on 7 mile & Telegraph for $2.79, and get better mileage.
http://www.detroitgasprices.com/index.aspx?fuel=D

Today's prices
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4489/detroitdieselpricessmtm9.jpg

 

[hypatia]

On TV last night, a hotel in northen MI, offered 50 dollar gas vouchers if you booked your vacation , 5 days, with them. Several people I know will not take their boat out of dry dock, just to costly to run them.
Michigan has been in a recession for at least 2 years now, for people of lower income, this is going to be very difficult.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The longer we wait, the more it will hurt for everyone. And we don't seem to be willing to change until we hit the $3 mark.

If we don't do something soon, we may see gas at $8 from time to time. I've seen estimates that are even worse.

 

[Astronuc]

How cheap is your water, your food?

We have a very productive well which we had deepened about 15+ years ago. However, last year, the local water district decided to expand, so now we have a water line along the easement in front of our house. Even if we do not use it, we have to pay for it! At some point we will tie into it, because in theory it is less likely to contain minerals.

Our property sits on a large deposit of iron and manganese, so we have to filter the water. The last time we had it check, there was a little Ni and Cd in it. At the moment we drink bottle water, which we also use for cooking. That costs about $0.50-0.75/day. We use the well water for washing and watering the plants, otherwise we let the rain take care of the plants.

The rain has been inconsistent. Last year, we had drought period for about 9 months. Then it rained regularly for several months. The snow fall was about average this year. And then about 6 weeks ago we had about 5 inches (13 cm) or rain in less than a day on ground that was already saturated. We had record flooding in some areas, and some house which have never before flooded, were flooded this time. Parts of a nearby mobile home park were condemned because the flooding undermined their septic systems.

As for food, it's hard to say what it costs, but it's a few dollars a day if we eat at home and several times that if we eat out, but we don't eat out a lot.

 

[Moonbear]

I was surprised to see gas is still relatively cheap in NJ when I was there this weekend. In a state with so many cars congesting the roads, I was expecting the prices to be much higher since it's up in so many other states. I found a station with gas still going for $2.87/gallon, and most were around $2.97. Here in WV, and along the PA turnpike, gas was running about $3.10 for the holiday weekend. It doesn't seem to have deterred many people from traveling for the holiday though. When you consider everything else you pay for on a holiday weekend, a few cents more per gallon of gas isn't likely to stop you from taking a vacation I guess.

hypatia, MI is always ridiculously over-priced for gas. I was never sure if they taxed the heck out of it, or just required the most expensive gas on the planet, or what, but when I lived there, if I was traveling out of state, I'd get just enough gas in my car to make it into OH, and then filled up there for the next leg of the trip because it was SO much cheaper. Things are going to just keep getting worse there if they don't do something to encourage people and businesses to stay there. It's not like CA where you have the nice weather going for you to convince people the extra cost of living is worth it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I was surprised to see gas is still relatively cheap in NJ when I was there this weekend. In a state with so many cars congesting the roads, I was expecting the prices to be much higher since it's up in so many other states.

Apparently [as reported] this is due to the proximity to refineries - the farther you are from a refinery, the higher the price of gas. Crude prices are down slightly from last year, but refining capacity is down due to Katrina and a fire, which drives prices up.

 

[Astronuc]

I did a trip along I-84 from near the Hudson River through CT and over to I-95 up to Providence, RI. Prices for regular were around $3.15 - $3.25/gal. Locally its moved up to about $3.19, but seems to be tending to increase about $0.01/day.

 

[G01]

I just recently drove across most of PA and it seems the average gas price on Sunday was around $3.10, though one place along the turnpike was up to $3.24. It sucks, since I don't see it going down any time soon.

 

[tpgkvp]

seeking info

From what I have read and observed, 3 is the magic number. At this price people begin to change their habbits. At $3.00 per gallon for diesel, the local biodiesel is competitive; it sells for the same or less.

Hi This is Tarun from India.
I am a microbiology student.I would like to do project on oilgae.So anyone can tell me which strain of algae gives good amount of oil and which is the proper method for the oil extraction?
I am new to this forums, anything wrong please forgive me.
waiting for your precious answer
Tarun

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I don't see why people are complaining about $3 gas, ppl in Denmark pay $7+

 

[FredGarvin]

I was just up at the cottage near Sudbury. The Canuks are paying over $4.00 and with the exchange rate, that is pretty much $4.00 US. I am never going to complain about the gas prices in the US.

 

[mgb_phys]

the farther you are from a refinery, the higher the price of gas.

Doesn't seem to apply here, gas in Vancouver where the tankers unload and the pipelines end (and leak) the gas is 25% more than in the middle of nowhere in Ontario where I was last week.
Still much better than being back in the UK though.

 

[Astronuc]

It's down to about $2.99 - 3.02/gal for regular locally, depending on the brand, and probably >$0.60 is for taxes. NJ is usually less expensive - by about $0.30/gal.

Earlier this summer, I saw gasoline at $3.64/gal at one place in NY.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Hi This is Tarun from India.
I am a microbiology student.I would like to do project on oilgae.So anyone can tell me which strain of algae gives good amount of oil and which is the proper method for the oil extraction?
I am new to this forums, anything wrong please forgive me.
waiting for your precious answer
Tarun

Hi Tarun,
There are at least hundreds of strains that could be viable. Probably one of the most famous is botryococcus braunii, which has a high yield by weight but is slow growing. Many others have been and are being investigated, and note that there are even a number of bbraunii strains that might be considered. Right now the goal is to identify the best strain for the location, and then to hybridize that strain for maximum oil yields by weight, and maximum growth rates.

Note that development of cost effective photobioreactors [PBRs]is critical.

As for extraction, this is also a key aspect of the process. It is very energy intensive so people are working hard to develop the most cost effective, and the most energy effective methods. Here are some that are discussed in the links below.

Expression/Expeller press
Hexane solvent extraction
Supercritical Fluid Extraction
Enzymatic Extraction
Osmotic shock
Ultrasonic-assisted extraction -

The classic method of doing this is by using a combination of pressing, and solvents like hexane.
Here are a few links that provide a good deal of information
http://www.oilgae.com/algae/oil/yield/yield.html
http://forums.biodieselnow.com/default.aspx

This is considered to be the bible of the industry - the original work on this by the US Dept of Energy
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/biodiesel_from_algae.pdf

[Note] Some algaes are better than others for producing biodiesel. Some BBs may lack the triglycerides needed for the transesterification process.

 

[Astronuc]

I paid less the $2.70/gal for regular in parts of the NE recently, but locally its about $2.89/gal.

Meanwhile - Biodiesel Demand Grows Across Continents
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14063007

Germany

Europe is the king of biodiesel; it makes an estimated 77 percent of all biodiesel, worldwide, and Germany alone makes half of this amount. Part of the secret to its success has been a tax break at the pump.

Berliner Dieter Weigel says he buys biodiesel because of the tax break. He filled up his station wagon with 100 percent biodiesel before heading on vacation this month.

"It's 10 cents cheaper. The environmental aspect is not so important," Weigel says. "I think people should drive less for the environment, and not fill up biodiesel."

Biodiesel is made in Germany with rapeseed oil, a seed similar to canola. In most cars, it mixes easily with ordinary diesel. Its share of the market is expected to grow as Europe pushes for 10 percent of transport fuels — and 20 percent of overall energy use — to be renewable by 2020.

But is the German system sustainable and is it economical on a larger scale?

 

[cristo]

I don't see why people are complaining about $3 gas, ppl in Denmark pay $7+

I agree-- here in the UK we're paying about £1 per litre.. which is a lot more than $3 a gallon!