Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

I don't think the problem is SUV's, its bad drivers. They will drive poorly, no matter what they're in. Banning SUV's will do nothing but force these people into another class of vehicle. They'll be sent to crossovers and vans. Part of the problem is that big, heavy vehicles can still be easily written off on your federal taxes. Add to that the fact that SUV's are required to meet a lower standard of safety and efficiency, makes them cheaper to design & build, so they're higher profit than a passenger vehicle. Have you seen the new Explorer & Escape? IMHO they're not SUV's anymore. They're crossovers. Nothing more than tall station wagons with 4wd.

If you want to reduce the number of SUV's on the road start with removing the Gov't regulations that encourage the automakers to build them, and the Gov't regulations that encourage people to buy them. When I was car shopping last year, I talked to my accountant before shopping. I was shocked to find out that although there were small Gov't incentives to buy a hybrid, if I purchased a big Suburban or a Hummer, I could write off nearly 100% of the vehicle expense on my taxes.

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

more bad news for electrics, tech improving for squeezing oil out of old worn out wells...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012...-20120426.html

Alkaline surfactant polymer flooding shown to improve recovery in very mature oilfield by more than 300%

"The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the use of an alkaline surfactant polymer (ASP) flooding technique has successfully improved oil recovery at a 106-year old Illinois field by more than 300%. This method of extraction could help pull as many as 130 million additional barrels of oil from the depleted field, which is past peak production using traditional drilling."

over its history that field has produced 410 million barrels of oil

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

more electric doom:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012...-20120425.html

Delphi and partners advancing with high-efficiency, low-emission gasoline compression-ignition combustion

"In his talk at the High Efficiency IC Symposium, Sellnau said that a modeled 1.8L GDCI engine for vehicle simulations showed large regions with fuel consumption of less than 190 g/kWh: loads of 6-20 bar, and speeds of 1800-3500 rpm. Applied in a mid-size passenger car, such an engine could potentially—without optimization or with a start-stop system, although with variation of gear ratios and shift schedules—deliver 60% improvement in city driving fuel economy, and 40% on US06, for a combined fuel economy improvement of about 51%, Sellnau said."

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

Just more examples of how the easy stuff is gone. No longer can you drill 100 feet down and it comes shooting out of the ground.

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

It's so much easier if you can despise a single thing like SUV like Indigo. Ban SUVs and take over the oil industry by force. Why fight in Iraq when the battle front could be Texas and Alaska.

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

I guess that's why the Beverly Hillbillies ended up in foreclosure and their car with the perilous Granny Seat was reposessed years ago. No more shootin' at some food end expecting the ground to bubble up some crude. :(

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

its an amazing that ICE tech was primitive when oil was plentiful, and it advances just in time as oil gets harder to extract. Someone is looking out for the human race.

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

It's a type of evolutionary reaction.

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

Well, that's good, although it's actually improved the current rate on a depleted field rather than quadrupling overall recovery.

I wonder how much it costs to do.

PS 2010 global oil consumption was estimated at 86,952,470 barrels per day. So this'll help us keep us all going for a couple of days.

Re: Gasoline prices could dip under $3 again
 

Good point on typical SUV drivers possibly being poor drivers...the vehicle choice could be to make them feel safer by being in a vehicle others will be afraid to be near. I recommend getting a copy of the book The High and the Mighty by Keith Bradsheir - goes into great depth how the SUV was marketed to appeal to power and virility ... it's why in the past I suggested requiring all SUVs be painted pink with effeminate styling like an episode of Top Gear to get people to avoid them.

The marketing of SUVs has at least as much psychological research as beer commercials and why a lot of people can't let go of them.

Those that don't know me for very long will not know the hate a number of SUV drivers had for me. Many of the charter members were at Green Hybrid (which became Gear Head hybrid - they lost their mission - a dead forum.) I'd make a morning work commute in Dallas putting up with a lot of inconsiderate SUV drivers, but actually had more problems with pickups....many of them landscape companies driven by white trash and undocumented workers not paying for the gas. I'd rant about it and a number of the SUV drivers would take offense, even after say it was the bad drivers speeding. They were also thin-skinned with the comment a hybrid label did not make them green if they were speeding solo in a huge vehicle. Anyway, "GearHead Hybird" is virtually dead after they ran off everybody serious about driving green....not much audience for posers that think a little hybrid label will compensate for bad driving.