U.S. will need 50 percent more energy by 2030?
I just watched a commercial claiming that the U.S. will need 50 percent more energy by 2030. Now, this commercial was created by the gas and oil industry, so maybe the numbers were inflated a bit; however, what if they were not? Even if the real number is only 25 percent more that's still a huge number.I think I'm starting to see the Admiral's perspective that a 20 percent drop in U.S. gasoline consumption in the next decade is nearly impossible. It seems he's right, unless we make drastic, revolutionary changes. In reality, as the Admiral stated, the U.S. will be lucky just to maintain current levels of consumption.
Consequently, I'm really starting to believe that a gas tax is absolutely necessary. Again, that's a gas tax whose revenue goes completely into tax credits for the consumers of hybrid cars and other clean energy technologies. The point is, America's energy habits HAVE to change and it will be far better for Americans if we prepare for the change, rather than wait until we have no choice but to change.
Another scary thing. If U.S. energy consumption is going to skyrocket in the next two decades, imagine what consumption in China and India is going to be like.
Labels: gas tax, Hybrid Vehicles, india
posted by Dahcredyns at
2:58 PM
13 Comments:
Thanks for writing about this. I'm really into new energy ideas. I just hope the rest of the world can get into it.
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Posted by Chris Bassoo
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from Chris Bassoo, Toronto, Canada
I think more than hybrid, we need to think hydrogen. Then the only thing coming out of the exhaust pipe will be water.
The technology is already here, the tax cuts are not.
great post, keep it up
Hydrogen, Jenny?
Is that just as a fuel source, such as a hydrogen combustion engine, or as in a hydrogen fuel cell?
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are terribly expensive and many achieve less than a 300 mile range - which is unacceptable to most American consumers.
A hydrogen electric hybrid, however, might work. Still, where is the hydrogen highway? A hydrogen or gasoline flex-fuel - not an ethanol or gasoline flex-fuel - hybrid would make the most sense, and that type of engine is being developed.
Still, I don't think hydrogen, as a fuel - even in a hydrogen combustion engine format - is yet cost effective. Current hydrogen combustion engines aren't very fuel efficient either.
What's great about hybrids is that they can help develop a platform to work towards both fuel cells and hydrogen - of course along the way it might become obvious that neither is needed.
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I like the idea of taxing petroleum-based fuels. It's one of the few ways the government can cultivate a market for biofuels without direct hand-outs. Despite legitimate concerns about agribusiness, a switch to biofuels is the fastest way to move away from petroleum-based fuels.
I don't really agree with you regarding bio-fuels. I don't think bio-fuels could ever end foreign oil dependency, at least not without significantly more fuel efficient vehicles, such as bio-fuel hybrids. If America's energy consumption is going to increase by 50 percent in just the next couple of decades, even bio-fuel hybrids will have little chance of ending foreign oil dependency.
Still, a gas tax can only help both clean fuels and efficient technologies, and I would have no problems if a gas tax proved my bio-fuels beliefs wrong. I can sacrifice my pride for the end of foreign oil dependency.
Dahcredyns,
Efficiency is clearly critical, but is a moot point if we keep burning petroleum. Petroleum-burning hybrids are still belching sequestered carbon into the atmosphere, along with all manner of toxic particulate. Moreover, a fossil-fuel-based hybrid provides limited benefit, unless we also curtail the number of cars on the road. If we make cars twice as fuel efficient over the next 20 years, but have twice as many cars on the road, we are creating the exact same problem we have now.
Energy efficiency and renewable energies will only be effective if we use both.
E.R. -
I don't disagree that both are better than one. A flex-fuel hybrid (not just ethanol, but all biofuels) is obviously better than a gasoline hybrid.
I just think hybrid technology is more important today. For example, Toyota is working on a Prius that achieves 100 mpg with lithium-ion batteries - and it's not a plug-in. This is a few years away, not 20. Add plug-in technology to this 100 mpg Prius and liquid fuel is almost obsolete - any liquid fuel.
Honestly, I'd rather see biofuels be used to produce electricity, especially where bio-fuels make sense, such as in the grain belt. On the West Coast, solar technology, especially when combined with lithium-batteries for storage, will probably a far more effective fuel source.
In 10 years, technology will enable the drivers of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles to simply use electricity for the majority of their driving needs - with much of that electricity produced by biomass, solar and wind power.
That's my vision. Still, my gas
tax idea is a gas tax, a petroleum tax. As a result biofuels would not be taxed. If that means biofuels take off, then so be it. Still, if consumers could buy a bio-fuel hybrid for the same price as a conventional bio-fuel vehicle - via tax credits produced by the gas tax - I think that most consumers would choose the hybrid.
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