If you think things are bad in the US spare a thought for those of us in the UK. Would you travel far if you had to pay these prices? By the way the price is in GBP per litre not dollars. Equates to approx $15 per US gallon!!!!!

Cheshirecatman

Where the feck is that; it must be a joke!

Having said that I just paid 1.259GBP / L for V-power!

Looks like a bit of profiteering going on there at the expense of the tourists!

The article explains that it's a supply disruption on account of a strike by fuel haulers. The retailers who didn't jack their prices quickly sold out, those that did still have product to sell.

You guys pay taxes up the butt on fuel compared to us. That's the biggest difference.

Sheesh, last year when I was over there petrol was 49 pence/liter!

Would any of you engineer types care to comment on this:

http://ausra.com/

Pete,

I think overall (non-engineer) this technology does work, and it is less expensive than photovoltaic. How well it works is the question.

Yes, the desert southwest USA does have plenty of sun. But only 6-8 hours of "useable" peak sun angle and intensity, so the supply isn't consistent, and technology for storing power for use during the evening is pretty lame.

Also, two items in the desert: dust and wind. How are they addressing those issues?

How about the effect of blanketing square miles of desert with mirrors will have on the natural flora and fauna of the area?

I believe there are several different types of solar generating plants in operation both here and Spain (I think). While they do work, I don't think efficient enough to revolutionize the industry just yet...

A funny way to look at it, but petroleum is not really a fuel SOURCE, it's an energy conveyor. The trees and plants that collected the solar energy millions of years ago turned into petroleum, and we are using that energy now. So, in a way, fossil fuel is a type of solar energy storage system.

Personally, I think several things must happen to enable us to move forward in the energy future:

Reduce consumption must be number 1 on the list. USA is far too wasteful to be able to support current or future demand with alternative energy

Diversity would be number 2 on the list. Geo, hydro, solar, bio, nuke, coal, fossil, etc. all can play small parts in the overall picture, each where it is most efficient.

<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I'm guessing you didn't actually read the article.

we should just cover the moon with solar panels (not the dark side)... and then run a long extention cord!

I do wish that someone would put out a JFK-esque challenge - convert the US to a hydrogen economy in 10 years. Honda's FCX rolled off the line this week and they aren't even first. Ahnold drives a fuel-cell Hummer and there are hydrogen stations either open or being planned along the major highways in Cali. Jeb Bush put fuel-cell vehicles at Florida airports since they never have to go too far from the refuel stations. Fuel cells are now the size of a modern transmission. Hybrids are a dead end. Let's bite the bullet and get on the road, already.

I'm with you!

The Japanese have developed a car that runs on nothing more than water, if they can make it work (also commercially) than this really is a breakthrough.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/13/genepax-shows-off-water-powered-fuel-cell-vehicle/

Will it pull a cat!

Cheshirecatman

the builders, Genepax, say if they can mass produce the unit they could bring the price down from about $18000 each to $au4900. The car even though its only a two seater gets 80k's per litre or about 180 miles per gallon.

I'd pay $5k for a unit to get off the petrol/diesel treadmill.. It would be good to see it go into mass production.

Wonder what the residues from the hydrogen manufacturing process will be? Not to be negative, but the trouble with hydrogen powered cars is how to produce the hydrogen. If you have wast amounts of energy, you can do it, but even hydroelectric production plants have an environment cost.
Perhaps energy will be really cheap and available if they can get nuclear fusion working on an industrial scale.

"In November 2007, Ausra and California utility PG&E announced a power purchase agreement for a one-square-mile, 177-megawatt power plant, enough to power over 120,000 homes, to be built in central California "

Take two minutes: go through the "slide show" in the upper right corner.

Our sailing club is having an open house this weekend to attract new members. To catch the people driving by, on their way to the marina, I said we should add a sign on the road "How much did it cost to gas up your boat this week?" Someone else said we should offer to pay for their gas for the first year of membership (for qualifying boats).