Fuel tax cuts, should governments give us a break or not??? (34)
So the oil price is going wild at the moment, and word has its running out! In fact climate change will be the least of our worries if some of the experts are right 
We could be facing sever shortages of fuel in less than 5 years time if demand keeps rising the way it is 
So what should goverments do about it? Just make it cheaper so we can use it faster???
We could be facing sever shortages of fuel in less than 5 years time if demand keeps rising the way it is So what should goverments do about it? Just make it cheaper so we can use it faster???
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Renewables is probably the way to go although a lot more research needs to go into it. There is a problem with Biofuels in that they take up land and agricultural resources needed for food and this is one of the factors is the current food shortages....
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
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JohnnyT: Renewables is probably the way to go although a lot more research needs to go into it. There is a problem with Biofuels in that they take up land and agricultural resources needed for food and this is one of the factors is the current food shortages....
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
Nuclear Energy seems the only way to go, there have been huge advances in Nuclear power plants since the design of Chernobyl.
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JohnnyT: Renewables is probably the way to go although a lot more research needs to go into it. There is a problem with Biofuels in that they take up land and agricultural resources needed for food and this is one of the factors is the current food shortages....
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
Actually we have been about 20 years away from fusion power for the last 50 years or so
, and we are still about 20 years away from it - so I would'nt be betting on it yet...As for fission power - even if we could make it safe there isn't that much uranium either
We need to get cracking with everything else we know works like wind, solar, tide, wave, geothermal etc. We gotta get governments to start putting huge subsidies into these. And yes biofuels are a disaster and will never be able to replace oil - the only thing we can do on an economical scale to replace oil is coal-to-liquids or gas-to-liquids in the near future (not very clean, but probably the only option we have)...
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patrickthomas: Nuclear Energy seems the only way to go, there have been huge advances in Nuclear power plants since the design of Chernobyl.
I saw a very interesting show on that recently. Because of the political system in place and the desire for project leaders to curry favour with the party - there were huge design flaws in the Chernobyl plant. At the time technology was well capable of preventing meltdowns in any nuclear plant but the Russians took so many shortcuts in building that thing that disaster was inevitable.
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CapeDoctor: Actually we have been about 20 years away from fusion power for the last 50 years or so , and we are still about 20 years away from it - so I would'nt be betting on it yet...
One thing about the human race is that we have an amazing ability to innovate and adapt. I think that when it comes to the crunch we'll find a solution pretty rapidly!
I'm not sure that fusion power is that far away. We have fusion reactors now that give out more energy than is put in but so far they're just not economical enough to make it worthwhile.
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I work for a small company in the South East.... Co Kilkenny! company did had 6 coaches, sold one, Because of diesel prices, Fare gone up last week, he can't afford it, my boss thinking putting fares up again, If diesel goes up again! yesterday i put 120 litres of diesal = that 200 Euros or more! I know many small company are founding it hard, people who travel on the buses, don't seen to understand, why fares goes up! even farmer having hard time, I'm farmer daughter, Usally diesal goes down, this time of the year, but it was rise and pertol and gas, 
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dreamAngel70: I work for a small company in the South East.... Co Kilkenny! company did had 6 coaches, sold one, Because of diesel prices, Fare gone up last week, he can't afford it, my boss thinking putting fares up again, If diesel goes up again! yesterday i put 120 litres of diesal = that 200 Euros or more! I know many small company are founding it hard, people who travel on the buses, don't seen to understand, why fares goes up! even farmer having hard time, I'm farmer daughter, Usally diesal goes down, this time of the year, but it was rise and pertol and gas,
Yes, big problem I understand, it hurts the transport industry first, but in the end we will all suffer once the prices filter down...
This is why its so important to mitigate the problem now!
I work in a proffesion where we plan for the future and on of the fields I work in is energy, and to be honest we are all in for a hard time for the next 10 years at least! If you want to blame anyone you can blame governments for not reacting to reports that were released as early as half a century ago!!! Marion King Hubbert predicted back then already that we would be in this situation by now, but back then everyone ridiculed him. Since then many others have given similar wanrnigs... But the hard reality is that in the mean time the average person in the know how has been more preocupied with making money than worrying about energy security for the future. And who can blame them? Afterall it has always been the belief that technology would sort it out...
But to this day technology has failed to beat oil companies who continue to hold the monopoly on world energy.
We can only hope that the oil prices of today will finaly convince those with the power to influence those with the ability to do something - and quickly too...
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JohnnyT: Renewables is probably the way to go although a lot more research needs to go into it. There is a problem with Biofuels in that they take up land and agricultural resources needed for food and this is one of the factors is the current food shortages....
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
The best solution although there often seems huge opposition to it is nuclear enegry. I know fission reactors produce quite a lot of radioactive by-products but we're not that far away from economical fusion reactors.
Renewables are great but the problem with that is is they have not come up with anything that is a positive solution quick enough to level out the cost vs. living expenses, we were told in the states that it is because china and india are becomming more and more dependent on driving, hence the demand, i am not liking that excuse at all. Also we have been told that there is a shortage of land to grow corn on, i know this to be untrue because i run into a lot of farmers that tell me that is not the case at all. IMO they should have anticipated this and if not why the hell do we all have to pay for them not forseeing this, oh i forgot, because they are not the ones that are going to be affected by it, so the rest of the countries as well as us are going to suffer. And as for running out? we are not running out of anything but time on this, i see civil unrest all over, look at spain already.
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irishlass45: Population growth is just another one of the concepts that was swept under the rug, i have thought for a while that everyone needs some form of birth regulation but don't see how that could be accomplished on a humane level. I am not sure what you meant by the statement "if everyone were to live like americans" i will ask that you expound on this since misunderstandings run rampant in text form.
I was simply using america as a benchmark for comparison. There are countries that consume more resources per capita then they do (UAE for example), but they are all much smaller and have less of an influence...
It all comes down to how much money we make - the richer you are the more you consume, regardless of whether you have good intentions or not.
It is not really possible for humanity as a whole to get richer than the Earth's resources + our technology allows us, so therefore it is no use complaining that fuel prices are too high when it is simple market fundimentals controling them!
The problem with humanity as a whole is that this poll is thus far quite reflective of what we as society feel - why should we be paying so much??? The answer is simple. We need the god-damn stuff! But someone has to do the work of getting out the ground and supplying it to and ever more demanding world. And if it's getting harder to do that then what do you expect???
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CapeDoctor: I was simply using america as a benchmark for comparison. There are countries that consume more resources per capita then they do (UAE for example), but they are all much smaller and have less of an influence...
It all comes down to how much money we make - the richer you are the more you consume, regardless of whether you have good intentions or not.
It is not really possible for humanity as a whole to get richer than the Earth's resources + our technology allows us, so therefore it is no use complaining that fuel prices are too high when it is simple market fundimentals controling them!
The problem with humanity as a whole is that this poll is thus far quite reflective of what we as society feel - why should we be paying so much??? The answer is simple. We need the god-damn stuff! But someone has to do the work of getting out the ground and supplying it to and ever more demanding world. And if it's getting harder to do that then what do you expect???
It all comes down to how much money we make - the richer you are the more you consume, regardless of whether you have good intentions or not.
It is not really possible for humanity as a whole to get richer than the Earth's resources + our technology allows us, so therefore it is no use complaining that fuel prices are too high when it is simple market fundimentals controling them!
The problem with humanity as a whole is that this poll is thus far quite reflective of what we as society feel - why should we be paying so much??? The answer is simple. We need the god-damn stuff! But someone has to do the work of getting out the ground and supplying it to and ever more demanding world. And if it's getting harder to do that then what do you expect???
I understand, i discussed this with my son who is 26 and he explained to me what you meant, and i meant only that i did not understand, i was up at four a:m reading it so no wonder. Thank you for explaining it though.
You are not alone in your frustration, please know that. You can beat yourself up though trying to figure out ways to solve the problems but then what do you do with the solutions? you do nothing as one single person, as a mass it would help but i am not thinking that is going to happen, we all don't think like that. My country has been in a recession since '99 and even though we all knew it we would just shake our heads, like that helps. Lost solutions are a regular happening, but we as a whole need to figure something out, for all of us.
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What experts said oil is runing out, Its the oil compaines that have feed the flames of this rumour as this rumour is the main cause for the sudden rise in Oil prices in the market, and this of course suits the oil compaines who stand to make profits which will be in the trillions, Even with the rise in demand for oil there is still 20-30 years oil left in the oil fields of Texas and Alaska alone dats not incuding the oil fields of the gulf states... If people just stop talking like this and if we for one week stoped buying petrol/desiel then you will be amazed by how much the price of fuel will drop... Now there is my rant for the day over 
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This is an interesting Thread, I am lurking and learning.
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I just got a leaflet in the post from a private company selling solar panels for heating.
There was an address for the grants:
Has anyone looked into using solar panels for water heating and the grants that are available?
There was an address for the grants:
Has anyone looked into using solar panels for water heating and the grants that are available?
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Losty: None of that has anything to do with the base fact that the USA is by a long way the biggest user of fuel on the planet.
The typical figure is that the US burns about 25% of the planets fossil fuel each year. This for a country that supports about 300 million people; less that 5% of the planets population. While we all have a duty to use less fuel and energy, America has to accept that it uses the most fuel and needs to be cautious of how it uses fuel regardless of how much or little fuel is to hand. If nothing else, the price of fuel has at least made us all aware that is is a finite resource and that it needs not to be wasted.
As to the price of crude, there is so many factors pushing it up that it is unlikely to go back to the rates of early 2000. Fuel companies don't set the rates, they trade at the rates dictated to them.
The typical figure is that the US burns about 25% of the planets fossil fuel each year. This for a country that supports about 300 million people; less that 5% of the planets population. While we all have a duty to use less fuel and energy, America has to accept that it uses the most fuel and needs to be cautious of how it uses fuel regardless of how much or little fuel is to hand. If nothing else, the price of fuel has at least made us all aware that is is a finite resource and that it needs not to be wasted.
As to the price of crude, there is so many factors pushing it up that it is unlikely to go back to the rates of early 2000. Fuel companies don't set the rates, they trade at the rates dictated to them.
I beg to differ, it was stated in capedocs post about the over population, no matter i got to say what i wanted to say because i can.
As far as us being the biggest country there is nothing that can be done about it, any proposals? We are a diverse country, not like ireland and other countries, we have all walks of life here so it is not just a few individual born americans making the decisions, if anything true american born individuals have less rights than most
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patrickthomas: I just got a leaflet in the post from a private company selling solar panels for heating.
There was an address for the grants:
Has anyone looked into using solar panels for water heating and the grants that are available?
There was an address for the grants:
Has anyone looked into using solar panels for water heating and the grants that are available?
Is it only for ireland? or any country? fo course some of us are using them but the cost is out of this world! but in the long run it is worth it, a woman and her husband are buying one or two at a time but they will come off better in the end.
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irishlass45:
As far as us being the biggest country there is nothing that can be done about it, any proposals? We are a diverse country, not like ireland and other countries, we have all walks of life here so it is not just a few individual born americans making the decisions, if anything true american born individuals have less rights than most
As far as us being the biggest country there is nothing that can be done about it, any proposals? We are a diverse country, not like ireland and other countries, we have all walks of life here so it is not just a few individual born americans making the decisions, if anything true american born individuals have less rights than most
One useful one; use less fuel. Other countries manage it nicely so I can only but assume Americans are capable of cutting down.
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Losty: One useful one; use less fuel. Other countries manage it nicely so I can only but assume Americans are capable of cutting down.
well that is the concept that not everyone is grasping, i do my part, i walk to work, a motorcycle is what i will be purchasing next to save on fuel, one person cannot change this mess, one person didn't get us into this mess, and one country is not the only one causing all of it nor will one country be able to pull everybody out of it, there are supply and demand issues here and we are not the only supply and we are not the only demand.
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I see the debate is still going on, and the result of this poll so far does not surprise me, kinda explains where all the "demand" is comming from, as the majority of people out there are very "demanding" - that prices come down...
Saw a very interesting article about the Honda FCX Clarity (Google it please). This car could give traditional fossil fuel consumers a run for their money!!!
Needless to say their are solutions to the oil problem, its just such a pity though that the majority of people out there would wish to just carry on the way they are without the hassle of climate change or high oil prices, but this is infact a time when we really do need to start working together for the future - the future of human civilisation...
Saw a very interesting article about the Honda FCX Clarity (Google it please). This car could give traditional fossil fuel consumers a run for their money!!!
Needless to say their are solutions to the oil problem, its just such a pity though that the majority of people out there would wish to just carry on the way they are without the hassle of climate change or high oil prices, but this is infact a time when we really do need to start working together for the future - the future of human civilisation...
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CapeDoctor: I see the debate is still going on, and the result of this poll so far does not surprise me, kinda explains where all the "demand" is comming from, as the majority of people out there are very "demanding" - that prices come down...
Saw a very interesting article about the Honda FCX Clarity (Google it please). This car could give traditional fossil fuel consumers a run for their money!!!
Needless to say their are solutions to the oil problem, its just such a pity though that the majority of people out there would wish to just carry on the way they are without the hassle of climate change or high oil prices, but this is infact a time when we really do need to start working together for the future - the future of human civilisation...
Saw a very interesting article about the Honda FCX Clarity (Google it please). This car could give traditional fossil fuel consumers a run for their money!!!
Needless to say their are solutions to the oil problem, its just such a pity though that the majority of people out there would wish to just carry on the way they are without the hassle of climate change or high oil prices, but this is infact a time when we really do need to start working together for the future - the future of human civilisation...
I have learned from reading this. Can I vote again?
Your post got me thinking about this today and I am looking at the possibility of using solar power to heat water. I know it is only a drop in the ocean, but from such drops oceans are made.
I think your poll if you put it up in six months time would reflect a different attitude. It got me thinking about it and wondering how I could become less oil dependant.
Changing peoples minds are done one at a time and then that person changes someone else's mind, the ripple effect.
I would really like to know more about the possibilities of of small wind power plants now. I am well up on saving costs on lighting in the home if anyone is interested.
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I think that in Ireland we are to Oil dependent, we havent embraced new technologies that could make a difference like wind, Solar and nuclear. It is a case that the world is clearly over populated and developed and developing countries are comsuming to much fuel at an alarming rate.
The people of Ireland voted for the Greens in large numbers and these Muppets ahev done very little except give the average person a hard time and blame them for the Ills of Oil dependency. They should stop talking and introduce change to new technologies and stop speculators from making vast sums on Oil in the commodities market.
Think that supermarkets such as Tesco send food from here to Poland to clean and package and houses require cement it to produces vast amounts of CO2 so consumers do drive the market but what about giving them an eco choice that is the responsibility of Government stop waffling and enforce change at the manufacturing stage.
With regards to Diesel i now use Vegetable oil it can be bought for 99 cent a litre and my car burns it, plus why arent fuel companies not putting biofuel on forecourts, it is clearly about profit at the expense of hard hit people while we have an elite in Dail Eireann more preoccupied with their long breaks and waffling while tax payers are been shafted.
The people of Ireland voted for the Greens in large numbers and these Muppets ahev done very little except give the average person a hard time and blame them for the Ills of Oil dependency. They should stop talking and introduce change to new technologies and stop speculators from making vast sums on Oil in the commodities market.
Think that supermarkets such as Tesco send food from here to Poland to clean and package and houses require cement it to produces vast amounts of CO2 so consumers do drive the market but what about giving them an eco choice that is the responsibility of Government stop waffling and enforce change at the manufacturing stage.
With regards to Diesel i now use Vegetable oil it can be bought for 99 cent a litre and my car burns it, plus why arent fuel companies not putting biofuel on forecourts, it is clearly about profit at the expense of hard hit people while we have an elite in Dail Eireann more preoccupied with their long breaks and waffling while tax payers are been shafted.
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patrickthomas: I have learned from reading this. Can I vote again?
Your post got me thinking about this today and I am looking at the possibility of using solar power to heat water. I know it is only a drop in the ocean, but from such drops oceans are made.
I think your poll if you put it up in six months time would reflect a different attitude. It got me thinking about it and wondering how I could become less oil dependant.
Changing peoples minds are done one at a time and then that person changes someone else's mind, the ripple effect.
I would really like to know more about the possibilities of of small wind power plants now. I am well up on saving costs on lighting in the home if anyone is interested.
Your post got me thinking about this today and I am looking at the possibility of using solar power to heat water. I know it is only a drop in the ocean, but from such drops oceans are made.
I think your poll if you put it up in six months time would reflect a different attitude. It got me thinking about it and wondering how I could become less oil dependant.
Changing peoples minds are done one at a time and then that person changes someone else's mind, the ripple effect.
I would really like to know more about the possibilities of of small wind power plants now. I am well up on saving costs on lighting in the home if anyone is interested.
Cheers PatrickT, we need more people like you - if even half the people would just stop to think about it a bit, not even having to do anything about it, we'd be on the path to a solution much quicker! I agree that minds need to be changed. We have too many people who are ready to complain (as if were only someone elses fault and none of their own).
If you want to complain about high oil prices then first ask yourself this question: Do I use less than avergage? If your answer is less than 5 barrels per year then by all means you have the right to complain because that's the world average. But if you live in a first world country and you earn an average salary in your country then it is likely that you use about 20 barrels per year (18.6 for Ireland & 25.6 for USA)!
I myself have no right to complain because my usage is more or less in line with Ireland's average. We in developed countries need to wake up and get oursleves out of this situation by working together!
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harry1965: I think that in Ireland we are to Oil dependent, we havent embraced new technologies that could make a difference like wind, Solar and nuclear. It is a case that the world is clearly over populated and developed and developing countries are comsuming to much fuel at an alarming rate.
The people of Ireland voted for the Greens in large numbers and these Muppets ahev done very little except give the average person a hard time and blame them for the Ills of Oil dependency. They should stop talking and introduce change to new technologies and stop speculators from making vast sums on Oil in the commodities market.
Think that supermarkets such as Tesco send food from here to Poland to clean and package and houses require cement it to produces vast amounts of CO2 so consumers do drive the market but what about giving them an eco choice that is the responsibility of Government stop waffling and enforce change at the manufacturing stage.
With regards to Diesel i now use Vegetable oil it can be bought for 99 cent a litre and my car burns it, plus why arent fuel companies not putting biofuel on forecourts, it is clearly about profit at the expense of hard hit people while we have an elite in Dail Eireann more preoccupied with their long breaks and waffling while tax payers are been shafted.
The people of Ireland voted for the Greens in large numbers and these Muppets ahev done very little except give the average person a hard time and blame them for the Ills of Oil dependency. They should stop talking and introduce change to new technologies and stop speculators from making vast sums on Oil in the commodities market.
Think that supermarkets such as Tesco send food from here to Poland to clean and package and houses require cement it to produces vast amounts of CO2 so consumers do drive the market but what about giving them an eco choice that is the responsibility of Government stop waffling and enforce change at the manufacturing stage.
With regards to Diesel i now use Vegetable oil it can be bought for 99 cent a litre and my car burns it, plus why arent fuel companies not putting biofuel on forecourts, it is clearly about profit at the expense of hard hit people while we have an elite in Dail Eireann more preoccupied with their long breaks and waffling while tax payers are been shafted.
Agree fully with you there - because of the economic gradients between different countries if is often cheaper to transport goods over vast distances than to manufacture, process and sell them at the place where they are used, and this is very inefficient!
As for running your car on vegetable oil - fair play to you, it's a great way to save on fuel now while the demand is low, but in reality we could never expect large scale production of biofuels in the near future because it would just use up too much land that could otherwise be used for growing food. Biofuels are also an incredibly wastefull way of converting the Sun's power into usefull energy. If you want to utilise the suns power to maximum efficiency then solar refectors or photovoltaics are the best way to do that...
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CapeDoctor: Cheers PatrickT, we need more people like you - if even half the people would just stop to think about it a bit, not even having to do anything about it, we'd be on the path to a solution much quicker! I agree that minds need to be changed. We have too many people who are ready to complain (as if were only someone elses fault and none of their own).
If you want to complain about high oil prices then first ask yourself this question: Do I use less than avergage? If your answer is less than 5 barrels per year then by all means you have the right to complain because that's the world average. But if you live in a first world country and you earn an average salary in your country then it is likely that you use about 20 barrels per year (18.6 for Ireland & 25.6 for USA)!
I myself have no right to complain because my usage is more or less in line with Ireland's average. We in developed countries need to wake up and get oursleves out of this situation by working together!
If you want to complain about high oil prices then first ask yourself this question: Do I use less than avergage? If your answer is less than 5 barrels per year then by all means you have the right to complain because that's the world average. But if you live in a first world country and you earn an average salary in your country then it is likely that you use about 20 barrels per year (18.6 for Ireland & 25.6 for USA)!
I myself have no right to complain because my usage is more or less in line with Ireland's average. We in developed countries need to wake up and get oursleves out of this situation by working together!
How do I calculate how much Barrels of oil I consume?
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A lot of discussion on this thread is about how much oil we use, but I think we are forgetting one of the principle factors in driving the price of oil up which is the speculators and traders. Now that the property bubble has burst more traders are investing in commodoties, which means more investment in oil. The banks are largely to blame for this, as they are advancing money to these guys. It's the same situation as property, banks were largely to blame for that also.
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patrickthomas: How do I calculate how much Barrels of oil I consume?
Good Question! It is quite hard to work out exactly what your share of the use is because the vast majority of your usage will come from indirect means! Contrary to popular belief, drivng and home heating usually only add up to 30 or 40 percent of your energy usage, with the bulk of the remainder coming from the food you eat and the goods you buy! If you're a vegetarian and you only consume food that was made near your home your oil consumtion will be much less than someone who buys meat from New Zealand while living in Ireland...
If live in Ireland and you buy an average mixture of goods from an average variety of destinations you can assume that ammounts to about 10 barrles of oil annuly. Heating a 3 bedroom house (with 4 people) for a year uses about 2 barrels of oil per person. Driving 10000 miles in a 1.4l car uses about 6 barrels of oil. A return trans-Atlantic flight would add about 3 or 4 barrels to your total...
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JohnnyT: A lot of discussion on this thread is about how much oil we use, but I think we are forgetting one of the principle factors in driving the price of oil up which is the speculators and traders. Now that the property bubble has burst more traders are investing in commodoties, which means more investment in oil. The banks are largely to blame for this, as they are advancing money to these guys. It's the same situation as property, banks were largely to blame for that also.
Speculators only make up about $20 of the current oil price of $135. Oil is no bubble, unfortunatly, because it's a finite resource that can only become more valuable as it becomes more scarce. The price may come down again, but only briefly like it did the beginning of last year. The only way oil could ever come down to the levels it was 10 years ago is if humanity suddenly didn't need it anymore, and we're still a long way from that...
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Well you work in this field so you know more about the scarcity of oil than I do but from an economic point of view this is not the first fuel crisis we've had. Nor the worst - by a large measure. The price of oil in the 70's and 80's was (comparatively) far worse than the current price.
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CapeDoctor: Good Question! It is quite hard to work out exactly what your share of the use is because the vast majority of your usage will come from indirect means! Contrary to popular belief, drivng and home heating usually only add up to 30 or 40 percent of your energy usage, with the bulk of the remainder coming from the food you eat and the goods you buy! If you're a vegetarian and you only consume food that was made near your home your oil consumtion will be much less than someone who buys meat from New Zealand while living in Ireland...
If live in Ireland and you buy an average mixture of goods from an average variety of destinations you can assume that ammounts to about 10 barrles of oil annuly. Heating a 3 bedroom house (with 4 people) for a year uses about 2 barrels of oil per person. Driving 10000 miles in a 1.4l car uses about 6 barrels of oil. A return trans-Atlantic flight would add about 3 or 4 barrels to your total...
If live in Ireland and you buy an average mixture of goods from an average variety of destinations you can assume that ammounts to about 10 barrles of oil annuly. Heating a 3 bedroom house (with 4 people) for a year uses about 2 barrels of oil per person. Driving 10000 miles in a 1.4l car uses about 6 barrels of oil. A return trans-Atlantic flight would add about 3 or 4 barrels to your total...
I suspected this when I tried to calculate how much I use and I do use above average. This certainly opens my eyes as to how we consume so much of this product, and how essential it is to how we live nowadays.
There is no doubt that when viewed with this information in mind that a few solar panels on my roof may may help a little, there really is a need for a radical re-think on this problem.
I am realising what you are talking about, without fossil fuel, the lights go out in the Cities, the factories close, Transport stops. This is on it's way sooner or later. Do you know what plans the EU have for this? This is not just about individual consumption but Government policies for the future.
Do you think that Nuclear power, renewable sources and wind/solar/other power can produce enough to satisfy our ever increasing demand and if so, is there any preparation within this country for it?
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patrickthomas: Do you think that Nuclear power, renewable sources and wind/solar/other power can produce enough to satisfy our ever increasing demand and if so, is there any preparation within this country for it?
Not in this country. But the EU and the Japanese have worked well so far to build workable fusion reactors. There's an experimental one in France as far as I know.
Nuclear energy would easily satisfy our needs and likely will do for hundreds and hundreds of years to come. Fusion particularly since the resources required are so abundant and such small amounts produce such great power.
But there is a problem with Nuclear energy in that so many Irish people seem dead-set against it! Does anyone here feel that way? It seems to me that we are always giving out about the Sellafield Recator.
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99 Votes
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34 Comments
Created: Jun 2008
Last Viewed: Apr 26
Last Commented: Jun 2008
Last Voted: Jul 2017
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Fuel tax cuts, should governments give us a break or not???(Vote Below)
So what should goverments do about it? Just make it cheaper so we can use it faster???