The editors of the Houston Chronicle have put their pointy heads together and figured out how to solve the rising cost of energy — we should sit on our asses:
However, if enough Americans could learn to sit quietly at home one day a week, or turn to mass transit two workdays out of five, demand for gasoline could be lowered 5 percent or more.
This is the kind of nuanced analysis we get from the only newspaper in the world’s energy capital.
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69 Responses to “Chron: Reduce gas prices by inaction”Search
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And we could also help the global warming cause. LOL. Leave it to the crummychle to come up with a lose lose solution.
Matt,
We used to call that day Sunday. Most of the stores were closed. People could still go to a restaurant or the beach, but the traffic was fairly light unless one was in the line for the ferry on Galveston Island.
So you see…it is not exactly a new concept and I suspect many of the older posters still remember “Blue Laws” which were sponsored by the churches and not the lefties.
Maybe getting people to slow down one day a week is not such a bad idea…
Simple
Why didn’t the Crummyicle recommend that the federal government drop the federal taxes on gasoline instead of giving us that goofy rebate that also costs us money to process??????
A few years back, my company moved its offices. As part of the big hoo-ha, Metro came in and pointed out that there was a bus stop right outside the new office location.
I stopped by to see what they could offer. Turned out to get from the 290/Hwy 6 area to Eldridge & Memorial (~12mi) would require:
* Driving to Park & Ride lot (8 or 9mi; was closest Metro stop to my house)
* Taking P&R bus downtown
* Changing to bus that went down Westheimer, then up Eldridge
Net result would be that my trip in would take about 2 hours and shorten my drive by 3 or 4 mi (25-35%), although the time spent in the car would be only slightly reduced. My normal commute time was about 30-35min at the time.
I didn’t even ask what the return trip would be like.
Lets reduce gas prices by allowing energy companies in the US to get oil from the sands in Canada.
… and reduce EPA restrictions to allow some new refineries to be built.
One of the biggest hidden culprits is the vast assortment of boutique gasolines required in many areas. If this variety could be reduced to a small number, many costs would go away.
I wonder how much energy we could save if the Chronicle stopped printing and distributing its drivel? Just wondering……….
This would be an ok suggestion if there was a shortage in the supply. However, reducing demand won’t necessarily lower cost. If the Chronicle had done their homework, they would have found out that there are multiple factors influencing price (commodities market, refining capacity, supply being controlled by a cartel and/or crazy dictators in third world countries)
Why not just do the right thing and be charitable and lower the price of gasoline? Simple.
Why not just occupy an oil rich middle eastern country and fill up a few supertankers when no one is looking?
I don’t need to learn how to “sit quietly at home one day a week” (I wonder if it’d be okay with them if stayed home, but didn’t sit quietly - maybe do some yardwork or paint the bedroom) but the trouble is, I don’t get paid for sitting quietly at home.
As for mass transit, I’d use it if I could (and did so last year when I worked downtown) but the problem is that Metro doesn’t accommodate those of us who live AND work outside of downtown.
Anyone with half a brain can understand that the way to reduce the price of energy is to tap into more of it. Drill in ANWR, build a couple hundred nuclear power plants, ditch the ethanol travesty, and watch the price of energy plummet and the economy go sky-high.
vlou
I did not realize that Oil Companies were charities. I thought they were businesses that answered to stockholders.
Lyondell-Basel has curtailed production of gasoline that is not required by contract because the margins on gasoline sales right now are very low. The refiners are also being impacted by the cost of oil. My guess is they are not alone.
Simple
GriffthLea,
We could agree to drill and produce in the ANWR today and it would not likely come online for at least 5 - 7 years.
Simple
#14 Then we should hurry up and get started up there…
11 bob,
I thought we were supposed to get some oil out of Iraq.
It turns out that the treasury of Iraq is getting a nice surplus from oil revenues, while we continue to pump money into that operation.
Simple
#14 - Stick to the point, which is that we need to stop letting our fields lie fallow, i.e. stop letting our resources lie unused, otherwise we’re going to get what we’ve got. Of course it takes time, which is all the more reason to stop screwing around and start producing more energy.
#15 - What you said.
We have know that this energy problem was coming since the mid 1970’s. It has been ignored. We have had LIP SERVICE for 30+ years on the need to become energy independent but no action.
Our energy policy solution as of this moment is; REQUIRE CAR MAKERS TO INCREASE THE MPG an say that the public needs to drive less. We have not built the Nuclear power plants that we should have built, we have refused to allow drilling of oil where we should have been drilling, we have made the construction of new refineries so difficult that the energy companies gave up trying.
All of this should have been done while exploring for alternate energy sources and doing the research necessary for more efficient vehicles, etc.
We have abundant sources of coal, but we block the construction of coal fired electrical producing plants, we have the best technology for nuclear power in the world, but we block the construction for nuclear fired plants, we scream for wind power but the elite liberals blocked the construction of such a generating wind farm off the east coast because it would inconvenience them.
Who is to blame for the energy mess we are in?
WE ARE!!!
Many, even most, Houstonians are in the business of moving information. So, in the present model, we get in our cars or on buses or the toy train and burn energy to get to sites from which we move the information.
Many of us could work from home a great deal, going into the office a few hours a week for face to face, personal interaction. That would reduce trips and level the rush hour traffic.
You could build an awfully good computer network for what we have spent on widening the Katy Freeway so it will be adequate for a couple of years or for the cost of any segment of the toy train.
Someday, even if the history is written in Chinese or Arabic, smart people will look back and curse us. We are burning as gasoline this wonderful chemical feedstock and lubricant called oil.
Yes, there are a bunch of wrongheaded regulations and notions that are making the immediate situation worse. But it is our habits that really drive energy use here in Houston and the U.S.
In the long run, it would be cheaper and pollute less. Work habits would change too … what you produce with what resources would become the standard. If you work from home most of the week, there would be more attention to your output rather than your dress and whether you take the last cup of coffee without making more.
Houston basically can just SKIP mass transit and go to a wired way of working.
That’s no reason not to do it. If we’d started 5-7 years ago, it’d be online now.
Sorry. I should not have transposed the last two paragraphs of #19.
This makes more sense:
Houston basically can just SKIP mass transit and go to a wired way of working.
In the long run, it would be cheaper and pollute less. Work habits would change too … what you produce with what resources would become the standard. If you work from home most of the week, there would be more attention to your output rather than your dress and whether you take the last cup of coffee without making more.
#10 Vlou
Most companies would refuse to continue operations on the margin oil companies get for selling motor fuels. The government makes 4+ time what the oil companies make on every gallon sold, I do not see them giving up thier end.
Been waiting fifty years for the Katy Freeway to be expanded. It is a beautiful sight. I love the smell of concrete in the morning.
Did you know that it takes approx. 1.5 gallons of diesel fuel to produce 1 gallon of ethanol?
Did you know that cars that use ethanol gets approx 10$ less MPG than reg. gasoline.
Did you know that the price of corn has skyrocketd since the production of ethanol has started?
Did you know that the price of beef cattle has dropped significantly in recent monts due to the rising cost of fedding them with food made from corn and it’s byproducts?
Do you know that the oil companies love rising gas prices? They say that the price of a gallon of gasoline is based on supply and demand, yet when futures are trading for $109 a barrell, we see a instant jump at the pump, but when the futures drop a tad, it takes forever to see the reduction at the pump? Think the Oil companies are being disingenuineous with us?
20, Matt,
Did I fail to mention that it would fall short of meeting out current needs?
Upping production is only one side of the solution.
We need to start conserving….funny how some CONSERVATIVES oppose something that supposedly they eschew, namely conserve or does conservative just another way of saying “stuck in the past”?
Simple
#14 Simple, that makes no sense. That was one of the excuses given by the Clinton admin 13 years ago when he vetoed legislation passed by Congress to start drilling. Very short-sighted.
Conservation will fall short of meeting our current needs as well. Does that mean we shouldn’t bother conserving?
Of course it would fall short, but again, that’s a poor excuse for not doing it. If a boat is sinking, you bail it out, even if the buckets are small.
You’re right. But it is part of the solution. There’s not going to be an overnight miracle that solves the growing need for energy. That makes the need for incremental, partial solutions even more urgent.
Here’s an example. Let’s say I’m trying to save for retirement. In order to do that, I need to do several things:
1. Maximize my current income.
2. Cut back on current spending to save money.
3. Invest that money wisely.
4. Engage in tax and estate planning.
No single item on that list will ensure my retirement. But I’m not going to say “Well, maximizing my income isn’t going to solve the problem, so why bother trying to get a raise?”
trl3 hits the nail on the head in regard to nuclear and coal. However, I don’t see any need for further government forcing of manufacturers to increase mpg. The marketplace will take care of that just fine because price of gas will continue to rise no matter what we do. So we better get used to it and start doing the right things with coal, nuclear, and exploration/drilling.
Fink also makes a good point in the increase of telecommuting being beneficial. Bandwidth, unlike energy and office real estate, is cheaper than it has ever been, and for those employees that can work remotely it’s frequently a win/win situation.
I’m not having a lot of luck with html today. Sorry about the end-tag error in my prior comment.
Let’s see - If I just sit around on my ass and do nothing, why would I even care what a gallon of gas costs? Think I can just sit around all day to make life easier for everybody else? Not this boy - I’ve got you all figured out. BTW, where’s my voting check - I voted in the primary, but I’m not voting until I get my bribe (and it better be at least $300 and soon).
We’re still ignoring a major component of the pricing problem here. It doesn’t matter how much oil we drill domestically or import if we don’t have the refining capacity to process it. In the last 25 years we’ve built ZERO new gasoline processing plants, and only upgraded one - Port Arthur - NATIONWIDE!!!!
No amount of drilling is going to make a difference. And if one plant goes down for maintenance or an accident, it immediately affects the cost of gas. So the attack on the problem has to be two fold - drilling and refining. Only when we’ve addressed both of those issues will we see the marketplace drive down the price of gasoline.
32 Big - Perzactly! The refining is the bottleneck. Add to that regional blends and the reduced output from having to switch and purge for the next batch reduces the refining capacity through loss of efficiency.
We do have a new nuke generator coming online at the STP nuclear plant. We need to be expanding our nuke generation to get us off coal, and someone needs to tell the North East that if they would stop using heating oil for their home we would have more crude to refine.
And should I sit on the toilet for two years I never need to wipe. Think of all the trees saved from not using paper needlessly.
I have a better daily savings measure. Close the Comical. No employees will be driving to and from work. No trucks, belching their exhaust, and snarling traffic, will be needed to fill newspaper machines. No trees will be used, or paper recycled to print that lousy rag. There will be no rush to buy antacids after reading one of their idiotic editorials. When you add it all up, it’s probably a bigger savings than 5%……..
#32 It would take 3-4 years to get the permitting and construction on new refinery capacity therefore we shouldn’t bother. /sarc
#36 - AW darlin ya beat me to it!!!!!!
37 Maybe we can appeal to the oil and make it want to be refined.
There are even better reactor designs being developed that are intrinsically safe. One example is the pebble bed design.
#39 Oh Holy Mother Gaia! We beseech thee. Give up thy gooey black bounty for refinement!
36 AW,
You are probably more correct than you know. We still subscribe to the Chronicle although we only read the Sunday edition.
I use the online version for my daily news and would be quite happy if it replaced the printed version entirely.
Simple
36 - AW: Hey! That’s MY idea! Give it back!
See #8 Above.
Fat Albert, your number 8 was so brilliant, I tried to attribute it to myself
Hamous #41 - Don’t make me repeat the Black Cessna.
Speaking of the Black Cessna, whatever became of that looney and his harassment claim?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the price of oil in DOLLARS is going up, but not in other currencies. The main problem at the moment is the U.S. dollar is dropping like a shuttle without wings or tiles.
give me a frickin break
Lotsa good ideas put forth above, the best being so get going already at drilling for oil and natural gas in proven reserve areas and building more refineries. And to relieve the frustration over the mind-numbed robots in the EPA and its acolytes in the Sierra Club, etc. slug an environmentalist when they object.
Note there is a huge difference between a conservationist and a mind-numbed robot environmentalist.
And to yank the chains of all the speculators madly buying oil on the spot market, require that anyone buying must take physical possession of the barrels they buy. Seems like the oil companies have places to put the stock they buy. Guess the speculators sitting in their offices don’t. Gee, wouldn’t that be too bad?
Maybe the idiot(s) at the Chron who came up with the inaction scheme should be banished to the bathroom for 2 years and not let out. Now that would be inaction.
#51 Adee that might create a toilet paper shortage!
#48 - I’m glad someone besides me finally noticed what’s really happening. USD getting prepared for the Amero I guess. Value overseas has dropped about 2/3 in the past year it looks like to me. I would never have believed what is happening to the USD, particularly under a Rep administrations.
48/53 The comparative value of our (fiat) currency, along with far reaching regulation and other interference seems to have set up a situation where the rule of supply and demand is broken.
Full story here.
I personally don’t care for Fiats. I prefer Buick currency. Bob, see my #32. It’s more than just oil production. Far more. I remember back just before winter around 1987 or 1988, when several ehtylene glycol plants around the US went down within weeks of each other. The price of antifreeze shot through the roof. Didn’t have a darned thing to do with how much oil was being pumped out of the ground then, did it?
Yeah, if you’re going to go for Italian spend the extra dough and get a Ferrari.
55, According to the article I read, inventories of gasoline are up as well. Something, or more likely, some things are definitely messing with supply and demand.
The probably correct notion that energy prices will rise over time attracts futures trading and market manipulation forces, both in the market and in government.
56, A Ferrari is in many ways like a high maintenance woman. Pretty, but hard to live with.
Bob, you wouldn’t think that just maybe the possibility of a war in the Southern Gulf of Mexico might just affect the price of oil a little teensy bit?
Hamous, why not get one of those upscale Volkswagons?
http://www.forbes.com/2004/07/19/cx_dl_0719feat.ls.html
#57 bob42
I think Ron Bailey covers the bases pretty well in his Reason article. I happen to agree oil has tended to take on a surreal quality like the gold market. I also concur with his conclusion about the eventual bust in the oil market. I said last fall when oil was at $80, it should be around $55. I still believe oil will return to that area. I’ve been to too many of these rodeos.
When talking about the dollar vs. the Euro comments like “the Euro reached an all-time high against the dollar” should be put into perspective. The Euro has only been around as an accounting currency since 1999 and circulating currency only since 2002. It’s a bit premature to start panicking.
texpat, I figure it will go up and down, but the troughs will trend upward over the long haul. How much of this is natural or influenced is anyones guess.
I too think Bailey had a base hit with this article.
#60 The yen has been around a little longer than the Euro, but the price to watch (other than oil) is gold. Many countries of the world base their own currency on their USD holdings, so when the dollar falls here, it falls everywhere. Oil only trades in “hard” currencies (Euro, yen and USD). What we are trying to do is to avoiding the hard landing created by the mortgage failures and the resulting failures of the countries largest banks and brokerage firms, which at this time, are basically insolvent. Needless to say, when Citibank finally takes its last breath, there could be some market disruptions. The situation is as critical as it’s ever been, and the politicians are keeping it quiet until after the elections so they can blame it on Bush (which they should rightly do). I disagree with hamous - it’s past time to start panicking. The good news is that if you haven’t already panicked, it’s probably too late. It makes no sense to ease up credit standards when easy credit is what got us here to start with.
Texpat, compared to what happened to antifreeze prices from 1987 to 1991, these gasoline price increases are nothing. Check this out:
http://www.oldworldind.com/chemicals/news/chemical_release1.pdf
On the left side of the article near the top, look at what happened - the confluence of events that drove up antifreeze prices for years - but eventually came back down. The price of a gallon of antifreeze now is almost the same as it was in 1986 - about $9 a gallon. So even with inflation, there is very little overall change from 20 years ago. But with the lost of 3 plants worldwide in 1987, the price shot up to almost $40 a gallon. I worked for a chemical company then, and we were making money hand over fist on EG - particularly from the airlines who had to use it to deice their aircraft.
What happened when those plants were repairs? A couple of years later the price was right back down again. It’s just simple supply and demand. I don’t know why people want to see a conspiracy at every turn for market conditions. Of course one might believe that an evil person blew up three plants around the world to drive up EG prices. But there’s not much we can do about that mindset.
Lord teach me to edit my writing more thoroughly before posting so I don’t look so ignorant.
House is paid for. Truck is paid for. I can walk to work. I’ve got a while before retirement age. I have comfortable reserves. I ain’t panicking bob.
Rastus - the dollar has quite a ways to go before it gets to all-time lows against the yen.
Hamous, you’re starting to sound like a libertarian.
I’ve been trying to tell you that since you showed up here
Give the Chron some credit for following their own advice.
Notice how many folks they have layed-off so they can
stay home and “save energy”? I’ve lost count, but I’m sure it was done in the interest of saving energy…..or something like that.