Are We There Yet?

 

      I may be crazy but I wish gasoline would go up to $10 a gallon.  We will never stop using oil until it is soo expensive that other forms of energy become economical.  People can be idealistic, when they can afford to be.  But when it comes to oil, they can't afford to change... that is unless some other way of getting around and producing our electricity becomes cheaper than oil.  We need to stop using oil for economic as well as environmental reasons.

 

      For years, I have believed that hydrogen was the answer.  Current internal combustion engines can be modified to burn it instead of gasoline.  And the carbon emissions can be reduced to nearly zero.  You have to love a fuel whose main exhaust is water!  New cars can use a fuel cell which converts hydrogen into electricity to drive electric motors thus ending the need for combustion engines altogether.

 

      A battery powered car would be ideal, but they currently don't have the battery technology to carry a car and passengers farther than 40 or 50 miles and then the recharge can take many hours.  A fuel cell car can go about 300 miles and refueling takes just a few minutes more than filling a gasoline powered car.  Unfortunately, this new technology is more expensive.  That's why, at about $10 a gallon for gas, it becomes economical.

 

      Honda is coming out with a hydrogen fuel cell car this year that is available in Southern California.  They have a few hydrogen refueling stations there.  I'm sure plenty of California's well-to-do environmentalist types will buy them.  I wish I could!

 

      We must eliminate our need for any other country to supply our energy needs.  Oil rich countries are draining our economy.  Today nearly 70% of the oil we use comes from other countries.  We will spend nearly $700 BILLION on foreign oil this year!  THIS MUST END!  I never thought I would be an isolationist, but the time has come for a quick change.  For ourselves and our children we must do whatever it takes to become self-sufficient when it comes to energy.  Al Gore is right.  We can't talk about changing 10% by 2050.  We need to talk about 100% energy independence in ten years, 2019!  WE NEED TO DO IT NOW!

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