I pulled into the gas station this morning and was surprised to see how high 87 Octane had climbed since the last time I filled up.
I don't drive much, so it's not unusual for me to go about two or three weeks before slipping my credit card into those bright blue gas pumps with the miniature video screens mounted on the sides. I think the last time I filled up, I paid about $2.15 a gallon. This morning, it was $2.39. That's an 11% increase in 20 days. Boy, I'd like to be on the receiving end of that deal!
Over the past few months, oil prices have steadily climbed. Today we hit $66. And the consensus is that oil should be trading around $75 to $80 a barrel by the end of the year.
Now the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that oil prices would likely rise to $110 by 2015 and $130 by 2030. I think the folks at the EIA need to ease back on their mid-day happy hours. Just because it's getting warm out, doesn't mean you need to throw back three or four mojitos after lunch.
I tell ya. You get one good recession, oil prices plummet - and everyone forgets that overwhelmingly, oil remains a supply and demand issue. And no matter how they try to spin it or lean on questionable data, that's a reality that will not change when the economy recovers. So I have to say, I'm becoming increasingly pleased with the level of renewed momentum behind the development of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
These vehicles really do represent the next evolution of personal transportation. The technology exists, the infrastructure exists, and now the support in Washington exists. The Department of Energy has even gone as far as publicly favoring PHEVs over fuel cells. This is actually a pretty big deal, considering the previous administration steered a lot of funding to hydrogen fuel cell research. Now I'm not saying there's no future in hydrogen, but I think Energy Secretary, Steven Chu said it best when he said, "We asked ourselves, is it likely in the next 10 or 15, or even 20 years that we will convert to a hydrogen-car ecnomy? The answer, we felt, was no."
To give you a more detailed look at this, as well as new advances, technology, and public policy regarding electric and plug-in electric vehicles, we have invited Felix Kramer to contribute to Green Chip Living. Felix is the founder of the California Cars Initiative - a nonprofit startup of engineers, entrepeneurs and consumers that's promoting 100+ MPG PHEVs. He's often quoted in the media, and is considered by many to be one the leading experts in PHEV development.
You can read Felix's first submission here.
And while we're on the subject of oil, did you know that it takes almost 12 barrels of oil per person - every year - to maintain our conventional food system? Moreover, some research has suggested that our chemical fertilizer and pesticide-based food system contributes to almost 20 percent of the nation's CO2 emissions.
Laura Stec, author of Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming, has been kind enough to weigh in on this with a pretty eye-opening piece that really provides a rational analysis of our conventional food system and diet. You can read it here. I do hope you enjoy it.
Have a great weekend!
Jeff
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