Gone In Sixty Seconds…Your Cash!What do sky high fuel prices, flashy cars, whale blubber, and ‘tree-huggers’ have in common? Not sure? Me neither, but they’re the subject of this article. Crude oil prices have reached an all time high. At the time of writing, a barrel of crude oil cost $42 USD. But we shouldn’t feel too bad, even though gasoline prices here in Canada are fluctuating around the $1 per litre point. In the UK (my home land) they’re handing over about $2.60 for a litre of gas… and we thought we had it rough. --- Ouch! In fact, the soaring price of gas in the UK might spark a country-wide series of protests similar to those that paralysed the UK in early 2000. I suppose the question we might ask is are we facing a similar threat here in Canada? Somehow I doubt it, we’re just too polite. In a completely unofficial poll, randomly conducted, I asked a few friends what they thought. Regrettably the responses to the gasoline price increases are unprintable. --- @#$%&*! Seriously though, all joking aside, while many people didn’t really flinch as prices crept up during the past six months, signs are now evident that some folks are feeling the squeeze. And of course, as you’d expect those in the lower income brackets are the first to feel the pinch. Ironically the media has been speculating about the impact on the sales of bigger vehicles such as SUV’s. To date there is a general feeling that if you can afford an SUV (or some other monster truck) a few extra dollars for a tank of gas is not your principal concern. I’m not sure I agree with this. Bigger vehicles often have bigger tanks (100 litre tanks are not unusual), so a price hike of $0.20 is still an extra $20. Add that to a tank of gas that already costs you $80 and it’s getting pricey. I’ve owned small cars and big cars. I still don’t like it when the gas prices jump up. $20 is still $20 – I could have done other things with that money…Like buy lottery tickets or half a dozen Starbucks coffees. Of course the ‘tree huggers’ (that’s not my terminology – I’ve borrowed it from the media) who are more environmentally conscious and focus on consuming limited resources, well … they’re making quite a lot of noise about it. They’re saying we should conserve fuel, make it last. --- An Energy Crisis They’re saying that if we continue on this course we’ll undoubtedly face an energy crisis. Well I have good news. There will NEVER be an energy crisis…and I can prove it. It’s called The First Law of Thermodynamics. Simply put it states that energy cannot be destroyed or created, merely changed from one form into another. And since crude oil is a form of energy that we transform into another form of energy, then what we really face (if we continuing consuming it) is a format shortage or a ‘crude oil shortage.’ --- Whale Blubber But that was on the cards from the beginning. We knew that crude oil couldn’t last because it was a fossil fuel. Prior to the early 1900’s we were carving up whales for oil, we didn’t have cars to consume it back then so we used it for heating, lighting and other more mundane uses. Rumour has it the whales got upset and decided to stop cooperating and so we went in search of alternatives. It’s a fact, we’re going to run out of crude oil eventually. And while supply dwindles and demand stays high (or climbs) the prices will reflect that. Until someone develops a new way to synthesize crude oil, or create a new fuel for cars or even a new form of combustion engine. Wouldn’t that be fun! I don’t know about you, but watching the way it all unfolds is pretty interesting, I just hope it all last longer than 60 seconds. Author: http://www.JamesBurchill.com Resources: Related articles: Honda Accord Hybrid 2005: The Weekly Driver Review Negotiating Tips to Use When Buying a New Car Part 2 2005 Honda Odyssey: Honda Factory Replacement Parts at Partstrain for High Power Mazda MX5's Iconic Evolution that Makes Mazda Parts Distributors Like Parts Train Deliver the Best Mobile Car Wash Rig Set Up Designs
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