We'll Take That Alternative Fuel Now, Thanks

Not to get all Chicken Little here, but even a cursory glance at today's news about rising gas prices makes for an ominous read.

At a record $3.60 national average, the price of gasoline is squeezing everyone, and there’s no sign of respite on the horizon. In Washington, D.C., truck drivers are staging a protest today, driving from Harrisburg, Penn., to RFK stadium, then assembling outside the White House. Truckers have to contend with the price of diesel, which has hit $4.24 nationally.

In Chicago, cab drivers have been forced to add a $1 gasoline surcharge regardless of the distance driven. This means a short jaunt in a cab will cost a disproportionate amount more, and may lead to more people choosing to walk.

So you're probably wondering if there’s even a hint of good news to report. A piece of the sky that isn’t falling, perhaps? The best we can do is tell you about Coskata, a company that has begun construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant and hopes to churn out fuel that costs $1 per gallon. Cars.com senior editor Joe Wiesenfelder visited their Illinois plant recently and got a run down on their operation.

Cellulosic ethanol, made from waste wood or switchgrass, does not come with all the inherent problems of corn ethanol that are contributing to food shortages right now. However, even if Coskata gets the Madison, Penn., plant up and running ASAP, it expects to produce only 40,000 gallons of fuel each year. This is kind of like saying you're going to irrigate the Mojave Desert by spitting into the sand. In other words, that last piece of sky doesn't look all that sturdy.

Coskata Breaks Ground on Ethanol Plant, Could Make Fuel for $1 per Gallon (Jalopnik)

Comments

[woogie]

Gee, driving to a protest about the cost of gas. Are they at least going to car pool?

Nothing like increasing the demand for gas to get your point across.

I hope they all go to eat at restaurants to protest the high cost of food.

But there is a bit of good news in this post:

"may lead to more people choosing to walk"

Using a vehicle for a "short jaunt" is wasteful and unnecessary. If high costs are what it takes for more people to make the more sensible choice to walk, so be it.

[ziggy]

Walking may save money in cab fare but it's not going to lower diesel costs which is driving up the cost of all goods in this country. Not to mention the fact that ethanol production is raising the cost of food.

[ziggy]

The state of Montana has enough coal reserves that we can create enough synthetic oil to last us for about 200 years. We've had the technology to do this for about the last 30 years but we just don't. It's just a big oil company and gov't game that they're playing.

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Record High Gas Prices On The Map
National Average Now $3.577 A Gallon; Oil Prices Rise Sharply On Reported Persian Gulf Incident

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NEW YORK, April 25, 2008
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'Tipped Off' With Gas Prices

Despite the president's economic stimulus package, for some Americans the 'tipping point' of rising fuel costs has been reached and they have stopped buying in protest. Jeff Glor reports. | Share/Embed

* Despite the president\'s economic stimulus package, for some Americans the \'tipping point\' of rising fuel costs has been reached and they have stopped buying in protest. Jeff Glor reports.
'Tipped Off' With Gas Prices (2:09)
* A Chicago food bank is taking a double hit as rising fuel costs force food prices up, leaving more hungry mouths and inflated transportation cots. Cynthia Bowers reports.
Swapping Food For Fuel (1:37)
* The soaring price of fuel has forced many car-loving Californians off the road and onto the bus. Ben Tracy reports on what commuters are doing to save money at the pump.
Californians Choosing The Bus (1:41)

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(CBS/AP) As expected, retail gas prices rose further into record territory Friday, nearing $3.60 a gallon. Meanwhile, oil prices rose sharply on news that a ship under contract to the U.S. Defense Department fired warning shots at two boats in the Persian Gulf.

At the pump, gas prices rose another 2.1 cents Friday to a record national average of $3.577 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices have been following oil futures higher, but are also rising due to concerns about whether gasoline supplies are adequate to meet peak summer driving demand.

There is often a spike at the pump in the summer, but this time the rise in gas prices is extreme, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor. The average fill-up is $8 more than it cost last year.

With gas prices higher than ever, thieves are targeting several U-Haul lots (listen) in Florida, reports CBS News correspondent Peter King.

Soaring gas prices are driving some commuters to embrace the somewhat radical idea of taking public transportation in car-centric Los Angeles, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy. Train ridership in the city has increased by 700,000 passengers over last year.

Analysts expect gas prices to continue rising for at least another month; predictions of how high prices will rise range from $3.70 to $4 a gallon. To a large extent, how high gas prices peak depends on what oil does.

Lately, analysts have recently raised their oil price predictions to $125 to $130 a barrel. Earlier this week, the expiring May crude contract rose as high as $119.90 as investors scrambled to square positions.

However, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates less sharply next week than originally thought. Because rate cuts tend to weaken the dollar, a smaller than expected cut could push the dollar higher, and send oil prices down.

Meanwhile, crude prices rose on initial reports that a U.S. ship had fired on two Iranian boats; the news raised concerns that a conflict between U.S. and Iranian forces could cut oil supplies from the region. Later reports said the origin of the boats was unclear.

But the news was enough to send light, sweet crude for June delivery up to $119.55 before the contract retreated to trade up $2.94 at $119.00 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The incident at first appeared to be the latest in a series of encounters between U.S. forces and Iranian boats in the Gulf. Early this month, the USS Typhoon fired a flare at an Iranian boat that came within about 200 yards of the ship. In January, several Iranian boats made what the Navy described as provocative moves near a U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz. And in December the USS Whidbey Island fired warning shots at a small Iranian boat officials said was rapidly approaching the ship.

On Friday, oil prices were already up before the report on news of a pipeline attack in Nigeria and a looming refinery strike in Scotland.

In Nigeria, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said its fighters hit an oil pipeline late Thursday, the fourth conduit the group has attacked in the past week. MEND said the pipeline belongs to a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture. A Shell spokesman confirmed one of its pipelines had been hit, but provided no additional details.

Earlier this week, Shell said an earlier attack cut its Nigerian oil production by about 170,000 barrels a day.

Separately, workers at an ExxonMobil Corp. joint venture in Nigeria cut production by an unspecified amount to demand more pay.

Adding to the supply concerns, BP PLC said it will shut down a 700,000 barrel-a-day pipeline system that carries oil from the North Sea to refineries in the U.K. on Saturday in anticipation of a strike at Scotland's Grangemouth refinery expected to begin Sunday.

The refinery supplies power and steam to the pipeline; if it shuts down, the pipeline can't operate.

Oil's rise came as the dollar strengthened. A stronger dollar typically encourages selling by making commodities such as oil less effective hedges against inflation, and by making oil more expensive to overseas investors. Analysts say the dollar's steady decline over the past year is the chief culprit behind this year's rapid rise in oil prices.

But, notes Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill., "that connection between oil and the dollar can be broken easily by supply issues," which drove trading on Friday.

In other Nymex trading Friday, May gasoline futures rose 3.79 cents to $3.0565 a gallon after earlier rising to a new trading record of $3.0815, and May heating oil futures rose 5.47 cents to $3.3028 a gallon. May natural gas futures rose 16.2 cents to $11.105 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude futures rose $2.86 to $117.20 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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Comments [ + Post Your Own ]
We'll Take That Alternative Fuel ???

There are ALTERNATIVES. You may be interested
in this vast mosaic that took over three decades to develop.
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GASOLINE PRICES REACH U.S.AVERAGE OF $3.50+ [HOUSTON CHRONICLE NewsMail. Response by Howard Stern. 4/28/2008 Sugar Land, TEXAS.
Question?...
Do the Corporate and [including the Texas State Government Agencies] represent special interests, and not the interests of the public?
Do they really want new inexpensive Fuels to relieve the pain of the steadily higher prices at the Gas Pump?

There are too many people with vested interests in Texas and Florida. States who want the ''Status Quo'' and provide very little space for a small innovative company..
For the past six months (and many years before that period) I have been ''shouting in the wilderness'' and to major News Media that I have TECHNOLOGY and SYSTEMS to provide as much as 12+ Billion gallons* [U.S.] of CLEAN BioEthanol at less than half the price of corn and other grains used to produce ETHANOL. I spent more than 30 years in R&D. and now need to Partner. This is a Business that requires
massive skilled management teams who can move quickly to enter the markets and can operate on a worldwide basis. If (The Chronicle) wants to print the story in the public interest, and wants ''the rest of the story'' it is available. sternh@alltel.net Company is Not seeking funding for first commercial unit. Responses from Major U.S. International Companie(s) Only. Howard Stern

Posted by sternh at 11:58 AM : Apr 28, 2008

[ScotlandGuy]

A good article, and clearly we need something to help alleviate the growing cost of gasoline. I'm anxious to see what the eventual outcome will be: if large gas-drinking vehicles will just go away with time, or if gas will somehow be offered more inexpensively to the public.