I remember 19 cent-a-gallon gas . . .
. . . but that was almost 50 years ago, Since then, everybody has been bitching about how expensive gas is.
In the last couple of months (July and August 2005), the price of gas has gone over $3/gal. I'm making good money, so the price doesn't bother my budget, even if it does bother my German stinginess. I grant that it DOES hurt people who are living at the poverty level, and do need to get to work to earn the few bucks that keep them away from the manipulative nastiness of the Welfare system.
Gas costs over $6/gal. in Europe -- double what it does here -- and the costs of raw material and refining are pretty much the same. Love those European taxes!
Having executed the obligatory gripe about taxes and corproate greed (Stranded Oil & Friends are _NOT_ suffering!), I really want to talk about other sources of energy. Being a Science Fiction buff for about half a century now, one of the things that intrigues me is Fusion Power.
My memory (somewhat leaky around the edges) tells me that roughly every 5 years since 1960, the physics establishment has been saying that we would have on-line fusion power in about 10 years. Well, it didn't happen in 1970 (we could have used it htat year); nor in 1980; nor in 1990; nor in 2000 -- and not n 2005, that I can discover.
Wottinell happened to it? We dropped major change into building Tokamaks -- Russian designed magnetic confinement -- and gigabucks into Lasers -- American-designed inertial confinement. There aren't even any commercial pilot programs that I can discover, for making that Fusion energy that we have been promised faithfully for the last 45 years or so.
I am a little suspicious, in that I haven't heard anything in the last frew years -- have we abandoned it altogether? Are we going to continue to rely on a scarce natural resource that pollutes the air, warms up the planet, and funds terrorism?
A couple of years ago, somebody opined that gas would have to get over $4/gal before American driving habits would change appreciably. If that would get the government and the energy establishment (Stranded Oil...) off thier collective fundaments, maybe we should look forward to it.
Anything that would allow us to tell Hugo Chavez and the various oil magnates world-wide to take their greasy kid stuff and . . . eat it . . . would be a blessing for the whole world. So:
In the last couple of months (July and August 2005), the price of gas has gone over $3/gal. I'm making good money, so the price doesn't bother my budget, even if it does bother my German stinginess. I grant that it DOES hurt people who are living at the poverty level, and do need to get to work to earn the few bucks that keep them away from the manipulative nastiness of the Welfare system.
Gas costs over $6/gal. in Europe -- double what it does here -- and the costs of raw material and refining are pretty much the same. Love those European taxes!
Having executed the obligatory gripe about taxes and corproate greed (Stranded Oil & Friends are _NOT_ suffering!), I really want to talk about other sources of energy. Being a Science Fiction buff for about half a century now, one of the things that intrigues me is Fusion Power.
My memory (somewhat leaky around the edges) tells me that roughly every 5 years since 1960, the physics establishment has been saying that we would have on-line fusion power in about 10 years. Well, it didn't happen in 1970 (we could have used it htat year); nor in 1980; nor in 1990; nor in 2000 -- and not n 2005, that I can discover.
Wottinell happened to it? We dropped major change into building Tokamaks -- Russian designed magnetic confinement -- and gigabucks into Lasers -- American-designed inertial confinement. There aren't even any commercial pilot programs that I can discover, for making that Fusion energy that we have been promised faithfully for the last 45 years or so.
I am a little suspicious, in that I haven't heard anything in the last frew years -- have we abandoned it altogether? Are we going to continue to rely on a scarce natural resource that pollutes the air, warms up the planet, and funds terrorism?
A couple of years ago, somebody opined that gas would have to get over $4/gal before American driving habits would change appreciably. If that would get the government and the energy establishment (Stranded Oil...) off thier collective fundaments, maybe we should look forward to it.
Anything that would allow us to tell Hugo Chavez and the various oil magnates world-wide to take their greasy kid stuff and . . . eat it . . . would be a blessing for the whole world. So:
C'mon Fusion! (Hot or Cold :)
posted by Sam'l B. at
11:35 AM
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