As smart as we are, does anyone think we already have technology to eliminate the need for oil? Why aren't we

Question

using it?

I've always thought it was a conspiracy we dont' have better fuel efficient cars on the road. See below: Are we being screwed by big oil?

I found this news article:

To find the future of the auto industry, Doug Pelmear looked to the past. He says he's perfected an engine developed by his grandfather 60 years ago; an engine that gives this 1987 mustang 110 miles to the gallon.

Doug Pelmear says, "My grandfather had the idea back in the 40's that he can make a difference then. There was quite a need at that time also with the war going on and everything; there was quite the need then."

So, Pelmear, a mechanic in Napoleon, has been tweaking this engine for the past 10 years, squeezing out the maximum amount of power for a minimum amount of gas.

Doug says, "This'll bring back the automotive industry when they can sell trucks and SUVs' and the models that are almost dead at this time."

Answer 1

Gasoline works very well for what we use it for, and that's why we have used it for so long, and for the longest time we took it for granted because the West was the major consumer of oil. There was more of it available and less demand for it, so it was more inexpensive and more of it. However, there are people of Asia (including India) that are buying their first cars, and more people have access to cars now that India and China are doing really well economically, so that's increasing their need for gas since more of their people have money for cars. So oil really does run the world market, and whenever it goes up in price everything that is transported goes up as well.

With that said, there were only a finite amount of dinosaurs that lived, so although there has been a great deal amount oil from fossil fuel, it's not unlimited. So the automotive industry is going to have no choice but to make more fuel efficient cars and oil companies are virtually forced into developing alternative fuel sources. That's why they've been putting ethanol in gasoline, but with the flooding in the Mid West, corn prices are increasing, so Ethanol increases as well. That's pretty much a double-whammy on the US economy, which is already weakening as it is.

I'm sure it's possible to make cars even more fuel efficient, but they will have to be lighter and won't be able to go as fast. We're all used to doing 80 MPH on the freeway and we love that power. If car companies were to make a car with an MPG that exceeds 100, it certainly wouldn't go so fast and it would have to be lighter, therefore more fragile. That's great if a car can get 110 MPG, but what chance of survival will the people in it have if they have a collision? A car with 110 MPG would be a tin can on wheels. Fuel efficeny isn't the only concern the automotive industry has to look at when creating the cars of the future; people still have to be able to get around and transport whatever it is they're carrying or hauling.  

So while we probably have it in us to create cars with even greater fuel efficiency, it wouldn't put large cars back on the market (trucks and SUVS). More fuel efficiency will come with lighter and smaller cars; and ultimately, we really have no choice but to make the fuel transition from oil to something that not only we can produce for ourselves (in regards to the USA), but also, something that can be maintained.

Answer 2

Because way to many people that work drilling for oil would be jobless and the owners would be broke... and then the government wouldn't be able to take their money.

Answer 3

Profit

Answer 4

Big Oil really does run the world.  They have so much economic power that they can eliminate any threats to their monopoly.

For example, consider Saudi Arabia.  If we even hinted that we would try to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the Saudis could say, "Fine, then we're yanking our support for the U.S. and we'll let everyone in OPEC trade oil in Euros instead of dollars".   That would devastate us!

I remember reading that Henry Ford, inventor of the Model-T, originally designed it to run on oil made from hemp.  The oil companies objected, and he was forced to re-engineer the auto.  His famous remark was, that if knew who really controlled America, we'd rebel against them.

Think of this scenario:  if an asteroid was hurtling toward earth, and it would reach us in three years, do you really think the government wouldn't have a "Manhattan Project"-type of program to try and destroy it?  Sure, we have the technology, and we have for many years... just read about Henry Ford.

Answer 5

link, please? I'd love to see that.

Answer 6

It comes down to money and power. Exxon made the most money every in the past few years. With that money they have put roadblocks everywhere to avoid us from using alternative energy. We have had biomass fuels for over 100 years, but every time we wanted to use it instead the oil companies would just produce more oil to lower the cost.

Answer 7

if it were that easy we would be using it

Answer 8

Because we live in a fasicist nation were companys control the goverment and no one controls the companys.