How can the US reduce it's overall consumption of oil?

Question

Other than ethanol and heavy government intervention, what alternatives, programs, or incentives can we use to reduce our consumption of oil drastically?

Answer 1

I don't think the US will ever reduce our oil consumption until the shortage of oil reduces our oil consumption.

Answer 2

A heavy tax on gasoline.

Answer 3

i guess biofuel can help.

or the other invented chemicals fuel from the overpopulated animals or plants like janitor fish. i herd in the tv that a certain students invented it and discover.

Answer 4

Bike time!

Answer 5

more effiecient transmisions in cars most cars max out their power band at less than 40 mph.  This isn't just because of oil companies Safety n***s don't want you going fast either and if you do you end up paying for it in useing more gas but most people are going to go fast anyway.

Anyway  anyone who drives a big honking *** truck with little other reason than they have ego issues,  especially the ones that want to ***** about the cost of fuel should have to pay a luxury tax on that c**p

more efficeint funaces and windows insulation and that sort of stuff in houses.

More education too thats the important thing,  while yes their are options out there none of them are easily adaptable shure there are people on the net who will try and sell you on electrolosis cars this and electric cars that.  Most of the people marketing that stuff don't realise how impractical it is cause they are so well to do that they are naive to reality I mean lets face it who has a half million dollars or what ever to throw down on a tesla roadster ok so lets drive an EV brand X  get a 15 mile cruising range and tops out at 25 mph and looks like **** and has a $20 thosand dollar pricetag on something that is lil more that a golf cart.  

There are allot of fraudulent people out there too if you really care about the earth and you invented this amazing thing to run a car power station cetra off of water why not share it.

every credible source i seen says its not possible.  

And also why didn't as someone else put china do it already

There is one thing i saw that looked like it might work really well in about a century if people actually put the effort and funding  into it now is complimentary systems.

   IE waste gas from coal plant feeds system that grows algal biomass to produce biomass to make diesel with

two problems with that set up though you cant stuff 400+ degree exhaust through water and expect anything to grow in it you need to cool it first also puting it thtough the water will choke out the powerplant that is producing the exhaust in the first place.

Second issue biomass to grow that much algae you can expect barrels of biomass to materialize out of water even with exhaust in it need fertilizers and organic compounds to feed them.

nother problem pessing oil out of single celled organisms would take allot of energy.

Great accroym  EROI

energy return on investment

fossil fuels took millions of years to produce getting crushed under the ground most of that time.  

finding an  system that is both efficient easy to integrate and cheap ie pays for it self & is capable of producing work energy to use lets face it no one wants to spend to save a planet they don't think could die out in their lifetime.  And well the next generation well **** them let them fix the problems i left them.

If you look up free energy movement youll see all kinds of jackassy contraptions called perpetuall motion machines try and integrate anything usable into any of em and they fall to c**p nothings free in this life or anyothers for that matter

Oh and the biggest way and I'm not shure but maybe the only option is people are just going to have to make sacrifices and go w/o certain stuff.

Bike  ='s shitlaods of Mpg that sort of thing

not seting your thermostat to 85 in the winter and 45 in the summer that kind of c**p

Answer 6

Coal and nuclear power.  The USA is known as the "Saudia Arabia of Coal" because of the estimated 800-year supply in its coal reserves.  Coal can be used as feedstock for liquid fuels and manufactured gas.

Answer 7

Deregulate and allow the market to build nuclear powerplants.  Zero emmissions.  Then we could produce hydrogen from the electricity.  Again zero emmissions and no oil.

Clean air, and nothing has to be imported.

Guess which party doesn't like nuclear power though.  Hint:  the ones that claim to love the environment.

Answer 8

very simple.

restricting or forbidding registering and use of those cars in public that:

has over 2 liter engine

weights over 1500 kilos

aint no-ones life gonna end to it. the cars in europe are mostly 1-2 liter engines and weight 700-1200 kilos, and we are doing just fine. no need to use buses if one doesnt want to

Answer 9

A huge investment in a mix of different clean renewable energy such as solar, wind, geothermal, small hydroelectric, and maybe landfill gas.

Another way that is a one-size-fits-all plan  is heavy emphasis on energy and fuel efficiency and using less.  Also choosing walking, bicycling, and public transportation would be even better.

Answer 10

Using oil in the states, replacing oil electric companies with geothermal, solar and wind generating plants, using hydrogen fuel cells, govt. rebates on hybrids, on and on.

There is a lot we could be doing. We just need someone in office (not taking sides, but only democrats would do much) to carry on with these plans.

Answer 11

Reducing our use of plastics would cut down on billions of barrels of petroleum a year. Reinvesting in glass with recycle programs and using cotton bags instead of plastic would be a good start.

We have become a throw away society, things are made to use for awhile, then throw it away. We need to conserve and reuse more.

Answer 12

we can make our own oil from sewage, trash, or any organic material

this would mean no more landfills putting toxins in the ground

no more drugs in our waterways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tro...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/03/...

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energ...

http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_B...

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Kk5...

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/30...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/04/...

this process only cost about $90 a barrel.

if we undercut petroleum oil it would drive down the high oil prices.

as this would be competition.

that we dont have with just petroleum oil .

Answer 13

First it has to believe that it is a good idea to cut consumption, then, restrict imports of oil, gas, coal.

Then restrict extraction.

The initial restriction of importation is to cut outflows of money to buy it, but also to ensure that people quickly get the message that this has to mean reduced consumption.

The problem thus far is that people do not accept that the supply is finite and declining.