Bad Gas
June 15, 2008
Like every American, the high price of gas at the pump concerns me. It seems like the price has been continually rocketing upwards with no end in sight. A few days ago, I asked myself, ‘What would make the price of gas go down?’ I came up with 3 answers: The global demand decreases, the global supply increases, or the US Dollar regains its value.
Global demand for oil has never been higher. With the emerging industrial super-giants of India and China growing larger each year, I cannot see global demand for gas shrinking anytime soon. Besides its use as a fuel, oil is also key in the production of the omnipresent plastics, something else people use everyday. As alternative energy sources are explored and embraced, global demand will slowly wean, but it will take years.
Global supply is currently strained as well. While OPEC claims to be near maximum output, the US also has a shortage of refineries, bottlenecking how much oil we can supply to our citizens. Many suggest we should develop the environmentally protected areas of Alaska for oil. While this is a solution, it is only short term. Oil is a legacy fuel. Building in Alaska is only investing in the past, and would require enormous amounts of effort to take off the ground in the first place.
Finally there is the US Dollar, based in health of the US economy (instead of gold). This leads to a circular problem. Gas is expensive because the dollar is weak. The dollar is weak because the US economy is weak. The US economy is weak because gas prices are high. Gas prices are high because the US economy is weak. So much of our economy is tied to oil. Airlines need it to fly, farmers need it for their farm equipment, truckers need it to transport goods, and everyone else uses it to get around. It’s as if the high prices of oil have trapped us in a never ending vortex of spiraling economic crises. Rural America depends on gas to get to work and to do their work. They have to raise the prices on their products if it costs more to produce their goods, which hurts the American consumer.
Recently, bio-fuels have taken off in popularity as the alternative fuel du jour. Not only are bio-fuels inefficient and dirty, they have also had unforeseen consequences. Farmers have shifted from the production of food-grade corn to fuel-grade corn, causing a corn shortage. This shortage has raised the price of food in the western hemisphere, causing violent riots. Bio-fuels are not the solution.
Hydrogen fuel is the future. Los Angeles is taking a step forward in aiding the in the adoption of Hydrogen fuel. There have been small efforts in other parts of the country, like White Plains, NY, primarily sponsored by Shell.
Unfortunately, hydrogen fuel faces the chicken and the egg problem: car manufacturers won’t mass produce hydrogen fueled cars until there are fuel stations to support them, but companies won’t make hydrogen fuel stations until car makers produce cars that run on hydrogen. Fortunately, GM and Shell have been making a concerted effort to normalize hydrogen fuel. GM’s hydrogen powered Equinoxsare usually accompanying Shell hydrogen fuel stations. A few months back at Rensselaer, GM demonstrated one of their hydrogen powered Equinoxs, and the people who did test drive it say it handled just like a normal car.
I say we embrace the future and adopt hydrogen fuels to rid our economy of the blight it currently faces thanks to oil.
-Mike