Ed brings up some strong points. First, for those that have the time or interest in these matters, market forecasts for fuel futures have been talking about how much crude may go up for at least 1-2 years now. Yes, it is partly market driven; look at the oil company profits. It is also driven by demand. Mainland China is sucking up all the oil they can buy. Our demand has not dropped either.
Also, Ed mentions other things that are affected by higher oil prices. Next time you are at CostCo, or Best Buy, and buy that pretty something or another there, in that big heavy gauge plastic vacuum packaging, think of how that could have been fuel in your tank. Plastic is a direct product from oil, with no realistic substitutes. Would you rather have that fancy packaging or oil? Or, what gets me, is people buying cantaloupes or some other fruit or vegetable that has "nature's" packaging, and then they double or triple bag it in those plastic bags the grocery store provides in the produce section. Why? Aren't you going to wash it anyhow before you eat it? Peel it before you eat it? More plastic in our waste dumps instead of oil for our fuel tanks.
As to bio-diesel, this is good technology that works, a great alternative, although I cannot use it in my rig as it will void the CAT's warranty, 10 years, but if I could, I'd be squeezing corn right now!
And Old's is right. In the '70's many cars were made with 4 cylinders, but by the early '80's many small cars were offered with a modest 6 cylinder, which produced more and smoother power, and all for about the same gas mileage. And a stock Jeep Wrangler gets HORRIBLE gas mileage. The short gears, shaped like a pig farmer's wife, and heavy for it's size. (3880 lbs) My '05 Denali gets better gas mileage than my '04 Jeep! The car I don't get is my Volvo C70 C turbo. Gets the same mileage as the Denali. You would think it got 50% better (30mpg) but it doesn't.
