Ideas for saving oil.

[GregW]

The base reality is all of these products can be made from cellulose and methane. The plants create the former by fixing atmospheric CO2 and the latter can be collected from anaerobic decay. These can be manipulated into darn near anything but require lots of energy and money. We could have an economy driven by nuclear power (full fuel recycle and breeding of new fissionable fuels) generated heat and electricity that uses plants and waster to provide the base materials currently supplied by oil.

Best way to save oil is to live a less material (fewer plastic bags) and energetic (way less electric energy) life and only drive locally (less gasoline or diesel) and when you really have to.

[slingshot]

Originally Posted by GregW

Best way to save oil is to live a less material (fewer plastic bags) and energetic (way less electric energy) life and only drive locally (less gasoline or diesel) and when you really have to.

This will never happen. People are too lazy and like things to be convenient to make any real effort.
The folks that are against hunting still eat meat and wear leather belts and shoes. The people that are against uses oil still drive from far out in the suburbs to downtown to work. Example: My next door neighbor is a book writing biologist with liberal political views and supports a greener lifestyle but he drives a large Cadillac and a big pick-up truck that pulls his 35' travel trailer that takes them to Mexico on vacation every winter, eats meat, and, because he hates squirrels, catches them and drowns them in a 55 gallon drum and he supports gun control but has 6 guns. He's about as hypocritical as they come and I doubt if he's the only one. Saving oil is not his cup of tea. Convenience is. If people want to save the planet, they would stop having babies. It all boils down to over-population.

[kapie9969]

I figured that saving money and doing something positive was a good idea.
I actually don't like plastic that much. I was reading an article about how even the so called approved drinking bottles leach something that is bad for you. I was looking for stainless storage containers and really wish things came in glass bottles.(drinks)
For cars, plastic just makes the car not last as long. Making cars lighter would be an argument for plastic.
I keep forgetting to go buy a good siphon from the truck stop, maybe that would be an easier way of getting gas out. Yes the newer cans blow.
I actually have lived near my work and could barely get my engine warmed up. I considered riding a bike, but consider it too dangerous. People are nuts! And high on many legal and illegal things.
Boy, I sure opened a can of worms with my post.

[sholomar]

Long commutes burn up a lot of fossil fuels. I do my part passively by having a commute that's 2.5 miles. Mind you I didn't do it because of the environment, but because of monetary and time (which is money) costs.

Making any product at all requires energy, regardless of whether it's made from plastic or metal. If anything making a plastic product probably requires less energy than melting down the metal, coating the metal with other metals to prevent rusting, etc.


I look forward to the day where we have both free energy and matter energy replication.. we can stop having to farm or raise cattle in mass number, eliminate factory farming, take the farmland and fill it with trees, and let technology take care of our food and energy needs. I do not fear technology and change, genetically modified food, etc. The problem of course will be the big multinationals, politicians, entertainers, and others who will all want their 'piece of the pie' .. free energy will probably never be 'free' because 'they' would lose 'their' source of control.