[vision-master]

“mood point.” lol

[Newfie]

I no longer contribute to my retirement fund, the money I was putting there goes towards being debt free, good quality milspec firearms, and "junk" silver.

That makes two of us. I have enough firearms so mine goes into prepping the boat. I'm already debt free.

[Oilguy]

INCIDENT: Towards the end of last year, the European Commission presented its new energy strategy for the next decade, calling for investment of €1 trillion in the EU’s energy network, among a series of other measures. Leading Eurocrats hope that an EU energy summit scheduled for next month in Budapest will endorse the proposals and give them some political traction.

SIGNIFICANCE: The new energy strategy is a set of normative proposals that depend upon the member-states, the private sector, and other EU organs such as the European Parliament (EP) for clarification and implementation.

BACKGROUND: The first EU energy “action plan” was formulated in 2006 and was then endorsed in May 2007 by a summit at the level of heads of state and government. That summit called upon the European Commission (EC) to elaborate a new action plan for the decade now beginning. The action plan now expiring has given birth to a number of initiatives, including a series of proposals for liberalization of the energy sector and unbundling electricity production from the provision to consumers, a “climate and energy” package targeting conservation and renewable energy as well as emissions trading, and a “strategic energy technology plan” intended to improve cooperation between the EU and its member-states in research and development of low-carbon technologies.

Last November, the EC presented its proposed “Europe 2020” strategy, based upon feedback from the EU ministers in May to the EC’s first suggestions made in March. The EU ministers agreed in May that the new action plan should be ready for summit-level endorsement in a year’s time from the presentation of the original draft, i.e., by March 2011. This is the meeting that Hungary, the current president-in-office, intends to be a flagship and showcase for its presidency, which lasts for six months during the first half of the new calendar year. The new action plan’s major priority is energy efficiency, although it does not yet establish how to measure improvement. Another priority is to better integrate the all-European energy market, especially the electricity and natural gas markets.

BOTTOM LINE: The EC wishes to make its energy efficiency goals binding upon the member-states while encouraging industry to participate in energy audits. It does not say where the €1 trillion investment that it is calling for will come from. It stresses the role of innovation, but China and the US are already overtaking the EU in wind power and solar markets. The EP’s insistence on complete unbundling of electricity production from electricity transmission was not satisfied.

The focus on energy efficiency in particular lacks concrete measures. There is a palpable sentiment in some European political circles in favor of reducing total energy consumption, but these do not directly connect it with the question of how to sustain economic growth, besides suggesting that small and medium enterprises concerned with energy efficiency technologies might flourish. Increasing competition through unbundling is one way the EC sought to address the issue. It had wished to force companies owning both electricity generation and transmission facilities to sell one or the other. A compromise option was then included whereby energy producers could retain their assets but give up management control. Even that was not satisfactory for France and Germany, which successfully insisted that former state monopolies could retain ownership of their energy grids under external supervision. Companies would be able still to govern commercial and investment decisions, but the transmission networks themselves would operate independently.
Full article at: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Gener ... o-Approve-€1-Trillion-Master-Energy-Plan.html

[dissident]

including a series of proposals for liberalization of the energy sector and unbundling electricity production from the provision to consumers

Monetarist voodoo at its finest. We had this grand experiment in Ontario from the 1990s when Harris the neocon broke up Ontario Hydro into separate generation and transmission companies. This fine example of the stellar intellect of monetarists has resulted in nothing but price increases without any increase in capacity. We went from one efficient monopoly with a directive to invest its profits in new generation and transmission capacity to a set of inefficient monopolies pretending to be free market profiteers who need to appease their shareholders. One supplier and one distributor does not make a competitive market. This was not like the break up of AT&T, but even that failed in the long run.

In fact, Enron is a good demonstration of what you get with this "liberalization". Playing games instead of actually investing in new capacity, either generation or transmission. The EU-rocrats have screwed themselves over. There ain't going to be any new electricity producers sprouting like mushrooms and as sure as hell there won't be many transmission companies. Sorry, but a few windmills and solar panels here and there are just not significant enough to create many comparably sized companies delivering some optimal price to the consumer. What we will have is what is happening here in Ontario and European countries, where overpriced boutique electricity is going to be foisted on the consumer because we all love the environment so much.

If we loved the environment we would ban the burning of fossil fuels and develop a massive fast neutron breeder network and electrify transportation (e.g. Hydrogen). That requires lots of capital and not backyard rinky dink "competitors".

[Dreamtwister]

Well...at least they have a plan...

[SeaGypsy]

The only way to justify continued borrowings is to aim at a stable state economy in a reasonable time frame. Once stable state has been reached(?) interest rates will be negligable and inflation non existent.
Until one of these plans talks directly to this point, the debt clock keeps ticking faster, economicly and ecologicly. I am yet to see any serious government report talk about urgently getting as near as possible to a zero consumption growth, zero oil, stable state economy. They all seem to go with IEA figures suggesting near 50% energy provision from oil in 2050. This is fantasy land.

[americandream]

The only way to justify continued borrowings is to aim at a stable state economy in a reasonable time frame. Once stable state has been reached(?) interest rates will be negligable and inflation non existent.
Until one of these plans talks directly to this point, the debt clock keeps ticking faster, economicly and ecologicly. I am yet to see any serious government report talk about urgently getting as near as possible to a zero consumption growth, zero oil, stable state economy. They all seem to go with IEA figures suggesting near 50% energy provision from oil in 2050. This is fantasy land.

Growth and steady state economics are incompatible. Try as they may, capital's natural tendency to apply itself to the extraction of any and all surplus will overwhelm all naive notions of equilibrium.

[M_B_S]

High US guys be lucky over there, we have to pay 10$/Gallone super fuel here in Europe/Germany


http://gasoline-germany.com/statistik.phtml?changeto=EN

But be sure when Europe pays 10$/ Gallone it is only a matter of time that you have to pay 5$ per Gallone



PEAK OIL!

M_B_S

[dolanbaker]

Germany's cheap, just look what some of us have to pay!

http://www.fuel-prices-europe.info/index.php?sort=4

Norway € 1.995 a litre,
don't know what the US gallon price is but almost €2 a litre is painful!
It's rapidly rising to €1.60 in Ireland.

Meanwhile over there in the US it's dirt cheap!
U.S.A € 0.716

[Keith_McClary]

High US guys be lucky over there, we have to pay 10$/Gallone super fuel here in Europe/Germany

But be sure when Europe pays 10$/ Gallone it is only a matter of time that you have to pay 5$ per Gallone

PEAK OIL!

M_B_S

Don't worry, we will soon eliminate the "above ground factors" in Iran, like we did in Iraq and Libya. Then oil will be cheap and plentiful and we will be back to happy motoring.

[bratticus]

http://gasoline-germany.com/statistik.phtml?changeto=EN

Regular 91 Octane? Over here that's mid-range.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_d-XBbudZI

Meanwhile how do you get $10/gallon?

91 Octane is 1,649 €/Litre
1.65 EUR = 2.16774 USD
2.16774 * 3.7854118 = 8.2057885

$8.20/gallon.

[M_B_S]

The truth lies in the definition of a Gallon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallon

The gallon is a measure of volume. Historically it has had many different definitions, but there are three definitions in current use: the imperial gallon (≈ 4.546 l) which is used in the United Kingdom and semi-officially within Canada, the United States liquid gallon (≈ 3.79 l) and the lesser used United States dry gallon (≈ 4.40 l). The gallon, be it the imperial or US gallon, is sometimes found in other English-speaking countries.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallone


M_B_S

[Mesuge]

?Seriously, it's still cheap almost as dirt..
And talking about cars your are hauling mostly empty air and gargantuan steel box around you on top of that.

Recalculate the price of gasoline as the % of your income per month, then compare the energy density of burned 1L of gasoline to meanigfull energy workload done e.g. by adult miner per day/month. The simple result is that avg. west european is living like a king with vast pool of subjects/slaves at his pleasure seeking disposal.

I've done the numbers quite time ago, but if I recall it correctly it was like dozens of full time workers just for the daily commuter trip.. Now add the rest of your consumption magically appearing in front of you in the following: food, water, medical care, hygiene, leasure, .. and we are touching the hundred levels.

Btw. very high income societies like Norway should have ditched the wastefull ICE at least for commuting purposes long ago, I know you have got large import/vat taxes, but that's not an excuse. Get yourself PHEV or EV, plug at night into the grid or into the hydro stream. Problem solved at least for the lifespan of the batterypack. However, for some reason Norway has sunked bln. in public support in various EV projects with little lasting result, the dutch disease?

[M_B_S]

http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

(US - Gallon)

Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update

Gasoline Release Date: February 13, 2012 | Next Release Date: February 21, 2012
********************

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/co ... -increases

Over the next few weeks, drivers will definitely see the price at the pump creep closer and closer to $4 a gallon, possibly even over $4 a gallon by late April.
With no end in sight, some say it may just have an effect on the Presidential election in November.

“I feel like we can’t pump gas anymore, I feel like we’re going to ride bicycles or move to a village, it’s really hard, like every day it’s going up,” said a man pumping gas.

Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/co ... z1muPscths
***************************************

You are angry about 4$/ Gallon....... interesting.

Pay 10$/Gallon and you know what pain is.

PEAK OIL!

M_B_S

[bratticus]

Pay 10$/Gallon and you know what pain is.

Don't you mean "gallone"? Besides 91 Octane is already $99.578 gellonios[1]

I'm afraid it's not fair to compare regular gas at 87 Octane with 10% ethanol to regular petrol at 91 Octane with no ethanol. Naturally the real gas cost more than the one with filler.

-------
1. gellonios, see http://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gellonio

[JohnRM]

Well, what else did you expect? You're on a peak oil site, so...

[ralfy]

Don't forget to look at ave. or min. wage as well. For example, in some countries, it's around $4 a gallon but so's daily min. wage. And that's the wage for the whole day, not per hour.

[dolanbaker]

Don't forget to look at ave. or min. wage as well. For example, in some countries, it's around $4 a gallon but so's daily min. wage. And that's the wage for the whole day, not per hour.

In Ireland it currently takes a minimum wage earner 10 minutes to earn the price of a litre of petrol, that's about 40 minutes to earn a gallon. It's easy to see why commuters will be screwed, the range the low wage earners can drive is shrinking!

[ralfy]

From what I remember, around 60 pct of the world's population earn only around two dollars daily, and up to 85 pct less than 10 dollars a day.

[M_B_S]

Fuel riots for UK are predicted:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... -duty.html

A HUGE march will descend on Parliament ahead of next month's Budget — to demand a cut in petrol prices.
*************************
The massiv fuel price riot is underway...



Dejavu:
http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/A735022

PEAK OIL!

M_B_S