Gas prices: Who or what is to blame?

[Dingo Jellybean]

Even if a car could run on water, it would need to use like 10x more volume of water than gas. It simply not a very efficient form of energy. Not unless the car somehow becomes organic like a plant or something...but then there be more problems because of that...but eh.

[DocFrance]

Originally posted by Dingo_Jellybean
Even if a car could run on water, it would need to use like 10x more volume of water than gas. It simply not a very efficient form of energy. Not unless the car somehow becomes organic like a plant or something...but then there be more problems because of that...but eh.

Like the car devouring you alive? Yeah, that would suck.

A car running on water is just some far-fetched dream. In order for it to work, you'd literally need a cold fusion engine in your car. We're nowhere near creating cold fusion reactions (some say its even impossible), let alone one small enough to fit in an automobile and still be efficient. Hell, we can't even make a fission engine for a car!

If anything, I predict that if our oil resources over run out in the next 50-100 years, we'll be using a hybrid of electric power and ethanol to run our cars.

[Big D]

A car running on water is far-fetched, but hydrogen fuel cells have the handy advantage of producing no waste products except for water, definitely a plus I'd say, although I'm sure plenty of petroleum companies will make gloomy 'scientific' predictions about the effect they'll have on global humidity or something...

[xenapan]

Originally posted by Flying Mullet
One of the major problems with running an automobile on something as easy to obtain as water would be that there would be twice as many vehicles on the road as there are now as they are now easier/cheaper to run and maintain. Also, places like California that already borrow 3/4 or their water from the mountains to the east (Colorado, Utah, Nevada, etc...) would be in a real crunch as their water is already in short supply. Basically any state that is semi-arid would be in a bind.

uhhh... not really... only 4% of the water on the earth is clean enough to drink... we would need sea water powered cars that and the above... its time to stop relying on cars. lets go with the price hike!

[Flying Mullet]

Originally posted by xenapan
uhhh... not really... only 4% of the water on the earth is clean enough to drink... we would need sea water powered cars that and the above... its time to stop relying on cars. lets go with the price hike!

Yeah, but you have to have pure/clean clean water to run the vehicle. Just like your gas can't have crap in it, your water can't have crap in it as well.

[xenapan]

Originally posted by Flying Mullet
Yeah, but you have to have pure/clean clean water to run the vehicle. Just like your gas can't have crap in it, your water can't have crap in it as well.

fair enough... but where is all that clean water going to come from? and how you we going to clean it? :P hrm.... blue gold?:o

[Flying Mullet]

Originally posted by xenapan
but where is all that clean water going to come from? and how you we going to clean it?

I completely agree, that's why I made my point. Most people assume that running a vehicle on water would be a great thing but it wouldn't be much better than the current vehicles.

[Dr Unne]

A car running on water is far-fetched, but hydrogen fuel cells have the handy advantage of producing no waste products except for water --Big D

Bad thing about hydrogen, so far as I understand it, is that hydrogen can't be "mined" or collected like oil or other fuels. There aren't just huge underground pockets of hydrogen we can suck up and transport in tankers. Hydrogen has to be chemically extracted from other materials. And to do that takes power. Very likely we'd have to use traditional power plants to produce the hydrogen to run our cars. That'd take us back to square one. But I'm no expert in the field, so maybe I'm wrong.

[Segunn]

Yoy know i cannot believe you americans, crying about how much it costs per gallon of 'gas'. If you wanted to fill your car up here in britain it costs about £60 thats about $108. now ok thats not in gallongs but thats a *considerable* load of money to pay just to go to work or wherever, but also we now pay £5 to enter central london, and we also pay 17.5% VAT whilst you americans pay 8% i think. So now think about it, well i may have to pay $2 per gallon of fuel but those limeys pay for 4 weeks worth of fuel in one go.

EDIT: wait a sec i take that back, let me do some more calculations...

Edit by Big D: Watch your language, don't try to sidestep the profanity filter. Also, there's no need to attack "you Americans" just because their opinions and language are different to ours.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Originally posted by Dr Unne
A car running on water is far-fetched, but hydrogen fuel cells have the handy advantage of producing no waste products except for water --Big D

Bad thing about hydrogen, so far as I understand it, is that hydrogen can't be "mined" or collected like oil or other fuels. There aren't just huge underground pockets of hydrogen we can suck up and transport in tankers. Hydrogen has to be chemically extracted from other materials. And to do that takes power. Very likely we'd have to use traditional power plants to produce the hydrogen to run our cars. That'd take us back to square one. But I'm no expert in the field, so maybe I'm wrong.

Of course there is...just go to the sun and collect it...the sun's practically made of it(with some helium). But of course we need material strong enough to withstand 6000K.

[DocFrance]

Originally posted by Dingo_Jellybean
Of course there is...just go to the sun and collect it...the sun's practically made of it(with some helium). But of course we need material strong enough to withstand 6000K.

That's way too far-fetched. For one, you can't just "mine" from the sun - the hydrogen in the sun is continually undergoing extremely hot nuclear reactions. Like you said, we'd need material that could withstand the heats. Also, the sun is just too far away. I don't see anything like that happening within the next one, or maybe even two hundred years. And even then, it just wouldn't be feasible. It's just way too far-fetched.

[War Angel]

Meh, I don't understand why everyone's so worried. There are so many forms of extremely powerful energies in the universe and on earth... we just have to find ways to harness them.

[Big D]

Good point, War Angel... but unfortunately, it costs money to research and develop new and better ways of making energy. Many companies will gladly destroy resources and environmental stability if it'll allow them to continue making money without having to endure the messy, costly business of 'changing things'.

[LH]

I'm torn on this. On one hand I have a big full-size 88 Blazer with a 350; a total gas-guzzling beast that eats as much gas as a Viper. My other vehicle is a MN-12 Cougar, which if anyone of you have ever owned one, you'll know that it's far from efficient, especially mine, which is the first year they made them. Nothing beats the roar of an American-made V8, but as cool as they are they're so totally inefficient and bad for all involved. I'm going to miss muscle cars and monster trucks, but they're not worth the hassle when you can get a 4-cylinder like an RSX or an S2000 that is still an amazing car, as well as more friendly on the environment.

Oh yeah, here's a thought - maybe Honda or Toyota could try making a hybrid car that isn't the ugliest thing on the road. Prius, Insight, they're ugly. The Civic Hybrid is even ugly, but it looks good compared to those other turds. I will never drive anything like that.

And another thought - premium is $1.99 a gallon where I live now, and minimum wage is $5.75 last time I checked. Before someone ignorantly comes in crying "you Americans, you Americans" he should do his homework and look at the cost of gas versus the cost of living, because I find I have little to no money left over after paying my stupid bills, and it's $60 dollars a week in gas that is killing me.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Originally posted by DocFrance
That's way too far-fetched. For one, you can't just "mine" from the sun - the hydrogen in the sun is continually undergoing extremely hot nuclear reactions. Like you said, we'd need material that could withstand the heats. Also, the sun is just too far away. I don't see anything like that happening within the next one, or maybe even two hundred years. And even then, it just wouldn't be feasible. It's just way too far-fetched.

I was just joking on that one.

Originally posted by LH
Oh yeah, here's a thought - maybe Honda or Toyota could try making a hybrid car that isn't the ugliest thing on the road. Prius, Insight, they're ugly. The Civic Hybrid is even ugly, but it looks good compared to those other turds. I will never drive anything like that.

The Honda Civic Hybrid is a pretty decent looking car, it looks just like a regular Honda Civic and drives pretty nice too.