http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos?hl=en
Today's topics:
* Gas futures fall 8% on report of less driving - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos/t/936e4d9375d40d15?hl=en
* Brake question - car pulls to the left - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos/t/5d3dfe8cb0ae6254?hl=en
* Stop Wasting Gas - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos/t/84f0a056a76753d7?hl=en
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TOPIC: Gas futures fall 8% on report of less driving
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos/t/936e4d9375d40d15?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, May 16 2011 4:57 am
From: "C. E. White"
"Ed Pawlowski" <esp@snetnospam.net> wrote in message
news:sLqdnXEid8GdBFHQnZ2dnUVZ_gOdnZ2d@giganews.com...
>
> "Charles Grozny" <n5hsr@comcast.net> wrote
>>>>
>>>> NEW YORK -- Gasoline futures tumbled almost 8% Wednesday after a
>>>> government report showed the strongest evidence yet that higher pump
>>>> prices are forcing Americans to drive less.
>>>> Oil also dropped back below the $100 mark.
>
>>>>
>>>> Gasoline futures had risen Tuesday on concerns that flooding could
>>>> impact some refineries along the lower Mississippi River, analysts
>>>> said.
>>>
>>> Supply/demand somethings don't change.
>>
>> But Gas prices haven't dropped a penny here.
>>
>> Charles Grozny
>>
>
> Here in CT, they dropped 3¢ last Friday, but jumped 6¢ on Tuesday to a new
> high this year. Present price $4.269
Yesterday at Costco regular was $3.759. In general prices have been edging
back down. The local paper had an article on gas prices and how speculators
had driven up the prices.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/15/1198728/analysis-speculators-fuel-climbing.html
(link will probably only work for a few days...
.......
"No oil shortage
"Although those numbers are stark, the numbers on supply and demand make it
clear that the high prices aren't coming from there. There is no shortage of
oil stocks by historical standards. There's an estimated 3 million to 4
million barrels per day of excess oil production capacity in the world
today. That's much more than when supplies were tight in 2008.
"U.S. crude oil stocks on April 29, the date oil peaked this year above $113
a barrel, stood at 1.768billion barrels, according to the Energy Information
Administration. That's about 700,000 barrels more than in July 2008, when
oil prices hit all-time highs.
"And that's plenty to meet U.S. needs, because consumption isn't growing.
"The United States consumed 20.68 million barrels per day in 2007. Then came
the financial crisis, and consumption dipped to 19.5million bpd in 2008.
Last year, the number was 19.5million bpd. This year's projection is 19.28
million bpd.
"So if supplies are plentiful and consumer demand isn't rising, why are
prices?
"Could it be that refineries aren't able to produce enough gasoline? No.
Refiners are running their plants at below cruising speed, and they've got
lots of room to produce more if consumers need it.
"The latest data from the EIA on the rate at which refineries are utilized
showed a rate of 79.8 percent in February. That's 20 percentage points below
full-blown production. The last time the rate was lower: 1986. If demand for
gasoline was soaring, these plants would be cranking at a higher rate.
"Though evidence of speculation is increasingly obvious, the facts haven't
yet been acknowledged enough to force corrective regulatory action.
......
Read more:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/15/1198728/analysis-speculators-fuel-climbing.html
My advice remains the same - buy less gas. This will stick it to the
speculators better than anything Congress can or will do.
Ed
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TOPIC: Brake question - car pulls to the left
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos/t/5d3dfe8cb0ae6254?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Tues, May 17 2011 11:42 pm
From: jw@myplace.com
Recently when I step on my brakes, the car pulls to the left. This
pretty much tells me it's a front brake. But I'm puzzled over how to
determine which brake is bad. Does the car pull TOWARD or AWAY FROM
the bad brake? I've been trying to rationalize this and everytime I
think I got it figured out, I think I have it backwards.
Which way is it?
The car pulls to the left, is the left or the right brake the bad one?
(Yes, I will check both of them, but I'd like to rip apart the problem
one first).
Thanks
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TOPIC: Stop Wasting Gas
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos/t/84f0a056a76753d7?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, May 18 2011 12:07 am
From: jw@myplace.com
On Wed, 4 May 2011 08:40:44 -0700 (PDT), 4poster <vocatus@bigfoot.com>
wrote:
>And how about those huge gas guzzling trucks, to say nothing of
While I completely favor saving gas, I drive a truck, because I'm a
farmer. Somehow I cant see myself pulling a 5 ton load of hay, or a
stock trailer full of cattle or horses, with a high milage mini car.
Also, living in a rural area in the northern US, requires 4WD. No car
is going to get in and out of my farm roadway on winter, ir when
things get muddy.
Some of us have no choice.
Actually, I thought I'd save money on gas when I bought a small car
and still had my truck. Yea, the car used less gas, but I had double
the repair costs, double the insurance, double the tires and batteries
needed, double the license plate fees, etc. Not to mention that it
seemed everytime I'd take the car (which I could only use in the warm
weather months), I'd always end up having to haul some farm equipment,
or a load of firewood, or something, and I'd have to drive all the way
home, then drive the truck back to where I was. In the end, I was not
saving anything.
You city folks who only use a car to transport yourself and a bag of
groceries, can easily drive a small car. Actually you can (and
should) take public transportation. But on a farm, we MUST have a
truck, adn these trucks need power to haul all the stuff we haul. Now
the thing is that GM, Ford, Chrysler and all the other auto makers
need to make these trucks more fuel efficient, but there are limits.
To get the needed horsepower, takes fuel and lots of it.
I have had thoughts on this, and one of them was to have a 8 cylinder
engine, but have a 4cyl mode. When the truck is just being used to
drive around without any load, it would only use 4 cylinders, but when
it was pulling a load or using 4WD, it would switch to using all 8.
Another thing is the gear ratio. Trucks havbe a low ratio for power.
They need to have a means to switch between high and low.
Yet, I'll go one step further. I think the internal combusion engine
is obsolete. We need a new power source. Electric cars are limited
in use. The batteries are very costly and polluting. Solar power is
a start, but they are similar to electric. Hydrogen power has never
taken off, (is this because the oil companies would allow it?).
I dont have the answer, but we need to rethink transportation from the
beginning.
Of course, living on a farm, I do have the option to ride a horse, and
sometimes I do just that.
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