U.S. Gas Prices: Saving on Fueling Our Modes of Transportation

I just received an e-mail today forwarded to me from a family member talking about the high gas prices. An engineer thought of taking back our power from the oil industry by boycotting Exxon/Mobile and getting everybody to stop getting gas there until the gas prices drop back down to under $2.

His idea is that this will force them to drop the gas prices back down or go out of business. As a single mom with a great full time job that lives paycheck to paycheck with a car worth $800 or less, the idea has merit. It's certainly worth thinking about. Somebody needs to do something to gain control of this situation.

According to the "Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae" report by Michael Briggs at the Univeristy of New Hampshire's Physics Department (http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html) America spends roughly $100 - $150 billion every year buying oil from other countries. This alone has placed a great economic strain on our country. Gas prices are up to $4.00 in America and society is in a panic. Financial strains are running rampant.

There are many Internet marketers who are advertising alternative methods of fueling personal transportation. Approximately two-thirds of all oil use in the United States is used primarily for transportation. Developing alternative ways to power vehicles just might be the next big investment or invention if it's done right. And why not? Perhaps breaking the chains that the oil industry has so tightly wrapped around America could be just what we need to boost our economy back up and make our dollar worth something again.

I heard about a guy on the Discovery Channel in recent years who invented a motorcycle powered by water. The producing staff and an independent mechanic went to this guy to take a look for themselves. The mechanic attested that there were no fuel power sources. The guy filled his motorcycle up with tap water and the mechanic and producer took it for a drive. They say it worked and actually had plenty of speed. Oddly, this didn't make the headlines and nothing has been heard about the guy since. I'm no expert, but I've heard that water injection has been used in vehicles since the 1950s.

An inventor in France has apparently come up with "the air car" and it is supposedly in production in India and the UK.

There are groups, such as the University of New Hamshire's Physics Department, across the United States that are working on technology for growing algae in ponds and turning it into biodiesel. Their theory is that the best alternative to oil is biodiesel, a fuel that can be used in existing diesel engines and is made from vegetable oils or animal fats rather than petroleum. Apparently they don't have enough government funding to improve this technology. Perhaps we need to put some motivation on the American Government to invest in researching alternative methods to powering automobiles and breaking the chains of the oil industry. I bet that within the next year, some of these or other ideas or inventions will take form. And it's about time.

Sources:

http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/biodiesel.html
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html