On The Matter Of Gasoline Electricity And Other Fuels

"I continue to be surprised--actually, I've come to the conclusion that most people don't see their electricity bills, which might well be just directly paid by your bank, while every time you fill your car, you remember when it might have once cost only 10"--that people keep complaining about the price of gasoline, but say nothing much about electricity. Mind you, gas prices have now decreased for five straight weeks, and will continue to tumble all summer, as crude oil dropped more than five bucks/barrel today. Yet, gasoline remains about a dollar higher today than a year ago.

Let's take Hawaii, which is the worst case national electricity scenario:

Oahu: 32.6 cents/kWh (article says 31.2)

Maui: 35.9 cents/kWh

Big Island: 41.8 cents/kWh

Kauai: 44.1 cents/kWh

The national average is 11.6 cents/kWh. Therefore, Hawaii residents pay 300% more for electricity. Gasoline? The average for the USA: 3.70/gallon (regular) and 3.95/gallon (premium).

Hawaii: 4.04/gallon (premium) and 4.19/gallon (premium). "(You can get these numbers by going to the right column and following directions".) Thus, Hawaii pays only 9% more for regular gasoline.

I do find it interesting that Hawaiian Electric Company reported that charging a Nissan Leaf between 9PM and 7AM (lowers rate by 6 cents/kWh) costs only 3.94, which is good for 100 miles. This means that it it is 75% cheaper to power an electric vehicle compared to an internal combustion engine vehicle using gasoline. This advantage is made considerably more attractive in the continental USA. In fact, with no discount, the 11.6 cents/kWh national average means that this electricity cost is only 2.11/100 miles. Yet, I remain convinced that, in the long term (considering that coal is largely used to generate electricity around the world, and will remain so for many decades), plus methanol is cheaper to produce than ethanol from biomass, that a biomethanol economy with the direct methanol fuel cell makes a lot more sense that a transport economy fueled by ethanol.

Which leads me to ethanol, an alcohol I might imbibe a bit too much of, but a fuel I've been deprecating for decades. "Everyone" today seems to think that ethanol from farm crops is stupid and worse...except for the Farm Lobby and farmers, especially from Iowa.

Yesterday, an attempt was made by Republicans in the Senate to reduce the federal budget deficit by eliminating the 45 cent/gallon tax credit for ethanol. Sixty votes were necessary, and only 40 supported this measure. Okay, so this was a staged Republican event, as Democrats control the Senate, so what did you expect? However, the fact that 59 Senators voted to maintain support for ethanol only shows how influential the Farm Lobby is, for, remember, no one of any virtue with credibility says anything good about this fuel. Are lobbyists that influential? (The correct answer is: YES!)

The first step in the presidential nomination process occurs on 6February2011 with the Iowa caucus. No candidate will say anything negative about ethanol until after that date. Michelle Bachman apparently did amazingly well yesterday in the New Hampshire debate. Mind you, she has some redeeming virtues, such as mother of five and foster parent for another 23, and, she raised 13 million for her 2010 congressional campaign, the most of anyone running for a House seat. Yet, the Obama administration must be salivating at the prospects of her become their opposition for she, simply, has a history of making idiotic statements, or not. Here is just one:

"6. "CARBON DIOXIDE IS PORTRAYED AS HARMFUL. BUT THERE ISN'T EVEN ONE STUDY THAT CAN BE PRODUCED THAT SHOWS THAT CARBON DIOXIDE IS A HARMFUL GAS."

Michelle Bachman

April 2099

Minnesota is famous for electing strange people into office.

Well, back to the subject of the day, there is no national energy policy largely because lobbyists determine the priorities. When you come down to it, of course, I have always blamed the lack of will on part of the people. Some noise about gasoline prices because we have an inherent distrust of oil companies, fear of nuclear power because of Fukushima and even opposition to wind power and geothermal energy. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a benevolent dictator (left, Yew Kuan Lee of Singapore, the closest the world has had to one) who wisely organized how sustainable resources should be developed as insurance against Peak Oil and a solution for Global Warming. Why can't we work together for our future? This is what this blogsite is all about and, in my more than three years of daily reportage, I'm afraid I've lost ground.

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The Dow Jones Industrials sunk 179 to 11,897, as did virtually all other world markets, except for Japan. Gold rose 6/toz to 1531, but oil fell the most I've seen in a long time: NYMEX down more than 5/barrel to 95 and the Brent Spot 6/barrel to 113.

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