The Renewable Energy Blog

Can you believe the gall of Central Hudson Gas & Electric? With the huge hit everyone is getting from the inflated prices of oil and gasoline, obviously Hudson Valley as well, Central Hudson wants to increase their delivery charges just to give their customers one more kick in the pants.

Shame on them. The northern areas of the United States are already in fear of $4 per gallon plus home heating oil with the total oil bill increasing 60% over last year ($2.69 vs 4.29). That’s roughly an added $1600 per thousand gallons of oil. Electricity supply charges has jumped from roughly 7 cents per KWH to over 11 cents. This equates to about the same 60% increase. Do you think there’s going to be some issues heating homes this year for the lower middle class and poor? Yep.

Oil prices have entered a downward slide - for now. Would there be as much emphasis on energy right now if there wasn’t a Presidential election in progress? Yes? No? I guess if it is due to the election it can be regarded as a blessing to possibly jump-start the alternative energy movement a little faster.

A kick in the groin.

I for one am looking forward to the day when we have numerous choices for cooking, heating and electricity for our homes and businesses. Even vehicles.

How much influence does Big Oil have over our Government? The House of Representatives, The Senate, The judicial system and of course, the Vice President and President?

How much money are they receiving from lobbyists?

How much stock in oil companies do they own?

These factors affect how the government reacts to issues involving not only oil, but other forms of energy as well. Are some of the legislation that has passed in recent months really beneficial for our energy economy as a whole? Or is it a bone thrown to the American People to say, "Look, we’re doing something."

If the government truly wanted to do something to assuage our concerns they would be doing more than passing token legislation and seriously promoting the inventive, creative spirit that our country was built on. Not simply finding pathetic ways to "stretch" our oil usage out as long as it will last.

I’m not sure if the government’s individual connections with oil companies, and automobile companies for that matter, are available to the public, but they should be so we can make an attempt to keep them honest in their dealings. Remember, they are public figures. They work for us. We are their employers. We need to keep that in perspective. Look, if Pepsi finds an employee drinking or promoting Coca Cola they can be fired. Shouldn’t the government be held accountable too?

When will the madness end? Gasoline could be around $4.50 per gallon for the national average and certainly will be later this summer when refineries turn their attention to producing #2 home heating oil for the winter.

Oil executives were in front of Congress this week to answer questions about why oil has unprecedentedly skyrocketed. The answer they had was, supply and demand. It’s a market economy. They will sell oil at the highest rate possible, no matter what. As I’ve said before, this is capitalism at its best (or worst) depending on how you look at it. Tell me why the government will step in and break up a large company for being a monopoly, yet they don’t consider oil as a monopoly as far as energy is concerned? Obviously, there are a number of oil companies. Can’t do anything there. One basic answer is that companies can be national, but oil is trading globally. We don’t seem to have much leverage on a global scale. That was proven last week when President Bush visited Saudi Arabia and got nowhere.

To be brutally honest, we need to make full use of the oil fields, shale fields and oil sand fields we have. No matter where they are located. I love nature. But I want to survive too. If our nation is unable to invent and deliver a satisfactory supply of alternate energy supplies or means, aside from growing biodiesel which is proving to be more detrimental than helpful, we need to utilize what we have at our disposal. Whether its Alaska, the Mid-West or offshore. And if we need more refineries, the government needs to step in and use eminent domain. It sucks. But may be necessary.

Well, it’s official. The energy department will officially suspend shipments into the strategic oil reserves stockpile starting July 1. Is it a political move? You bet.

The 76,000 barrels of oil a day that was being sent to the reserves is a pitiful amount of oil compared to what we use as a country on a daily basis (21 million bpd). It will cause a brief blip in oil prices and quickly be swallowed up as prices continue to soar.

The only positive thing to note is that the strategic oil reserves are at 97% capacity, holding 701 million barrels of crude.

I guess this comes as no surprise. Why should they? They’re reaping incredible financial rewards and this only stands to go ever higher. Well, hey it is capitalism at its best - or worst - depending on how you look at it. We pay what the market will bear, right?

"Saudi Arabian leaders made clear Friday they see no reason to increase oil production until their customers demand it, apparently rebuffing President Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices." Quoted from an article by Jennifer Loven, at the Associated Press.

Meaning, Saudi Arabia is producing exactly the amount of oil necessary to supply what the demand is right now. Oil speculation is driving oil prices up from where it is predicted it should be at $80 per barrel (according to CNN) to the $127+ it is selling for on the market. This is legal energy price manipulation.

Oil right now is practically a monopoly with the way the world depends on it. When will the innovators break this monopoly?

Senate Democrats seems to think that pressure and threats will solve the problem. Right. Senate Democrats introduced a resolution that would block $1.4 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh agrees to increase its oil production by 1 million barrels per day. The answer to this is go to China or Russia and buy arms from them. Threats won’t work and certainly won’t solve our oil dependency issue.

And forget about biodiesel folks. We’ve seen what that does; raise food and meat prices because land that is usually used for food production for human and animal consumption is being used to grow crops, like corn, that will be turned into biodiesel, which, mind you, is causing gasoline prices to go even higher due to demand and production costs. If you do the math, it’s not working.