http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6278120.stm

I found this story interesting for several reasons. For one, did you realize that Iran makes their own cars? And that they made a million cars last year???

Also, did you know that Iran has to import 40% of its gasoline? They recently started rationing it. They are going to start buying it from Venezuela? And that the government subsidizes the price of gas so it costs citizens only 34 cents a gallon?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/world/middleeast/04iran.html?_r=1&em&ex=118369 4400&en=29bf8c0ce1230130&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin

Anyway, the idea that Iran will be manufacturing propane-burning (LPG) cars is quite interesting, isn't it?

Andrew

Extremely interesting!

Being close to the source, I'll bet they understand this dynamic better than most.

LP is a very viable means of powering cars. So is alcohol, bio diesel, and other things. The biggie is infrastructure. Reminds me of Brazil and their transition to largely alcohol burning cars, began in the 80's.

I fear the need to make money every fricking quarter will cause us to wait until it's gonna be way too expensive to do our buildouts, unless we put incentives in place to get this done.

(Which I am quite happy to pay for, BTW.)

Brazil car run alcohol burning cars, because they have a very large surplus of organic matter they can turn into alcohol.

We could do that, if you want corn or potatoes to triple in cost.

"We could do that, if you want corn or potatoes to triple in cost."

At least we gain control of the resource, and profits go to farmers (or corporate agribusiness) instead of Middle Eastern terrorist-sponsoring regimes or Big Oil.

Corn today is first of all subsidized by the US government which is why it is so cheap. And second, to grow corn and other crops as efficiently and cheaply as we do today (far more so than 50 years ago) requires chemical fertilizers that are created from petrolium. This is why today's ethanol in the US costs more to produce than it can be sold for.

So before we talk realistically about replacing oil in the US with some other alternative fuels, we need to think through the economics of producing them.

Iran, FYI, has huge supplies of natural gas in addition to oil which is why they can move to LPG cars economically.

Andrew

We can be self sufficient in energy, but there is a cost. Not always in money. We have enough shale oil to run things for hundreds of years, but extracting it is both exensice in dollars, but also in affecting the environment.

We can also build more nuclear plants, more windmills, more solar plants, etc. I have always felt there is no one answer, but several answers to our energy problems.

Here are some links you might find interesting:

http://greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35376

and

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/03/subaru-sells-100-000-pzevs-and-sends-not hing-to-the-dump-for-thr/

You're right, Nwokie, there are multiple requirements for energy independence and many alternatives. It's not just the type of energy we use, it's energy efficiency, energy use. For example, today there's absolutely no penalty for drivers driving gas guzzling SUVs. Even the increasing price of fuel hasn't deterred their use much. I think people should definitely be allowed to drive SUVs but people should pay for the privelege of wasting so much energy.

I also think we need to rethink where energy is used and how we tax its use. Much more polution is created in cities, and a lot of gas is wasted simply sitting in city traffic jams, so we should make city drivers pay more to drive than rural drivers. As compensation, we should build efficient, useful rapid transit systems in cities (I'm not talking about a slow poke like Portland's MAX, I'm talking about REALLY good transit systems that are fast, that people will want to use). People scream bloody murder whenever someone mentions GPS tracking of cars (as Oregon was only in the early stages of playing with), but it's a fair way to tax drivers and should at least be considered.

Anyway, America needs real debate about the alternatives for energy sources and energy efficiency. But as of now, there is little debate. Official government policy is focused mostly on securing reliably sources of oil, leaving the rest to private industry. America desperately needs to make some choices about energy before it's far too late.

Andrew