Earlier this week the Obama administration, now the effective owner of the U.S. automobile industry, put Detroit on notice that it has 30-60 days to come up with a believable plan to “restructure” itself or it goes into bankruptcy.
Tag: vehicles
The Peak Oil Crisis: Renovating Suburbia
There has been a lot written lately about the coming demise of America’s suburbs. The general thesis is that without cheap fuels for cars, lawnmowers and heating, suburban living will become untenable.
The Peak Oil Crisis: Cars – Redux
I hate to keep coming back to cars, but in the last hundred years they have come to be one of the most significant facets of civilization – yet their future is in doubt.
The Peak Oil Crisis: Assessing $200 Oil
Three months ago anyone talking about $200 oil was considered a fear monger, or worse, but things happen fast these days. In the intervening period, oil prices have risen by nearly $40 a barrel and show no signs of stopping. All of a sudden it has become fashionable to start […]
The Peak Oil Crisis: Transiting to Transit
With crude oil now above $120 a barrel and threatening to go higher, it is clear that our preferred and convenient means of going places, our car, the airplane and the rental car soon are going to be parked because they will be too expensive to operate.
The Peak Oil Crisis: Catenaries and Pantographs
As the availability of liquid fuels dwindles, those supplies that remain will be increasingly allocated to uses for which there are no readily available substitutes — such as powering aircraft and ships. Electric power for land vehicles appears to be the most realistic option for the present. Cellulosic biofuels may […]
The Peak Oil Crisis: The Future Of Our Cars
Hardly a day goes by without an announcement that some company is either developing a new model of an electric powered car or has made some sort of progress on the ones under development. These announcements are coming from major automobile manufacturers all over the world and from numerous startups […]
The Peak Oil Crisis: The Future of Our Cars
Last week’s column explored the options for powering vehicles when supplies of imported petroleum and products start to decline. At present it appears that biofuels, natural gas, and electricity are the only alternatives that will be available in large deliverable, quantities in the next ten or 20 years. While […]
The Peak Oil Crisis: The Future Of Our Cars
Within the next ten years the size, shape, efficiency, fuel and numbers of private automobiles is going to undergo a radical change. The nine million barrells of gasoline we currently use in the U.S. each day simply will not be available in the quantities desired at any price. If a […]
News Briefs
December 13 – 19, 2007
