Seriously, we are stealing from Saudi Arabia, and not the other way around, if we pay less than $300 for a barrel of oil in 2020. They just get some pieces of IOU, while we get actual oil!!

1. The price of energy (oil) is set by the fair market value of the commodities market. The oil companies cannot manipulate it. If this were not the case significant arbitrage opportunities would present themselves

2. Viable alternate energy sources must take into account EROEI (ENERGY Returned on Energy Invested). This value has to be greater than 1.0 or you are putting more energy in than you get out. Hence hydrogen, ethanol and oil shale are energy losers since you put more energy in than you get out. Right now the only sources that achieve this are Oil, Coal, Nuclear, Solar and Wind. Would you invest in a bank if it had a negative yield?

3. Hydrogen is an energy battery, not an original energy source. To get hydrogen you must crack the H molecules out of water using (you guessed it) energy (EROEI less than 1). Hence hydrogen is a net energy loser. Because of energy losses in transformation, the hydrogen will always contain less energy than was invested in it. (Using nuclear to make H could be a viable solution)

4. America becomes more energy-dependant on OPEC every year. You must ask yourself if you believe the concept of “PEAK OIL”. Read Richard Heinbergs book titled “The Party’s Over” if you want to understand of the energy challenge America and the world face as we move into the future.

Juston above asks why the price of oil has gone up and “why we have been stuck paying higher gas and oil prices over the past year due to reasons beyond our control, yet the big oil companies posted record profits? Is the rate hikes due to demand, or due to greed?”

Juston, it is because you, me, and millions of others are willing to pay that price. Sure, we get on Internet blogs and piss and moan about it, but we still buy. We don’t park our cars and take the bus instead, at least in large enough numbers to influence the market.

If your house appreciated half a million dollars over a decade or so and you went to sell it, would you sell it for the same price as you bought it for, or sell it for the appreciated price? Let me guess. You would sell it at a price someone is willing to pay, the appreciated price. But isn’t that greedy, making all that obscene profit at the expense of some homebuyer that is just looking for a place to house their family? Well many people think so when it applies to Exxon, but not when it means money in their own pocket.