America is seriously addicted to oil.

[Voltagenic]

It is truly insane how addicted to oil the US is.

What if the Middle East ran out of oil? We'd be in serious trouble.

It seems that finally, when we are in a serious crisis, the government and huge corporations finally want to take some action, when before, they could have introduced hybrids and electric cars before this global warming crisis, they could've prevented all of this.

And now, the US is a living hell in terms of weather, etc.

We need to do something.

And, I've just learned General Motors was beginning to. They produced an electric car called the EV-1. It ran on a battery, and didn't need brakes, oil, and all that sh!t. It had limited range, but it was a start. But all of a sudden, for some reason, GM hated the idea. They took all the EV-1's from people who were driving them, and took them to some place in Arizona and crushed them. They crushed what might have saved our country. They crushed what could have spread globally, and saved our entire world. And they crushed them. GM claimed that there was not enough demand, when there was a lot of people who wanted them. Honestly, after hearing about it, I want one too.

They're gone now.

If GM had the competence to keep them alive, they could've made technological improvements to them to make them better for everyone.

Hybrids don't cut it. They're still using gasoline.

We need a complete source of alternate energy to get around.

And some of you may think hydrogen fuel right from hearing that.

Well, let me hit y'all with some knowledge.

1: Hydrogen fuel is wildly expensive

2: People gotta hope and pray that our current technology doesn't get better by the time they can be put on the road, or they won't be all that successful.

3: There's about 180,000 gas stations in the US. About 20,000 of them need to add hydrogen stations for the cars. And by the sounds of that, that doesn't even sound like that'll be enough.

4: The average cost for a hydrogen fuel cell car is: (drum roll, plz) $1,000,000, meaning a lot of average people won't be able to afford them.

We need to do something about this.

And no, I'm not apologizing for ranting.

 

[Legacy]

Wow, overdramatic.

You blame General Motors for taking back their cars and crushing them as the reason America is so messed up. But even if they hadn't taken them back, how many people would've bought them? Nowhere near enough to make a significant difference, that's for sure.

 

[Voltagenic]

You blame General Motors for taking back their cars and crushing them as the reason America is so messed up. But even if they hadn't taken them back, how many people would've bought them? Nowhere near enough to make a significant difference, that's for sure.

You need some glasses.

I wasn't even trying to blame General Motors for the reason America is messed up.

I'm sick of people twisting up my rants and trying to make me look stupid.

Stop it for once.

 

[Legacy]

And, I've just learned General Motors was beginning to. They produced an electric car called the EV-1. It ran on a battery, and didn't need brakes, oil, and all that sh!t. It had limited range, but it was a start. But all of a sudden, for some reason, GM hated the idea. They took all the EV-1's from people who were driving them, and took them to some place in Arizona and crushed them. They crushed what might have saved our country. They crushed what could have spread globally, and saved our entire world. And they crushed them. GM claimed that there was not enough demand, when there was a lot of people who wanted them. Honestly, after hearing about it, I want one too.

I'm just using the words you used. You're pissed at them because they could have "saved the world" but chose not to. Sounds like you're placing blame on them to me.

 

[Voltagenic]

You're pissed at them because they could have "saved the world" but chose not to. Sounds like you're placing blame on them to me.

I never said I was pissed at them.

And what I meant by that is that other countries might have seen the electric cars GM made, and make them too, and hopefully conquer global warming by lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

 

[Richard Lynch]

To tell you the truth, America won't break it's addiction to oil until we must... ie, when it runs completely dry. Thanks to the big businesses (and our corrupt economy), the oil companies will keep electric/hydrogen/hybrid cars off the road until they go broke. Because anyone can be bought, and companies can't afford to go against the flow.

I've always said that if we really want to break our dependency on oil, we should get our butts in gear and start up a good public transportation system. That wouldn't require us to completely give up oil, but it would reduce our intake considerably. Europe does it... ever been to Austria or Germany? Everyone either walks or takes the trolly, even with them having the notorious Autobahn. And they're not in oil crisis.

 

[parallelzero]

I'm personally waiting for the American economy to crash and then they'll all start trying to steal oil from Alberta, or the other way around, which ever comes first. It'll happen eventually, you know it will. =D

 

[Persona]

I'm sure everyone admits that one of the most difficult things an addict must do is actually admit to being one. If they do actually that then the path to being clean of their addiction will eventually be easier. However, history is littered with the names of people who have denied to acknowledge their addiction in certain things and have ended up paying price for their failure in return. For years others have been warned that the world's addiction to oil is having desperate consequences from fueling wars to climate changes. People know their actions are causing problems but cannot stop.

However, I can't absolutely convince myself that America is 'addicted' to oil, as most of American oil consumption is for transportation to areas, while the population increases, and cities begin to spread further apart, more and more oil is being used. The reason why they spread further out is often because city living can be expensive, some are able to purchase a larger home for the same amount of money by moving away from the city center. Most major central cities are hardly growing, and the suburbs are already filled up. America is addicted to real estate, more like. Either way the people of the Middle East are paying the price.

 

[Melody]

I'm personally waiting for the American economy to crash and then they'll all start trying to steal oil from Alberta, or the other way around, which ever comes first. It'll happen eventually, you know it will. =D

Dont hold your breath though...Eventually America will be forced to cut back on it's consumption....Fuel prices are soaring and soon people wont be able to afford it, Even here in Texas where there's plenty of oil, fuel prices are $3USD+ per gallon

 

[Pokedragonfire]

I've always said that if we really want to break our dependency on oil, we should get our butts in gear and start up a good public transportation system. That wouldn't require us to completely give up oil, but it would reduce our intake considerably. Europe does it... ever been to Austria or Germany? Everyone either walks or takes the trolly, even with them having the notorious Autobahn. And they're not in oil crisis.

It really isn't plausible for America to start up a good public transportation system anywhere besides large cities. Each country in Europe, first of all, is about the size of a state here, and the amount of people living per square kilometer is a lot larger than it would be in America. In America, not everyone lives close to businesses and public areas, and must drive or they won't get there in time. But I agree with what you say that in the suburbs, people should try walking biking more often when they don't have to be somewhere in a hurry. In fact one of my friends, who only bikes because she can't get a driver's license, may bike for 25+ miles in a day. So it may be possible in some cases.

I think America needs a lot of fixing in a lot of areas and one day I hope they will be improved/resolved. We can only try our best to do what we can.

 

[Drifblim]

Hydrogen gas would also cause a massive explosion if the car were to crash.

We need to get shale fuel. Or synthesise petroleum. Now.

 

[MegaFuz]

This is old news. GM has had the technology to, at least somewhat, begin the transition from oil-powered cars to alternate resources for some time now. The only problem is that the oil companies and the US Government are joined at the hip. Both feed off of each other's "success" and would crumble without the other one propping them up. It's been a known problem for a while now, at least if you follow the situation closely. There's not a darn thing any of us can do about it on our own, so the only thing to do is pass on this knowledge to as many people as we can. If the knowledge is out there, and more people are as angered about it as myself...perhaps then something can be done.

 

[Melody]

Indeed...
There is too much invested into oil now to just drop it...and the oil companies wont let that happen...They'll lobby against it in any way they can.
in order to defeat the oil companies all the people of america need to stand together and say "Reduce our oil dependancy!"

 

[Aisu K.]

Reminds of of earlier american history... the corrupt big businesses that the government wouldn't do anything about... maybe the day we get a decent leader in office will be the day we cut dependence to oil. Then again, we've had a severe lack of good leaders...

 

[Scales]

Im guessing that once we pass the point of no return THEN we will actualy do something about it. But still it is going to take a while for us to do something about oil emisions. Once the wars in the middle east finally end then we can go get oil there. Soon people will build better hybrids that use less fuel.

Its funny. Two years ago I didn't know what a Hybrid was. 1 year ago I didn't even know what a hybrid looked like. Now we see hybrids everywhere, in the media on the streets everywhere

 

[Timbjerr]

I seriously don't know what to say here that hasn't already been said. America as a whole will be dependent on gasoline and oil until they day the world completely dries up. Any attempts to foster an alternative-fuel car will be bought out by big oil companies at a huge price and scrapped.

That's exactly what happened to an early version of the electric car. One of these big oil companies bought the design and patent from its inventor for a huge amount promising that they'd refine the design and manufacture it. In actuality, they scrapped the project completely, and actually was able to sue anyone who designed a similar electric car.

 

[GrovyleGamer2007]

If the oil runs out then America will be thrown into economic chaos. With gas prices at 3 bucks a gallon, we could possibly be on the brink of another depression. Ah yes... Oil addiction. It's all about the money... How sad...