Gas vs. Electric Cars

I think it'll be just a matter of time before our governments outlaw gasoline as a propellant for cars,  Other jurisdictions have already done it!  Britain is the most recent, saying it will outlaw gasoline in 2040!  my question is; why?

A little over a hundred and ten years ago, the automobile was just coming into being.  Engineers and scientists experimented with different ways of fueling and propelling these new contraptions.  There were steam powered cars, methane powered cars, electric cars and gasoline powered cars all roaring around,

Eventually the gasoline powered cars won out, and the others faded away.  There were no laws outlawing them.  Gasoline just happened to be the most efficient and least expensive way of powering these new machines!

Now, environmentalists say we must stop using gasoline because it creates too much pollution.  Major car companies have all joined the race to create cars using other fuels, mostly electric powered though batteries.  These vehicles are becoming more efficient in every new model coming out but they are still more expensive then their gasoline powered equivalents.  Some of the processes making components and power for those electric cars create huge amount of pollution!

Why don't governments just stay out of it?  Gasoline won out in 1910 because it was the cheapest and most efficient.  When electric cars are the cheapest and more efficient than gasoline powered cars, they will win too!

Happy New Year!

Here we are on the second day of 2017!  How's it going for you so far? 

As of yesterday morning we've all started paying the NDP carbon levy.  According to my unscientific calculations, it could cost us living in rural Alberta over $100 a month extra!  I'm looking forward to applying for the rebate.  I expect that most rural Albertans will be eligible for a full rebate, after all we do not have the luxury of public transit and services "around the corner"!  We have to use our vehicles to get around!

Next year at this time it will be interesting to hear our Premier's  report as to the success of the new sales tax on fuel in the province.  I wonder if she'll mention the following;

• Most of the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere comes from volcanoes which are exempt from the NDP tax.
• Alberta is responsible for less than 2% of the man-made carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
• There is no suitable replacement available for fossil fuels, and likely won't be for many years to come.
• The simplest and easiest carbon dioxide recovery system are plants, especially trees!
• More and more states in the world are giving up on carbon taxes in favor of other more sensible ways of curbing carbon dioxide emissions or recovering carbon dioxide..

This year will  be an interesting year in Alberta.  Happy New Year!

Buying Back our own Oil?

Here's one for the "believe it or not" column.  The province of Alberta is a very large producer of crude oil, both traditional crude and synthetic crude from the oil sands.  The way I understand it, our crude is already being shipped out of province down to the United States, where it's processed into gasoline and shipped BACK to Alberta -- to be sold at huge mark-ups. 

I have also been told that there are refineries here in Alberta capable of making gasoline sitting idle or producing at a very low capacity.

I obviously don't understand this industry.  Shouldn't these companies who are exploiting an Albertan natural, non-renewable resource be working hard to put as many Albertans to work as possible?  Alberta has always been proud of its highly trained oilfield workers.  Albertan oilmen and women are being employed around the world to help others with their petroleum industries.

Yet jobs are disappearing here at home while our own crude is exported elsewhere so others in other countries may profit refining it!  Stranger than fiction.