Gas Saving Technology

By Black Cell

America is on the verge of being forced to pay $4.00 or even more per gallon for gas because the price per barrel of oil has been skyrocketing and no one knows when the prices will stop soaring upward.

This is great news for the investor who owns stock in oil commodities. But, for the average American, this not only means that we are going to be paying more for gas, but the high price per barrel of oil will eventually trickle up into practically everything we purchase.

Most of the products that we purchase find their way to the shelves via plane, train or automobiles (trucks). If it costs more to transport our goods to the shelf, it will definitely cost the consumers more for these products.

FCC business professor, Mariane Dunklin, who has a PHD in finance, talked about how the increasing demand for oil in India and China has affected America's economy and is now forcing the politicians in Washington to make tougher decisions.” I think the two political parties need to work together, I think we all need to work together," said Drunklin about solving the problem of higher cost for gas.

Many of our political leaders are split on how to solve the issue surrounding our dependency on foreign oil. The Bush administration believes that we should be tapping into our emergency oil revenues by drilling in places like Anwr Alaska and along California and Florida’s beach fronts.

Their theory is if we increase the oil supply in the homeland then eventually the price per barrel of oil will go down.

The leaders of the Democratic Party believe that we should be looking for alterative ways to wean America off our thirst for foreign oil. They have been working diligently to thwart every attempt by the Bush administration to accomplish its goals.

As the debate between the two Parties loom, the price of gas keep sky-rocketing past record levels. Back in November of 2000, the price of gas in Fresno was around $1.19 per gallon and now the price is soaring past $3.00 and on its way up and beyond to $4.00 a gallon.

There are new technologies out there that will help the average American save more money at the pump. One of those happens to be the hybrid car.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency (EPA), "Hydraulic hybrid technology (hybrid) uses a hydraulic energy storage and propulsion system in the vehicle. This hydraulic system captures and stores a large fraction of the energy normally wasted in vehicle braking and uses this energy to help propel the vehicle during the next vehicle acceleration. The hydraulic system also enables the engine to operate more efficiently when it is needed."

What the hybrid car does is switch from hydraulic power to the engine power depending on where the car is located. For example, if a hybrid is at a red stoplight, the car will not be using its gas because it automatically switch over from the gas powered engine to its hydraulic components, then when the light turn green and the car accelerate to a certain speed limit, the car switches back to gas operated engine.

Another example is when the hybrid car is accelerating uphill, it will be using gas to pull it up the higher grade and when in start heading downhill, the hybrid will switch over to its hydraulic components thus saving the owner of that automobile gas.

This is how the EPA defines the process. "Hydraulic hybrids draw from two sources of power to operate the vehicle - the diesel or gasoline engine and the hydraulic components. In other words, a typical diesel-powered or gasoline powered vehicle can be fitted with hydraulic components as a secondary energy storage system. The primary hydraulic components are two hydraulic accumulator vessels (a high-pressure accumulator capable of storing hydraulic fluid compressing inert nitrogen gas and a low-pressure accumulator) and one or more hydraulic pump/motor units."

According to www.fueleconomy.gov, the Honda Civic hybrids get 51 miles per gallon (MPG) on the highway and 49 MPG when combining street and highway.

People are just now discovering what will be the new fad in automobiles if the price of gas keeps skyrocketing. “I always thought that hybrid cars used one particular source of power.” Said Keith Turner, a senior business management student who went on to say, “When the gas ran out, you switch over to the electric, and once the electric runs out a person would have plug into the wall to recharge.”

In the past, many conservative leaders in the mainstream media have been trying their best to convince the American people to shy away from showing any interest in the more environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles.

Here is an excerpt of a complaint on the San Jose Mercury News blog clearing up what they call a lie by talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh called, "When the So-Called Liberal Media is Gone, Are Rush Limbaugh's Lies All That Will Be Left?"

"Limbaugh was talking about a story in today’s newspaper about Honda dropping its hybrid Accord model, which hasn't been selling well. The glad handed passer of prevarication told his audiences that the drop in Accord sales proved his contention that people don't believe that hybrids are any better than other cars. He saluted his “smart” listeners for not buying into the hype about fuel economy, gas mileage etc."

"Well, if you read the Mercury News version, you know that sales of hybrids are rising. But sales of the Accord were down because at only 30 miles per gallon, its V-6 wasn't giving the dramatic savings of more popular four-cylinder engines."

Why is it that so many well known conservatives in the mainstream media get bent out of shape when the subject of finding different sources of energy come up? You don't have to look any further than the major contributors to the Republican Party for the answer to that question.

A report put out by The Center of Responsive Politics reveals the long term contribution by the oil and gas industries to the two political parties. I observed that between the election cycles of 2000 to 2006, the oil and gas industries had contributed at least 80% of it’s over 104 million dollars to the Republican Party. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the answer to that question.
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.asp?Ind=E01

"The two Parties represent us, so what we decide as individuals and what we communicate as individuals will drive their decision making because we are the ones that vote," said Dunklin, "When the voters decide that they want action and they let it be known what action they want then our elected leaders will follow that because they want to be elected."

She is right, but I don't think we can accomplish her goal without pointing out the root of the problem of why many politicians in Washington DC won’t work together.

In the 1990's, many white Americans and conservative leaning minorities were convinced to stop relying on civil rights leaders. The conservative media types labeled the leaders of the civil rights movement and the people they called "limousine liberals" "poverty pimps" and "ambulance chasers" who were using the black community to line their own pockets.

Now these same conservative leaders have fallen prey to their own rhetoric. And since 2000, they have been raking in the dough by doing what they despised about most of those they trash in the civil rights and environmental community.

Whether it’s the scheme called, “The War on Terrorism”, that has many of us convinced to support waging wars in every country that is NOT harboring Osama Bin Laden; or the issues surrounding gas saving automobiles. We, the people have to stop allowing the new 'pimps' in the mainstream media on the right from using our cultural differences to undermine our national security for ONLY their benefit.