The price of GAS!!!

Topic: The price of GAS!!! (Read 21685 times) previous topic - next topic

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #45 – June 29, 2012, 08:22:51 PM

Quote from: daminc;393429

US gallons are larger

Nope. The US gallon is around 3.8 liters, the imperial gallon is 4.5. It's funny because Canada is metric but car companies advertise fuel economy in MPG. They use imperial gallons which artificially inflate the numbers (bigger gallons = more miles). My 2011 Sonata was advertised at 50MPG highway, in USA the same car is advertised at 35. And, incidentally, it gets every bit of it.

We also pay much more for gas than Americans do (but not as much as Europe), even though Canada exports most of its oil to USA. Right now gas is at 118.9 cents per liter. At 3.8 liters to the gallon we're paying around $4.52 per gallon. The Loonie and the Greenback are just about at par right now and have been for a fews years, so you can't even blame the difference on exchange rates.

Another strange thing is that diesel is usually about 8 cents per liter (~30 cents per gallon) cheaper than regular unleaded. Sometimes the difference is even higher (though to be truthful it is sometimes, though rarely, the same price or a few cents higher). For this reason diesel cars make more sense here, and VW sells a buttload of TDI Golfs, Jettas and Passats. I'm actually thinking I may trade the Sonata in on a TDI Jetta in a few years, or maybe even a Cruze if the diesel version proves reliable enough...

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #46 – June 29, 2012, 11:27:56 PM

Deisel prices are slightly lower and not pr0ne to the changes in price as much as gas around here too.

What I find funny, deisel is a byproduct of refining oil, as is natrual gas and propane. Much of it is vented to the atmosphere or burned as excess.

Gas is sitting about $3.45 a gallon low and 3.55 or so high around here,

I also don't buy into the ethonal either.

If I had some money and a bit of time, I really would go electric. It runs about .02 cents a mile to charge, after conversion costs of course. What would once weigh 2400lbs of lead acid can now be had for about 3-500lb of lipo and lithium ion batteries.nwith this new technology, you could get 100-150 miles of range for close to the same weight as an ice, if your battery charger is external.

In my state it is illegal to do a conversion unless it is through an approved epa shop that will sign off on it, and electric batteries have to be sealed. I don't believe they have banned lion/lipo's for conversions... YET.

As far as the saftey of lipo's go, many people claim they randomly combust and explode with minor impact/g force's. All I have to say, my model airplane reguallarly see's over 10g's, and has had many 40 mph impacts. The only battery that I have damaged ran into the back of the motor while it was still spinning, but still took a charge fine, however its in a safe place now.

Even a direct short and charging at over 10x capacity will not always destroy or damage a lipo, and lipo's are 20% smaller and 40% lighter then a similar lion battery pack. With the way battery technology has improved over the last several years, I am wondering how much cheaper and durable these will become.

I'd really like to pick up a couple of 1 cell 3.7v 5,000mah batteries and see how durable the setup could be, and see if the charging system could be simpleized to the point of it being reliable.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #47 – June 30, 2012, 07:15:57 AM

an imperial gallon 0.83267418 = 1 US gallon
I guess I was wrong...... sorry

our gas is in the $4 range still, and diesel is about $4.20. we are also 10 min from Canada

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #48 – June 30, 2012, 08:49:41 AM

Quote from: daminc;393506

an imperial gallon 0.83267418 = 1 US gallon
I guess I was wrong...... sorry

Here is how I remember the differance:
An imperial quart of whisky is 40oz. A US quart is 32oz.
So an imperial gallon is 5 US quarts and a US gallon is 4 US quarts.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #49 – June 30, 2012, 01:20:28 PM

What I find funny, deisel is a byproduct of refining oil, as is natrual gas and propane. Much of it is vented to the atmosphere or burned as excess.

NOT TRUE!!!!

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #50 – June 30, 2012, 02:45:17 PM

Gas is pretty cheap here, 3 bucks at the low, 3.15 at the high. Diesel has always been higher here, as long as I can remember. It's usually 50-60 cents higher than regular unleaded.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #51 – June 30, 2012, 02:54:02 PM

Quote from: TOM Renzo;393530

What I find funny, deisel is a byproduct of refining oil, as is natrual gas and propane. Much of it is vented to the atmosphere or burned as excess.

NOT TRUE!!!!

Natrual gas and propane are vented to the atmosphere as well as burned as waste fuel. Deisel isn't.

Propane is almost always injected back into the ground through the recovery process. If there is too much propane still in the oil, it is further refined and burned off. Only about 12% of recovered propane makes it to consumers.

Also my state regulates both propane and natrual gas to $1.75 and down to $1.35 when a gallon of gas goes over $4 a gallon.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #52 – June 30, 2012, 06:55:08 PM

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/oil-refining2.htm

I have a house in LOUISIANA. And as i am told nothing is wasted in the refining process. I think most of the natural gas that is domestic comes from LOUISIANA. And as i am informed nothing is wasted that we refine from oil. Could be wrong. But my father in law was in the oil business for 48 years. I think burning off of the gases is not dun any more. I think most modern refineries do not burn off the gases. They reclaim them and of course sell the product. Years ago they burned it off but i think most of that has stopped. LP gas is very profitable to the refineries and venting or burning would be foolish. Not sure if their are EPA regs on this?? But i am probably wrong again as usual!!

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #53 – June 30, 2012, 08:12:07 PM

Tom, you may be right. Most of my research was done near 2005 as part of a science and biology class for my final project. A lot of my info is probably out of date. Propane and natrual gas used to be wasted a lot, and there were very few twin fuel vehicles.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #54 – June 30, 2012, 08:52:55 PM

I know they still burn it at the Dartmouth, NS refinery - you can see the flare stack for miles...

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #55 – June 30, 2012, 08:58:57 PM

They actually run those to burn off explosive fumes when the pressure is too high for the system to contain.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #56 – June 30, 2012, 10:31:16 PM

Thunder i think they only do that in the out dated plants. Not 100% I think the EPA came down on that some time ago. I used to travel through NJ when i was in the Marines and see the flames. But recently i dont see it any more. I was told it is reclaimed now. That is a little out of my field. But i do know they can shift to diesel and home heating oils in the winter to gain more heating fuels and certain diesel fuels. My Father in law used to work in a refineries years ago.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #57 – July 01, 2012, 01:42:39 PM

We have about 5 refineries locally to refine gas through pipelines from wyoming. Two of them are visable frm the freeway and still burn just as thunderchicken said.

This same plant also had an explosion that killed several people, wounded about a 100 workers, and blew out windows in residential homes several miles away. It passed an epa and osha saftey inspection about 3 weeks before the explosion, and it was even recommened they replace the parts that exploded. They decided it wasn't worth shutting down the plant due to cost of matinence, and loss of production.

The local chevron refinery has had several pipeline bursts in the same sections over the past couple of years. Local athorities shut them down because it drains into a river where slc gets most of its fresh water. Chevron sucessfully lobbied to get the shut down lifted without any repairs, even after failing soil sample and with evidence of leaks, even before it was cleaned up from the last several spills.

Regulations don't stop things from happening. Money does.

The price of GAS!!!

Reply #58 – July 01, 2012, 02:38:46 PM

I dunno if money stops things from happening, but a lack of it sure does