Didn't say that. It just irritates me when people laugh at others at the pump because they think they are unaffected. I can't wait till they start collecting all the WVO for making biodiesel and see what the WVO people have to laugh about. It is coming. There is a plant being built around here that is going to do that. If prices go high enough, it probably wil come sooner than later. Of course, I have no interest in doing WVO so I can laugh when their supplies dry up or become scarce.

Unless I have a personal grudge against you, I tend to forget what you said in the previous post. Hell, I even forgot the name of my interviewer when I was applying for a job. I had to look on her desk for the most common name I saw there. When I was dating, my left pinkie tip would be for the girl's name when I forgot it. Maybe I got married so I don't have to remember names.

I wonder how long until dieselers start siphoning fuel from heavy equipment for use in their cars. What loader or backhoe would miss 5 or 10 gallons?

Good point!!
 

Very true.....

Just as a 'real life' example: my family has operated a small, neighborhood dry cleaning establishment since 1950 in Austin. Old dry cleaning plants utilize hydrocarbon fluid, which (as its name implies) is a petroleum based solvent. The price per gallon of solvent has increased dramatically over the past few months; as a result, we have increased prices twice in the last year, whereas prior to that, we had not increased prices since the doldrums following 9-11 and the tech-economy crash. The only other option is to start doing shoddy work, which essentially, the consumer must 'pay' for too. Luckily, our prices have always been on the high side, & our customers seem to prefer quality over low-prices, but not everyone can afford to make that choice....and I sort-of cringe everytime I hear my curmudgeondy old man say "don't like the prices...go somewhere else then!" :o Anyway--bottom line--you pay me $5 to clean one pair of your pants and $2.25 to wash and iron your shirt now, and you paid $4.49 and $1.98, respectively, 8 months ago.

Anyway, in order to bring this back on the topic of diesels....I wonder whether I could run my two diesels on dry cleaning fluid.....? :eek:

I'm loving it. I don't have much money and it hurts me, but I think that the only way to get Americans to stop driving and buying those rediculously huge SUVs is to hit them in the pocketbook. I'd love to see $5.- a gallon.

Believe it or not, we're pretty much on the same page. I don't think I'm unaffected ... I think everyone is affected, even biofuel users, hybrid drivers and so forth. Even those who use no fuel will be affected via trickle-down, as you said.

I think you just misinterpreted my initial comment. I'm not laughing at the fact that others are struggling with fuel prices (I am being pinched by it myself) ... what I'm laughing at is the ignorance regarding the issue ... whether it's people who think that the president is alone responsible for the prices or people who think there's an easy solution that we're all being cheated from. I'm astounded by people's inability to understand the very things you've described in your several responses.

I don't remember what people said in other threads either. Every once in a while when I don't think through it, I fall into egocentrism (failing to imagine the way others see a situation) ... you know, since I remember everything I've said before, I somehow subconsiously think others will too ... but I don't actually think they should when I stop and think about it (although I am awfully darn important) ... ;)

And if it takes out a bunch of other people in the process, well, it doesn't matter to you since you are so insulated, right?

Well for me that wouldnt happen. For one im mexican and that leads to many mexican friends. Mexicans friends have parents that own mexican food places and i get my oil from them so even if biodiesel companies decide to collect wvo from them, they can easily put some aside for my needs and give the bioD companies the rest. My dad has 2 friends that own taqueria's and i can get wvo from them easily, all i have to do is ask.

Another point to look at. Many quality control (ASTM) will soon only be allowing virgin/new soy bean oil to be used to make biodiesel from a commercial retailer.

Because when its made from wvo they can run into higher cloud points and quality issues. That has been a major concern for VW and the reason why they only cover B5 mixtures under warranty. This is why in europe/UK the majority of the RME (rapeseed methyl ester ie. biodiesel) is made from virgin rapeseed oil and not wvo. All because of quality issues.

So we will still have our wvo sources no matter what.

Maybe you but I'll bet that if there are many more plants like the one outside Madison that are being built that do use recycled oil, you can bet only a few will have it advailable.

You know, someone said the same thing about R12 years ago.

Edit: A question. Where do you live? I am curious since I wonder how your wvo insulates you from everything else. So you are going to run diesel the rest of your life, are you? What about the electricity and all your food

Is that refinery outside madison going to be making the biodiesel to the ASTM D 6751 standard? As well as going to have it tested to make sure it meets the standard.

How are they going to handle the quality of the wvo made biodiesel since it has a higher gel/cloud point then virgin bioD in cold weather?

This is the major concern for VW and the reason why they only allow B5 mixtures. And recommend you only buy B5 if the biodiesel is made from virgin soy since wvo bioD has higher cloud/gel points.

I dont think that place will continue making it from wvo when we start having more and more issues with geling and clouding biodiesel. Once that ASTM standard is made mandatory we wont be seing wvo biodiesel from refineries.

Unless your in warm weather states i dont think wvo biodiesel will be in our future from commercial retailers.

diesel was 2.81 before i left for competion.. 5 cents less than rug... funny thing happened while putting 30$ of diesel in one day last week.. im getting to 25 it starts to slow.. the flow.. then its nothing but a drip by 28$.. im like wtf ... it wont pump anymore.. and i also discovered my fuel tank is collapsed..

Oh yeah $5 a gallon will be great!:rolleyes:

Dead marine industry.
$1k heating bills in the winter.
Every good is shipped via truck so expect prices to shoot up on everything.
Economy not so hot.
Oil based goods such as paint will go up accordingly as well.

You WVO people enjoy cheap diesel while it lasts, do you think people will just keep giving their old oil away when all of a sudden everyone wants it? Maybe we should start taking bets on when they start charging you for it.

Oh yeah it will be great.:rolleyes:

Well at least diesel isn't any more then premium anymore, I am happy about that.

It Takes Time
 

It would hurt for a while. Lots of people who would need to start carpooling and sharing the gas money, lots of prices going up because of high cost of shipping, many needing to get rid of low mpg cars for more economical ones.

HOPEFULLY, what higher fuel prices would do is get the US to decide to USE the railroads we built to ship things. It was what we used to do before the Teamsters took over trucking.
It would make people buy the better fuel milage cars.
Maybe the car companies would make cars with more realistic horsepower, cuz' really, WHY does a corvette need 8 cyls? Muscle cars are cool, and really fast cars are cool, but they are not a NEED. People can feel free to buy them and just drive those on the weekends, but not as daily drivers.
Maybe it would help large cities to build better public transport. NYC runs MOST of it's population around the city on the subway. There is no reason that more cities cannot do the same. The reason they have not is that people are in love with their cars and wouldn't USE public transport.

Telecommuting for those in a technology industry would become more prominent. My husband works from home one day per week already and may be able to push that to twice a week if fuel gets much higher. We live 40 miles away from Sun Microsystems, where he works. Maybe more people would do that, too.

There is a hugh downside to high fuel prices. I'm not discounting those problems. It would hit us hard. We also own a bar that is 35 miles from home and there is no telecomutting there. I'm just trying to list some of the LONG TERM (20 years from now) benefits (or HOPEFUL benefits) of higher fuel prices. Right now it would kill our economy. . .

I calculated that I could run 90,000 miles on a tank from a diesel locomotive :D. Too bad it's red diesel though :uneasy:

Precisely what I was going to say. While it would be funny to see people ditch their gas-guzzling behemoths (Such as the Excursion, those absurd Hummers, and so forth).. you have to remember, people, that our economy *depends* on oil. Anything made of plastic (which is just about everything, these days), will go up in price. Food at the grocery store will skyrocket. Imported products will have a huge increase... and if you ever feel like flying anywhere, ever again.. you'd better have a lot of money. Jet fuel costs a ton as it is.. if prices get much higher, the airline industry will all but shut down.

\rant
Personally, and I may be wrong about this.. I think the oil industry giants are mostly to blame.. as well as the current, erm.. "administration". The war isn't helping prices any.. and have you seen what the salaries that a good chunk of oil industry workers get paid? Some guy from exxon corp just retired, and they gave him a few million for it. In my opinion, the fuel industry should be treated as a utility, and controlled by the government. Since our economy relies on it, they shouldn't be making much profit. Maybe if they made two or three cents per gallon on it, we'd be in better shape. But, since it isn't regulated as a utility, these corporations are free to ream the general public for all they're worth. If the American economy fails, it will be the oil industry to blame.
/endrant

That aside, rising fuel prices may give the economy the "kick" it needs, to start making better fuels.. such as Ethanol and Biodiesel. Besides, this would open more farms in the country, helping OUR economy out, giving more americans jobs, while lowering costs for the entire nation. So while rising fuel prices may put hard times on people, it may spark the next step in our fuel needs.

..doubtful, though. The oil giants control the country, and are making entirely too much to let it go.

wait till you see grocery pices go way up....keep in mind unless you are totally self sufficient you are going to be picking up those increaces in almost everything you need.