Why We Get the Shaft at the Pump

I did some research this afternoon in an attempt to figure out why gas prices jumped by nearly $0.20/liter (~$0.75/gallon) between the time I went to bed and the time I woke up. It turns out that oil prices actually dropped 10% on Monday due to... well, honestly I couldn't really care why. Suffice to say, the price of crude dropped 10% while the price of gasoline went up 25%!

Why?

Because they can!

That's basically the gist of this very interesting article I found.

Essentially the companies that make the oil into gasoline are working less and charging more. Good for them... their profit margin is soaring.

Bad for every person who owns a vehicle that burns fossil fuels.

This is why I can't wait for some valid alternative fuels to come to market, no matter what the source... biofuels, algal based oil, hydrogen, or something else. Better yet, some electric vehicles that are honestly affordable, not artificially so.

In the mean time, BOHICA!

Going green... literally.

Can we really turn the green slime that messes up our pools into gasoline? Sapphire Energy already has!

Algal based crude isn't a perfect answer in that it's still a fuel that burns and creates emissions pollution.

However, it's at least carbon-neutral and it's renewable, without relying on existing crops.

And better still, it could one day alleviate North Americas dependence on OPEC. I don't know about you, but I find it more than a little irritating to live in a country with the second largest oil reserve on the planet, yet every time someone sneezes in the middle east I see a $0.10/L hike in gas prices.