Posted on 04/02/2012 9:21:18 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Drivers may hate rising gas prices, but some companies are delighted as they watch the oil price soar. Firms like BMW and Airbus which are leaders in fuel efficiency actually benefit from expensive oil. They are developing technologies for a post-fossil-fuel world.
A few cents more and a liter of super unleaded gasoline will cost German drivers €1.80 (around $9 a gallon). That means that someone driving a BMW 3 Series will have to pay over €110 ($150) to fill up the tank, with its 63 liter (17 gallon) capacity.
But Norbert Reithofer, the CEO of BMW, seems surprisingly relaxed. "One could see this as a threat," Reithofer says. But the auto executive actually views the rising price of fuel as "an opportunity." He is convinced that his company will in fact "derive a benefit from this."
The Munich-based automaker has invested billions of euros in fuel-saving technologies, such as efficient engines, brake energy recovery and ultra-lightweight carbon fiber car bodies. BMW is now considered a leader in the field, and the company's record sales in 2011 suggest that this is something its customers are willing to pay for.
Airbus CEO Tom Enders uses a similar argument. High kerosene prices have sharply affected his customers, the airlines, whose profits are shrinking and who are investing less money in buying new planes as a result. Nevertheless, Airbus has never had as many orders on its books as it does today.
Last year, Airbus received well over 1,000 orders for its A320 neo model, with scheduled delivery starting in 2015. Thanks to new engines and special wings, the plane uses about 15 percent less fuel, making it significantly more fuel-efficient than competitor Boeing's comparable models.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Alternate answer: Buy lots of medical supplies for self treatment and body bags.
Idiots.
How about a post-obama world?
Fossil fuel is solar energy from centuries ago. God put it there for us to harvest.
They are also getting grounded planes due to cracks in the wings and engine failures. Many airlines are re-considering their Airbus orders.
Deacon,
No slight to you. This is a rant against our “green” overlords.
1) Petroleum products are NOT “fossil” fuels. Petroleum is produced naturally in the crust of the Earth from three compounds subjected to high pressure. They are calcium carbonate (chalk), ferrous oxide (rust), and water.
2) Petroleum IS a “renewable” resource.
3) Petroleum is a GREAT mechanism for storing energy - as opposed to solar and wind.
4) Petroleum behaves well at room temperature. It can be handled by your average Joe.
5) When burned, petroleum produces carbon dioxide and water. In other words, moist plant food. The more carbon dioxide you produce, the more vegetation you get.
6) Carbon dioxide is NOT a polutant. It is a gas essential to all living entities on the planet.
7) Carbon dioxide does NOT contribute to “globull warming.” Water vapor is the primary greenhouse gas by several orders of magnitude.
8) At current and projected consumption rates, with just know supplies, we have enough petroleum to last us for more than 100 years. And that does not include the fact that the crust of the Earth keeps making more of it.
“Oil companies have to reach beyond the barrel”.., oh wait a minute, that was part of a BP commercial before the Great Obama oil gusher in the Gulf....
While there is still some latitude in terms of making existing technology more efficient, there shall not be, in the foreseeable future, any adequate replacement for the so-called “fossil fuels”. We shall still be using petroleum-based fuels, various sources of methane, and yes, even coal a century from now, and even longer, as all these, in combination with the abundant quantity of oxygen in our atmosphere, are a very energy-intensive medium for releasing useful work.
And where does the oxygen come from? In the primordial atmosphere of the young, hot and newly formed earth, there was NO free oxygen. None. Nada. Zero.
Oxygen does not exist in elemental form, EXCEPT when the effects of sunlight falling on a most complex biological substance called “chlorophyll”, found in green growing plants, converts water and carbon dioxide into some form of carbohydrate and - oxygen. In the absence of green growing plants, oxygen gets depleted in the atmosphere.
But plants cannot grow, except with the presence of carbon dioxide. Literally. And what is the one product of combusion that the EPA wants to regulate? Carbon dioxide. Not a poison, not a pollutant, it is a vital part of the life cycle. The REAL poison, astonishingly, is the highly reactive element, oxygen, which kills off any life form that is not adapted to absorbing the oxygen for energy release. This kind of life form is mostly classified as “anaroebic”, and cannot live in the presence of even minute quantities of oxygen.
Carbon dioxide is plant food. It is our DUTY to create as much of this compound as we are able, and in doing so, convert the energy released to useful work.
What is laughable is that the whole global warming “Solution” was for the average American to lower their standard of living by using less energy, in order to control carbon output.
Then a funny thing happened. China and India boomed. They have little oil, but lots of coal. So they mine and burn coal more than we ever did (or soon will do so).
Then the global warming liars said: “Oh, never mind”. Lies and guilt don’t translate well in Asia.
Will we still have 3 in 1 oil, or will we have to use range chicken fat soap for a lubricant?
What about WD40?
What would replace the adhesive on a bandaid?
bump
They probably love the global warming scam.
They cluck about it and and issue semi-pious statements over the phone, while giggling to each other on their end.
“Hah...I told him we are all for global warming, 100%, but if the USA won’t buckle under, there is no reason for us to do it!”
somebody translated this article from German into Fantasy...
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