Prototype car runs 100 miles on four ounces of water as fuel

While his unique electrolysis process – working simply with water and electricity – was originally designed to work in welding factories as a replacement for acetylene torches, a whole new application has come to light from Denny Klein, who recently filed a patent on his solution. He has converted his 1994 Ford Escort to run either as a water-gas hybrid, or on water alone.

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You think we got it bad....Wait until you read this!

High gas prices hit consumers worldwide

By ANGELA CHARLTON – 4 hours ago

PARIS (AP) — Feeling woozy about the fortune you've just pumped into your gas tank? Drivers around the world share the sensation.

Consumers, gas retailers and governments are wrestling with a new energy order, where rising oil prices play a larger role than ever in the daily lives of increasingly mobile people. But as the cost of crude mounts, the effect on the price at the pump varies startlingly — from Venezuela, where gas is cheaper than water, to Turkey, where a full tank can cost more than a domestic plane ticket.

Taxes and subsidies are the main reasons for the differences, along with lesser factors such as limited oil refining capacity and hard-to-reach geography that push up prices.

"I don't know why it is but... it hurts," says Marie Penucci, a violinist filling up her Volkswagen at an Esso station on the bypass that rings Paris.

As she pumped gas worth $9.66 a gallon she looked wistfully at a commuter climbing onto one of the city's cheap rent-a-bikes, an option not open to her since she travels long distances to perform.

High taxes in Europe and Japan have long accustomed consumers to staggering pump prices, which now are testing new pain thresholds — and it could have been even worse, if a strong euro hadn't cushioned some of the blow. As a result, plenty of European adults never even bother to learn to drive, preferring cheap mass transit to cumbersome cars.

Subsidies in emerging economies such as China and India, meanwhile, shield consumers but hurt governments, which must find a way to afford rising market prices for oil.

Increasingly, they can't. Indonesians are staging protests against shrinking gasoline subsidies in a nation where nearly half the population of 235 million lives on less than $2 a day. And there are now 887 million vehicles in the world, up from 553 million vehicles just 15 years ago, and on track to nearly double to a billion by 2012, according to London-based consultancy Global Insight.

In Europe, taxes are often the focus, since the high tax burden means crude itself is a smaller part of the burden.

"The pain of a rise in prices is much less in Europe, because we may be paying a lot more here, but the rise in a percentage sense is a lot smaller," said Julius Walker, oil analyst at the Paris-based International Energy Agency.

The United States, with its relatively low taxes, is considered to have retail prices closer to what energy data charts call the "real cost" of gasoline — which is closely linked to the price of oil.

So as oil prices have soared, average U.S. prices have gone up 144 percent in the past five years — from $1.67 in May 2003 to $4.02 a gallon this month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Over the same period, gas prices in France went up 117 percent to $9.66 a gallon.

Proposals by U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton to suspend federal gas taxes this summer would lower the price tag — but have little effect on the underlying oil price. French President Nicholas Sarkozy has urged the EU to cut value-added tax on fuel.

French fishermen and farmers, who need fuel for their trawlers and tractors, say their livelihoods are threatened by soaring prices and have blocked oil terminals around France and shipping traffic on the English Channel to demand government help. Italian, Portuguese and Spanish fisherman joined them and went on strike Friday. British and Bulgarian truckers are staging fuel protests, too.

Russia is proof that big oil-producing nations are not in any better shape when it comes to gasoline prices. Gas in the world's No. 2 oil producer runs about $3.68 a gallon — nearly that in the United States, where the average wage is about six times higher.

Much of the Russian cost comes from taxes, which run between 60 and 70 percent. Limited refining capacity and the costs of transporting gasoline across the country's vast expanse also push up prices.

Turkey faces similar problems — and even higher prices — $11.29 a gallon, which for a full tank in a midsize car can reach nearly $200, enough for a domestic plane ticket.

In China, government-mandated low retail gasoline prices have helped farmers and China's urban poor but also have hurt conservation. In the first four months of 2008, gasoline consumption was up 5.5 percent from the same period last year.

Venezuela, too, is a gas-guzzler's wonderland. A gallon costs just 12 cents and consumers are snapping up SUVs even as Americans are shunning them. Thanks to long-held government subsidies and plenty of oil, Venezuelans see cheap fuel as a birthright.

Some policymakers in less oil-flush nations look to Brazil's use of ethanol as a potential solution. Ethanol from sugarcane is widely available in the world's No. 1 sugar producer and its 190 million people. Eight out of every 10 new cars sold are flex-fuel models that run on pure ethanol, gas or any combination of the two. The price for ethanol in Sao Paulo is currently running about half the price of gas, which runs $5.67 per gallon.

In Japan, gas station owners say some customers aren't filling up their tanks all the way.

"It's been tough. I had to switch to regular gasoline from premium class," said Hiroyuki Kashiwabara, a company employee in his 50s whose monthly spending on gasoline has increased by nearly 10,000 yen ($96) over the last couple of months. "My salary doesn't change and I can't cut back on my spending on food or anything else."

Americans, too, are beginning to trim their hearty gas appetites.

"We're beginning to see a slowdown in the U.S. in gasoline demand in particular. That's not so visible in other parts of the world," the IEA's Walker said.

Jean-Marc Jancovici, a French engineer and co-author of a philosophical treatise called "Fill It Up, Please!" despairs rising thirst in the developing world for shrinking oil resources.

"The real question is ... how to save peace and democracy in this context," he asks.

His answer? To rich-country consumers, at least, he says: Pick up your bike and "stop being petroleum slaves."

Associated Press writers David Nowak in Moscow; Robin McDowell in Jakarta, Indonesia; Ian James in Caracas, Venezuela; Alan Clendenning in Brasilia, Brazil; Joe McDonald in Beijing; Mari Yamaguchi and Shino Yuasa in Tokyo; Ashok Sharma in New Delhi; and Franziska Scheven and A.J. Goldmann in Berlin contributed to this report.

Folks...it's time we STOP talking about new fuel alternatives and start doing something about it. We have the resources to move forward, yet it's that old mentality that's been conditioned to focus on one source, "oil" that has gotten us into this mess!

Let's explore water...Read more here!

Gas prices keep going up..up..and away!

Have we been spoiled, or should I say programmed to believe that oil is at our disposal on a whim, and that it's the only reliable energy source to fuel our lives? As a child growing up in the 70's I clearly remember waiting in the long gas lines about 50 cars or more deep with my dad in our wood paneled 1960's station wagon.

Wow!

Those days gasoline was scarce, so we were told, and prices went from .55 - .65 cents per gallon up to about .90 - $1.00 per gallon and folks were steamed to say the least.

I remember we were told that our "gas guzzlers" were the problem and we needed to resort to the newer emerging Japanese cars.

Is this starting to sound familiar so far?

Once again we're told that our "gas guzzlers" (SUV's) that were pushed on us by our own auto manufactures are the problem, and of course we're to blame. I say, let's once and for all develop our own source of fuel, and let's start with the all natural, ever plenty, and environmentally friendly, H2O.

Up...Up...and Away!!!

NEW YORK - The gasoline price record keeps getting broken with each passing day. AAA puts the national average for a gallon of regular at a record $3.95. It's jumped 35 cents in the past month and is 76-cents-a-gallon higher than a year ago.

If you need premium, it's also never been more expensive. The auto club says the national average for premium is $4.35. That's an 84-cent-a-gallon jump over last year.

Oil prices fell back Thursday ahead of a report expected to show U.S. inventories of crude and petroleum products grew last week.

Prices remained volatile, though, buffeted about by threats against Nigerian oil facilities, worries about falling gasoline demand in the U.S. and a strengthening U.S. dollar.

By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude contract for July delivery was down 65 cents at $130.38 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, July Brent crude fell 86 cents to $130.07 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Nymex July contract dipped below $126 a barrel Wednesday in New York before recovering to finish at $131.03, up $2.18. At its low in the floor session, oil was more than $9 off the record high it hit last week above $135 a barrel.

"Fears that soaring oil prices could damage demand continue to weigh on sentiment," said a report from research firm JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria.

The reversal from the floor session's close came with a renewed strengthening of the dollar and ahead of the U.S. Energy Department's inventory report, to be released later Thursday.

In the last couple of days, the dollar has rebounded against both the euro and yen, receiving some support Wednesday when the U.S. Commerce Department said orders to American factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell by a smaller-than-expected amount in April.

That was taken as a possible signal of a rebound in the slumping U.S. manufacturing sector and the dollar strengthened back above the 105 yen level, while the euro dropped below $1.56.

When the dollar declines, investors tend to buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation. But a stronger dollar makes oil more expensive to investors dealing in other currencies, and the tendency usually reverses.

Also, a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy research arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., indicated that U.S. crude oil stocks were expected to have grown 750,000 barrels in the week ended May 23.

The Platts survey also indicated analysts were expecting a build in U.S. gasoline stock of 400,000 barrels, and a build in distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, of 800,000 barrels.

Prices were still being supported, though, by further threats against Nigerian oil facilities. Those threats led investors in the U.S. to at least temporarily set aside concerns about falling gasoline demand.

On Wednesday, the Nigerian rebel group The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta threatened new attacks on oil installations to mark the one-year anniversary of President Umaru Yar'Adua's inauguration. A weekend attack by the group on an oil facility cut about 130,000 barrels of the nation's oil production, according to Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, in a research note.

News of disruptions in Nigeria, one of Africa's largest producers and a major U.S. supplier, have helped push oil prices higher over the past year.

That contended Wednesday with the growing belief that U.S. demand for gasoline is falling as the average retail pump prices approaches $4 a gallon ($1.05 per liter). That belief was supported by two new surveys showing Americans consuming less gasoline.

Demand for gasoline fell 5.5 percent last week compared to the same week last year, according to the weekly MasterCard SpendingPulse survey. The survey also found that, on average, demand over the past four weeks is off 6.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

A separate CreditCards.com survey of about 1,000 people found that more than half have cut back on their driving due to high fuel prices.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 2.08 cents to $3.8035 a gallon while gasoline prices were down 1.31 cents to $3.4345 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 1.9 cents to $12.014 per 1,000 cubic feet.

By JEFF KAROUB, AP Business Writer 2 hours, 45 minutes ago

DETROIT - Dale Fortin is getting a new kind of customer at his Detroit auto repair shop, customers who have not just been in a fender-bender or had a windshield smashed by a rock.

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The soaring price of crude oil has turned gas tanks into a cache of valuable booty, and Fortin has replaced several tanks punctured or drilled by thieves thirsting for the nearly $4-a-gallon fuel inside.

"That's the new fad," said the co-owner of Dearborn Auto Tech in Detroit. "I'd never seen it before gas got up this high."

While gas station drive-offs and siphoning are far more common methods of stealing gas, reports of tank and line puncturing are starting to trickle into police departments and repair shops across the country.

Some veteran mechanics and law enforcement officers say it's an unwelcome return of a crime they first saw during the Middle East oil embargo of the early 1970s.

Gasoline prices surged just before the long Memorial Day holiday weekend and crept a hair higher overnight Monday to a new record national average $3.937 for a gallon of regular, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

Given their height, Fortin said pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are more vulnerable to the thieves who puncture the tanks and use a container to catch the fuel.

Plastic tanks are typically the target, he said, since there is less chance of a catastrophic spark, and they are easier to drill into.

A design change may also be contributing to the preference for a drill rather than a syphoning hose. The tanks in many vehicles now have check balls, which prevent spills in a rollover accident. They also make siphoning more difficult.

In recent weeks, police in Denver arrested two suspects in connection with about a dozen cases of damaging tanks and stealing gas.

Denver Police Det. John White sees this "new way of siphoning gas" as a bigger problem.

"What made this particular method so dangerous and concerning for us was the way in which they were doing it — using cordless drills to puncture holes in these tanks," he said of the rash of cases his department has investigated this spring. "The heat, friction generated could have easily sparked a fire. It just made for a dangerous situation for the suspects and the community."

Tank puncturing has yet to reach the radar screens of law enforcement organizations such as the National Sheriffs' Association, or the Automotive Service Association, a group that represents independent garage operators.

Still, at least one insurance company has taken notice: AAA Mid-Atlantic issued a press release earlier this month that cited a case in April in Bethesda, Md., involving a thief who broke the fuel line underneath a car and sapped five gallons of gas. Montgomery County police said a bus in the same parking lot had 30 gallons of diesel stolen.

"These are crimes of opportunity," said AAA spokeswoman Catherine Rossi. "Right now, some people think that stealing gas is a way to get rich quick. It becomes a question of whether you're leaving yourself open to the possibility that someone can get to your car without being seen."

The cost of replacing a metal tank on passenger vehicles is between $300 and $400, and the plastic tank common on newer vehicles would be at least $500.

Bruce Burnham said thieves have hit the Budget Truck Rental business he owns in Shreveport, La., about a half-dozen times in the past three years. The thefts started shortly after Hurricane Katrina when prices spiked, then stopped for a while, then restarted about a year ago.

In some cases the gas lines have been cut; in others, gas has been pumped out. He figures he's lost at least a few thousand dollars in stolen fuel, repair costs and loss of rental fees.

Burnham said he has taken "extra measures to protect the vehicles," but declined to elaborate.

Gas and diesel aren't the only fuels being plundered. Restaurants from Berkeley, Calif., to Sedgwick, Kan., are reporting thefts of old cooking oil worth thousands of dollars. Cooking oil rustlers refine it into barrels of biofuel in backyard stills. Biodiesel can also be blended with petroleum diesel, and blends of the alternative fuel are now sold at 1,400 gas stations across the country.

Still, the theft of regular unleaded gasoline — the kind that leaves everyday drivers high and dry — is on the minds of more law enforcement agencies as prices rise.

Troy Police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said his suburban Detroit department this month received a report of a stored motor home whose tank was siphoned and drained of 50 gallons of gas. They also had several incidents last year in industrial parks where the gas tanks of vehicles were punctured.

"Gas is liquid gold these days, and has been for the last year-and-a-half," Scherlinck said. "I would anticipate seeing more of these kinds of incidents as the price continues to go up."