Is the War in Iraq a war for oil?
What is it going to take to get the public motivated about conserving fuel?
Are the gasoline companies really going to let their sales be split in half with the rise of the hybrids?

Absolutely. We wouldn't be in Iraq if there wasn't oil there.

$5 per gallon of gasoline. Can't happen fast enough.

Won't happen.

natescape,

Are we even getting any oil, though? Last I checked, Bush made sure to mention that the Iraqis would have it all.

Do you actually believe that we'd hand over control of the oil to the Iraqis? I sure don't. And even if we do give control of the oil infrastructure to the Iraqis (after we give Cheney's buddies at Haliburton a tens of billions or so to rebuild it), they'll still be in our pockets.

We HAD to do it. Saudi Arabia is walking on the edge of a knife, where one false step will lead to an extreme fundamentalist regime that won't be too friendly to the US. Plus, China and India are going to demand more and more oil as we progress, and we need a toehold in the Middle East to exercise political and miltary might to keep the rude crude flowing so we could continue our suburban SUV nightmare. :(

OK, the end there was a bit radical. But we absolutely would NOT be there if there wasn't oil to be had and if we weren't so addicted to it.

Last I read, the US itself is not actually getting Iraqi oil, but still has an interest in it. Mideast oil supplies pretty much all the countries around it including Europe and Japan. If something happens to those resources, then our resources get drained faster and very bad things happen. It would not surprise me if oil-man Bush looked into getting his hands on their oil, seeing articles like this are not comforting.

It's a disturbing article, but one has to wonder about the writer ...

I found this sentence to be indicative:
"In the same four-year stretch, smaller 4-cylinder installations fell from nearly 27 percent to 25.3 percent."

So, 4 cylinders nearly 27%, so probably 26.8 or 26.9? So they fell less than two percent? That statement could be accounted for when you see that more cars were manufactured each year, only the percentage of marketshare fell ... or perhaps they even increased the number of units but V8s increased more. You see what I mean? It seems like the writer is trying to mold the statistics into his thesis.

Also, I noted that he didn't make much mention about the difference between car standards for emissions and trucks.

well yah know...%23 of all statistics are made up....

Couldn't agree more - the $5/gal gas thing I have been saying since maybe 1985. It's the ONLY way we are going to get anything other than "intersting" cars like the Prius and others off the ground as anything more than just a fringe item.

I still have hopes for Hydrogen, but the generation issue is just too tough a nut to crack just yet. I hope it won't be too long though.

Jack