Firefox addon test

It has been a long while since I updated or posted anything to this blog. At present I am testing the scribe fire addon for Firefox.

Fuel Bank; could this Idea work? Part 2

Looks like someone beat me to the idea...I don't feel bad though, because it doesn't mean more people can't get in on the business. The company behind this start way back in 1982 which just blows my mind. You can find the company's website here. Great minds think alike even when one of them is like ....26 years behind...lol...sheesh...

Fuel Bank; could this Idea work?

The present situation with oil and gas prices got me thinking about ways to help mitigate the exposure to rising prices. The most obvious method is to buy in bulk and then use that fuel until the price drops below your buy rate. I think most people would be ok with doing this if the storage of fuel was not such a pain in the ass to deal with. Laws associated with the EPA and other OSHA related organizations make keeping fuel around your home very difficult indeed, and to be fair the safety issues are enough to make even those with the steeliest nerves sweat like a stuck pig in summer. Still the idea is very attractive so I did a little research and found the following information on above ground storage devices for fuel with capacities up to several thousand gallons. The average American family uses about 900 gallons per year so a one thousand gallon unit would work for most people.

http://www.convault.com/finishes.html

This would not look too unattractive next to my drive way, but it would still be pretty impractical when you consider security. It would be way too exposed to vandalism and theft. It occurs to me that this idea lends itself well to niche market business. I visualize it working in one of two ways…

1. By re-utilizing a closed down gas station / convenience store. I have the fuel company come by and fuel my underground storage tanks. The station works just like a normal one with one exception. It pays for the fuel it receives all up front. The fuel is then sold in bulk to customers that own a storage account. Once the customer pays for the fuel he owns it and we store it. His Debit card has the number of prepaid gallons on it, so when he comes in to fill up that is what he uses at the pump. We would likely have to charge a small monthly fee to cover the cost of storage. We could also open a store and could make decent revenue from retail sales like a Circle K or 7-Eleven. The only people using the station would be the ones that have an account at that branch. This means you have to buy gas when you take long trips, but it is still a lot better than being gouged every time the cost of oil ticks up.
2. Convert a U-Store it facility to house the individual fuel storage tanks and rent them out to consumers. This is a lot more attractive for a lot of reasons. We could also run a retail store on site and provide account holders a way to purchase in bulk. We may be able to save them even more money by pooling together to get more leverage in our dealings. The “bankers” could then focus on brokering the best price for fuel and go as far as purchasing it from distributors out of country. Its not like American companies feel any sense of loyalty to us, no reason not to buy foreign if it gives us an advantage.

Gee Mister Wizard can we turn big Oil companies into turtles?

I love the way big oil can twist the "free market" into the best excuse to rape the average working American. Some of what they say could make sense..."Demand is driving the price higher, if Americans used less then the price would come down. The market is setting the price." Really? You want me to swallow that? The fat cat oil baron isn't setting the price? Look, greed is the driving force behind these price decisions pure and simple. You cant get record profits without charging record prices and getting record margins. How about an example... Yesterday I stopped by my local QT in the morning to get some coffee and top off my tank. The price was 4.05...it was about 7 AM. That afternoon I drove be the same QT on my way home and the price for the same fuel was 4.15...Huh? The price of the fuel that was already in the ground went up 10 cents? The cost of a barrel of oil went up 10 bucks that day in trading so naturally the cost of fuel that was already refined and distributed skyrocketed! Still think that we aren't being gouged? People we are being "fucked like we are hated" plain and simple. Large companies have all of the rights of the individual with none of the social responsibilities. Big oil is not acting in a neighborly fashion my friends...not at all. What do you think would happen if I were to wait around for the next natural disaster and setup shop selling potable water and food stuffs to the victims for around 600% profit? Water could sell for up to 10 dollars a gallon in that situation...it's what the market would bear right? They would waste no time at all throwing my brown ass in jail. Exxon, Chevron and rest do not deserve any tax breaks at all, what have they done with them to begin with? Not much at all, no innovation on the replacement of fossil fuels, they haven't been lobbying enough to open up more drilling in the US and do they really have any motivation to do so when they are looking at record profits? The real problem here is that the common working man has no other choices, public transportation is a joke in most of this country. In Phoenix it's almost impossible to get to work using the bus system. I can't purchase a vehicle that runs on anything but gas or believe me I would. We need to put all of the resources at our disposal at finding alternatives to oil, and we need to make damn sure that the same old bastards that have their foot on the throat of the American people don't get control of it.