My New Favorite Energy Equation

A = Collapsing demand for SUVs and Trucks
B = Insatiable demand for hybrids and EVs
C = Price of oil
D = Destabilized Middle East
E = Federally-mandated pollution controls on electric plants
F = Affordable, powerful electric cars

Sales Plunge as Automakers Are Hit Hard by High Gas Prices
The economic slowdown and high gasoline prices hit the carmakers hard last month.
Sales were down 28 percent at the Ford Motor Company, 21 percent at Toyota and 18 percent at General Motors and Nissan. G.M.’s numbers were considerably better than expected, and its shares soared 12 percent on the news, after falling 6 percent earlier Tuesday.
- New York Times
Wed. July 2, 2008

Demand for hybrids leads to waiting lists
Manufacturers of gas-electric hybrid vehicles cannot keep up with the growing demand that is tied to $4-a-gallon gas prices. That means customers usually must get on months-long waiting lists if they want one.
- Austin American Statesman
Tue. June 24, 2008

Speculation, weak dollar add $45 to oil prices: OPEC
Oil cartel OPEC on Tuesday said speculators and a weak US dollar have contributed $45 a barrel to push the international crude oil prices to a high of $142 a barrel...(and) also said its raising the production was not a solution to the high prices. "Almost 60 per cent of that (price increase in one year) is due to combination of dollar devaluation and speculation," OPEC President Chakib Khelil told reporters on sidelines of the 19th World Petroleum Congress in Madrid.
- Agence France Presse
Wed. July 02, 2008 (Madrid)

Oil Rises on IEA Supply Warning, Concern Israel May Attack Iran
International Energy Agency said supplies may not keep up with demand through 2013 and ABC News reported Israel is increasingly likely to attack Iran this year. The IEA said in a report that spare OPEC capacity will shrink by 2013, keeping the market ``tight.'' Israel may bomb Iran if OPEC's second-largest producer acquires enough enriched uranium to build a weapon, potentially threatening Mideast supplies, ABC said, citing an unidentified Pentagon official.
- Bloomberg.com
Tue. July 1, 2008


Georgia Judge Cites Carbon Dioxide in Denying Coal Plant Permit
In the ruling released late Monday afternoon, a state judge relied on a decision by the Supreme Court last year that carbon dioxide could be regulated as a pollutant... But the judge, Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore in Superior Court in Fulton County, Ga., said that federal air pollution control laws required pollution permits to cover all pollutants that could be regulated under the Clean Air Act, not just those for which there is “a separate, general numerical limitation.
- NYT
Wed. July 2, 2008

Tesla confirms Model S sedan, 225-mile range and $60k
...Tesla to continue its production of vehicles in the Golden State, specifically the start-up's second vehicle, codenamed the Model S, which according to Tesla, get 225 miles on a single charge and cost $60,000.
- Autoblog.com
Mon. June 30th 2008