Today I am a bit off of the direct automotive topics but this does indirectly affect the automotive world because 99% of the cars, trucks, and SUV’s on the road today in America use some type of Gas fuel that comes from oil. I won’t bore you with restating the fact that some people propose that they lift the ban on offshore drilling (for oil)… you can read about that on cnn.com. The big question I have for you is do you really think they should lift this ban and will it really “help” us? Some say that this will not even affect the gas prices until 5 years later if the ban was eliminated NOW. That means they start drilling today and then maybe 5 years from today you may see the price of gas come down from $10 a gallon… yea, I am thinking in 5 years the price will be around $10 to $15 a gallon at the rate we are going now. If you don’t think this is an answer then let us know what should be done. If you think this is an answer then let us know why.

I can tell you my opinion but then again I don’t want to cause an argument over the internet… but since someone will eventually say it in the comments then why not. Here goes… I think the offshore drilling deal is not the answer. I think it is very risky in further harming our environment. I think we need to start NOW with rolling out more new alternatives so we have time to adapt. It will take America a long time to adapt to new technologies and alternatives not to mention lots of money on the part of investors, the government and consumers. We have taken too many small steps in the past. Just like hybrid cars, yes, they may be great and all but it is only a small step. We need bigger steps and more of our CURRENT technology to be utilized so that we may have some relief at the gas pump SOON. Not to mention, we need to clean up our act, in America we consume way too much and leave a very big dirty footprint on our environment.Let’s just face our reality right now head-on. It will be several years before we have any permanent relief at the gas pump. We need more car companies, government officials and consumers to consider moving to alternatives such as the new Honda FCX Clarity that is on its way to America to be sold eventually as a main-stream car. There are several other viable alternatives available as well. That in its self is a much bigger step than a Toyota Prius. Look at the facts, a Toyota Prius still uses gasoline, yet a smaller amount that any other gas burning car that you can buy at a dealership, but you are still paying $4 or more a gallon to fill its tank. Im not knocking the Toyota by any means, if I was able to purchase one right now and sell my SUV for a good price I would.

What about being GREEN? A lot of people want to become “green” all-off-a-sudden because they are paying almost $100 to fill their big SUV every week or so? Have we dug a bigger hole than we thought? Can we fill this hole in enough time so that we are able to keep our house and current lifestyle? What should America do? What have you done to cope? Let us know, we want to hear from you!

Feel free to post your comments below.

This post is open for discussion and the site editors will pop in their opinion at times.

Before you get all excited about gas at $.85 a gallon, we want to break it to you easy. GM is going to foot the bill on setting up a E85 gas station in Los Angeles, CA. The Governator is all so proud of this because he knows, “I’ll be back”… to the pump that is, when around 46,000 flex-fuel vehicles in the area can take advantage of the E85 Ethanol. The catch is… you can ONLY get the E85 gas at 85 cent a gallon between noon and 2pm on February 26th. Better mark that in your calendar you “flex fuel car driver” you!

For now, at least, E85 is almost impossible to find at gas stations outside the central Midwest. Until E85 becomes more widely available, most flex-fuel vehicles will just burn gasoline.

Purchase costs: Adds no cost to the vehicle

Efficiency: When running on gasoline, no difference. When running on ethanol, fuel efficiency is reduced by about 15 percent

Fuel costs: The cost if E85 fluctuates independently of gasoline but, at the moment, it costs less. Because of E85′s poorer fuel economy, though, using E85 exclusively would cost you several hundred dollars more per year, based on EPA estimates.

Performance: No difference when running on gasoline. When running on E85, the vehicle will have a small increase in peak horsepower, but the difference will be undetectable to most drivers.

Greenhouse gases: No difference when running on gasoline; Since a vehicle needs to burn more fuel when running on E85, more CO2 is released. However, there should be little net production of CO2, theoretically, at least, since burning plant-based ethanol releases only carbon that had recently been absorbed by the plants used to make the fuel.

Other pollution: E85 burns more cleanly than gasoline so, in spite of burning more fuel per mile, produces about the same amount smog-forming pollutants as gasoline.

The future: Cellulosic ethanol, which could be made from plant parts not normally used for food, could greatly increase the supply of ethanol, which may allow it to supplant a significant portion of the petroleum-based fuel now used in cars.

Ethanol is a fuel derived mainly from corn in the U.S., and its high demand has led to price hikes in everything from an ear of corn to milk and steak. Ford is trying to address this issue by testing hybrid FlexFuel vehicles such as the new Ford Escape FlexFuel Hybrid which they will be testing about 20 of them by fleet customers. We may never get our hands on one of these. We never want to force