High Gasoline Prices

    Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, an online site for gasoline consumers, has named several reasons why gasoline prices are now high. I will address each of these with my suggestions for correction.

Recent Refinery Fires - He mentions Chevron in California and another in the Great Lakes area.    These were accidents which seem to be attributed to worn or outmoded facilities, rather than negligence in operation. New refineries have not been built for many years and the old equipment is in later stages of decay.
    The solution is to modernize present refineries, with replacement of equipment as necessary and also to build new refineries. The difficulty is that the profit margin in refining is so low as to make such investment unviable. That means addressing each of the negative portions, contributing to such unprofitability.

Not in My Backyard - Residents generally do not want a refinery geographically close to them, because of obnoxious odors, risk of explosive danger, and destruction of the residential ambiance.
    Refineries are an operation that pay local taxes. Tax receipts from a refinery could be used to lower taxes of residential properties in the immediate vicinity. This would likely help convince residents to accept a local refinery.

General Business Regulations - These involve numerous mandates from the federal and sometimes from the state or local governments. Examples are wage and hour laws for labor, environmental restrictions imposed by the EPA, and OSHA standards for safety.
    While some of the above regulations are generally of value, most business people and some private individuals agree it has been overdone. Business restrictions should generally be reviewed and eliminated wherever reasonable.

High Crude Oil Prices - This comes about primarily because of crude oil import.
    Reduce the necessity of crude oil imports by eliminating the federal government's fostering development of renewable energy by restricting local production of oil and gas. Tapping oil resources in Alaska and the continental shelf of the US would make us less dependent on expensive crude imports. Ancillary to that is working with Canada on pipeline importations.

Ethanol - Congress has mandated that every gallon of gasoline must contain 10% ethanol.    This mostly has a hidden tax, because of federal subsidies in the production of ethanol from corn. Therefore, it is not usually a direct increased cost of gasoline from a refinery. However, the recent drought has increased corn prices significantly, which in turn increases the price of ethanol and the price to the refinery.
    Congress should eliminate this ridiculous ethanol mandate.

Sadoway's New Battery

   An associate pointed out to me the existence of a YouTube presentation by David Sadoway, in which he describes the invention of a new-type battery.
    I replied as follows:    James,
    There are several ways to store electricity, in order to have a continuous supply when the initial generation is intermittent, such as only when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.
    All of these are storage devices or procedures by which the electricity can be recalled when needed.
    The first is rechargeable batteries. It operates on the same basis as putting food in your refrigerator and periodically using it. When the supply runs down you restock the refrigerator.
    Another is to use the electricity to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen. You store the gases and when you need electricity, you reburn them in a fuel cell.
    Another is to use the electricity to pump water to a higher elevation. When electricity is needed, the water is allowed to flow down through turbines to regenerate electricity. The second portion is well known as hydroelectric power from traditional reservoirs. However, the whole process is used in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where water is pumped to a reservoir on a mountaintop.
    Another process is to use electricity to turn a huge flywheel. The moving flywheel can then generate electricity back. This is rather abstract and probably not very practical.
    A lot of work is being done on rechargeable batteries, in view of the Obama Administration's interest in electric cars. There have been some good advances, and Sadoway's battery may be a significant achievement. Batteries have the advantage over the other processes in that they are considerably more portable. However, they may not be the most efficient for stationary power supplies, such as household electricity service. We will have to see how the technology develops with respect to economics. We must also remember that the standard process of generating a continuing supply of electricity from burning coal or natural gas in public utilities is presently more economical, as compared to solar and wind, which we have already pointed out has the disadvantage of unreliability.