My 5000 pound 63 chevy belair with a 283 got 22 mpg, was large enough for my girl friend and myself to stretch out across the front seat with the doors closed. Could haul 6 adults comfortably 8 or 9 in a pinch and had enough room for massive amounts of luggage in the trunk.
The difference....no massive amounts of frills. The AC only worked when I turned it on. Many of todays vehicles run the AC pump all of the time. the engine/drive train was simple...but had enough punch to run pretty well.
My geo metro gets 40-45 mpg, but is tiny. I only drive it for the mileage.
As far as oil/energy goes. There is a large amount of oil in the world. There is a large demand for it. It makes no sense for the oil industry to build more refineries, because they don't get any return from the investment. If you build more refineries, the price will dip. leave them alone and the price is kept up making the product more profitable.
The origin of hydrocarbons in the crust has been debated for a while. there is a school of thought that its existance is a remnant of the hydrocarbons that were present when the earth formed. The fossil fuel idea is tough to prove when there isn't a single place on the earth known to be replenishing the supply. If it is indeed a result of biological processes, it makes sense that that process, or a vestage of it should exist somewhere.
The price is close to the break even point where some inventors/crackpots will come up with alternatives. The idea that electrolysis is the only way to produce H2 is uninformed. There are several ways to produce it some with catylists that enable H2 to be liberated from water just simply by heating it hot enough. For wind generation, @#$%&'s will eventually cave when their lights don't work or they can no longer afford them.
Invest in farm land now and buy property in western Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska where the wind blows and blows and start your own wind farms
My $0.02 worth
SAM
