Price of oil has jumped 300% since Clinton left office

Have read a few places tonight that it was $22.50 per barrel just when George W. Bush was sworn in. It's now $66 a barrel and only going up.

Funny thing is, Bush chided Clinton back in 2000 about the escalating price of oil. What does he make of a 300% jump in it on his watch, then?

The only reason I'm up right now posting about this is because lately I've been doing a lot of study on petroleum production and possible alternatives to gasoline. I'm inclined to believe that the point of Peak Oil has now arrived and we are seeing the beginning of a rapidly dwindling supply of crude (or at least the readily-refinable "sweet" variety) that cannot meet escalating demand (especially from India and China, where petroleum demands are beginning to vastly outstrip those of the United States). Two possibilities exist from this point forward: a drastic change of lifestyle as formerly plentiful liquid fuels "dry up", or look for other forms of liquid fuel that might be used in already existing engines with some modification. Primary problem here is that many gasoline alternatives - such as ethanol - do not have the energy potential of "fossil fuels".

The best recourse we might be faced with would be a conversion to biodiesel as soon as possible. But I don't know how easy (or even feasible) it would be to convert a gasoline engine to diesel (which could run most biodiesel with no problems). Can anyone enlighten me as to whether this is possible? 'Cuz some interesting stuff I'm reading suggests that if we could do this, if current research bears out we could produce more than enough bio-derived energy to meet not only current demands but those of the next several decades.

So the good news is there is hope if we are almost out of petroleum. But it's gonna take a little bit of effort to make it work... if it's indeed possible.