Subsidies
Really good piece. One way to equilibrate market prices with EROI is end all the overt subsidies and clean up the tax code with a fewer options on depreciation.
An overlooked fact is all the other distillates that come from a barrel of conventional oil. The refining companies need high gas consumption to subsidize the manufacture and sale of other distillates. If people drove less or even not at all, then gasoline would be a waste product from the production of all the other distillates. Thus gasoline consumption distorts the cost of the other distillates. The interesting implication of this is that government subsidized free roadways are a net subsidy to the production of other distillates. If roads were metered (tolled) per their actual usage by individual drivers, people would drive less and subsidize the other distillates less.
