gas is now @2.89!
08-14-2005, 07:32 AM
#24
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its 3.36 for 91 just north of LA...about 2.70 in charlotte,nc
im still amazed at the amount of trucks i see. i still have a few friends with f250/2500 size trucks as daily drivers...300-400 a month in gas is just insane
luckily my commute to work is 2 miles
i spend about 100/month on gas at the most
im still amazed at the amount of trucks i see. i still have a few friends with f250/2500 size trucks as daily drivers...300-400 a month in gas is just insane
luckily my commute to work is 2 miles
i spend about 100/month on gas at the most
08-14-2005, 07:54 AM
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The part that gets me really angry about this is the profits the oil companies have been making. The last several years they have been setting record profits every quarter, with no end in sight. Too bad our government won't set price controls.
08-14-2005, 08:57 AM
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Oil is running out.
And oil, like all goods, follow the laws of supply and demand. Supply becomes stagnant + rising demand = high prices. From the supply side, there is simply not much more slack to give. The biggest proven oil reserves are all exploited already. There may be some reserves that are still out there, but finding/using them will be at the cost of destroying fragile wildlife and maybe even entire ecosystems. And even if we discover every last drop of oil on Earth, we will use it up - all of it. So tackling this issue from the supply side is a simple-minded solution that merely delays the inevitable. And we don't even need to get in the discussion about what burning oil does to the environment.
Other solutions that are aimed at increasing supply are promising, but all come with added costs (money cost, environmental cost, etc.). Best example is corn oil as the "next" fuel source. Sounds great on paper - grow bunch of corn and have ourselves endless supply of fuel... yeehaw? But what do you need to grow corn?
1) Water (let's all get thirsty)
2) Land (how about min. $2000/mo. for rent?)
3) Fertilizers in the soil, nature and artificial (chemicals sound yummy)
It is clearly not much of a solution.
Sure, there are energy sources that burns clean and can last much longer - solar, hydrogen cell etc. etc.
But there are ALWAYS cost associated with consumption - maintaining the roads, manufacturing new cars and so on.
So, in any case, the ONLY solution is to stop the rising demand - or even better, lower it.
This solution is much more difficult, people never like less of something, and this involves making choices that will make life harder, not easier. And this is also something that require everyone to do it together - and I can not recall the last time we all agree on something of this scale.
Anyhow, to start
1) All SUV drivers out there - there is no need to sell your SUV (will just go to someone else) or set it on fire (pollutant). Rather, make a conscience decision to drive it LESS. No other vehicle to drive? Hell, if you can afford a Hummer, you can pick up the cost of a Tercel, right?
2) For the regular car drivers - drive LESS anyways. Walking is out of fashion, but trust me, it is very good for you. Too lazy to walk? Take the bus, car-pool, get a bike, crawl... there are always a way to get around.
3) For all - tell your neighbor/friends/family about energy. Try to convince them not to buy something energy inefficient. The S is on the borderline, I would consider anything with worse MPG as gas-guzzling.
To sum this up - energy consumption we are accustomed to today will not be around anymore soon, most likely within most of our lifetimes. Even if it is a problem of tomorrow, our children will have to face the consequences eventually. Why not start today and conserve energy? Turn off that light when you are not using it, walk instead of drive, buy less in general etc. etc. Every little bit counts, and hopefully, a national effort will actually work. Am I completely energy-conscience? No... my A4 eats gas and I commute 20mi ea. way to work, but I try to do the RIGHT thing whenever I can (ie. when I actually had a choice in where to live when working at Duke, I freaking walked to work every day!).
Finally drilling in Alaska is a no-no, I rather pay more for gas or drive less so my children can still see the wildlife. I am aware of the arguments by oil companies about how drilling can actually be "good" for the animals - don't take my word for it, feel free to ask any environmental scientist knowledgable in this issue, and decide for yourself who is dishing out the BS.
And oil, like all goods, follow the laws of supply and demand. Supply becomes stagnant + rising demand = high prices. From the supply side, there is simply not much more slack to give. The biggest proven oil reserves are all exploited already. There may be some reserves that are still out there, but finding/using them will be at the cost of destroying fragile wildlife and maybe even entire ecosystems. And even if we discover every last drop of oil on Earth, we will use it up - all of it. So tackling this issue from the supply side is a simple-minded solution that merely delays the inevitable. And we don't even need to get in the discussion about what burning oil does to the environment.
Other solutions that are aimed at increasing supply are promising, but all come with added costs (money cost, environmental cost, etc.). Best example is corn oil as the "next" fuel source. Sounds great on paper - grow bunch of corn and have ourselves endless supply of fuel... yeehaw? But what do you need to grow corn?
1) Water (let's all get thirsty)
2) Land (how about min. $2000/mo. for rent?)
3) Fertilizers in the soil, nature and artificial (chemicals sound yummy)
It is clearly not much of a solution.
Sure, there are energy sources that burns clean and can last much longer - solar, hydrogen cell etc. etc.
But there are ALWAYS cost associated with consumption - maintaining the roads, manufacturing new cars and so on.
So, in any case, the ONLY solution is to stop the rising demand - or even better, lower it.
This solution is much more difficult, people never like less of something, and this involves making choices that will make life harder, not easier. And this is also something that require everyone to do it together - and I can not recall the last time we all agree on something of this scale.
Anyhow, to start
1) All SUV drivers out there - there is no need to sell your SUV (will just go to someone else) or set it on fire (pollutant). Rather, make a conscience decision to drive it LESS. No other vehicle to drive? Hell, if you can afford a Hummer, you can pick up the cost of a Tercel, right?
2) For the regular car drivers - drive LESS anyways. Walking is out of fashion, but trust me, it is very good for you. Too lazy to walk? Take the bus, car-pool, get a bike, crawl... there are always a way to get around.
3) For all - tell your neighbor/friends/family about energy. Try to convince them not to buy something energy inefficient. The S is on the borderline, I would consider anything with worse MPG as gas-guzzling.
To sum this up - energy consumption we are accustomed to today will not be around anymore soon, most likely within most of our lifetimes. Even if it is a problem of tomorrow, our children will have to face the consequences eventually. Why not start today and conserve energy? Turn off that light when you are not using it, walk instead of drive, buy less in general etc. etc. Every little bit counts, and hopefully, a national effort will actually work. Am I completely energy-conscience? No... my A4 eats gas and I commute 20mi ea. way to work, but I try to do the RIGHT thing whenever I can (ie. when I actually had a choice in where to live when working at Duke, I freaking walked to work every day!).
Finally drilling in Alaska is a no-no, I rather pay more for gas or drive less so my children can still see the wildlife. I am aware of the arguments by oil companies about how drilling can actually be "good" for the animals - don't take my word for it, feel free to ask any environmental scientist knowledgable in this issue, and decide for yourself who is dishing out the BS.
08-14-2005, 09:09 AM
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Originally Posted by Tugz_S2K,Aug 14 2005, 07:08 AM
Stop COMPLAINING!!...
Been to Europe Lately?
Been to Europe Lately?
We have a guy here on a temp work visa from our sister studio in Paris, and he can't get over how cheap gas is in the states. Compared to most other developed countries, we're still paying a lot less.
And if these high prices make more folks get serious about car pooling and such, then that's a good thing.
08-14-2005, 09:16 AM
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Originally Posted by DukeBoy27,Aug 14 2005, 08:57 AM
Oil is running out.
And oil, like all goods, follow the laws of supply and demand. Supply becomes stagnant + rising demand = high prices. From the supply side, there is simply not much more slack to give. The biggest proven oil reserves are all exploited already. There may be some reserves that are still out there, but finding/using them will be at the cost of destroying fragile wildlife and maybe even entire ecosystems. And even if we discover every last drop of oil on Earth, we will use it up - all of it. So tackling this issue from the supply side is a simple-minded solution that merely delays the inevitable. And we don't even need to get in the discussion about what burning oil does to the environment.
Other solutions that are aimed at increasing supply are promising, but all come with added costs (money cost, environmental cost, etc.). Best example is corn oil as the "next" fuel source. Sounds great on paper - grow bunch of corn and have ourselves endless supply of fuel... yeehaw? But what do you need to grow corn?
1) Water (let's all get thirsty)
2) Land (how about min. $2000/mo. for rent?)
3) Fertilizers in the soil, nature and artificial (chemicals sound yummy)
It is clearly not much of a solution.
Sure, there are energy sources that burns clean and can last much longer - solar, hydrogen cell etc. etc.
But there are ALWAYS cost associated with consumption - maintaining the roads, manufacturing new cars and so on.
So, in any case, the ONLY solution is to stop the rising demand - or even better, lower it.
This solution is much more difficult, people never like less of something, and this involves making choices that will make life harder, not easier. And this is also something that require everyone to do it together - and I can not recall the last time we all agree on something of this scale.
Anyhow, to start
1) All SUV drivers out there - there is no need to sell your SUV (will just go to someone else) or set it on fire (pollutant). Rather, make a conscience decision to drive it LESS. No other vehicle to drive? Hell, if you can afford a Hummer, you can pick up the cost of a Tercel, right?
2) For the regular car drivers - drive LESS anyways. Walking is out of fashion, but trust me, it is very good for you. Too lazy to walk? Take the bus, car-pool, get a bike, crawl... there are always a way to get around.
3) For all - tell your neighbor/friends/family about energy. Try to convince them not to buy something energy inefficient. The S is on the borderline, I would consider anything with worse MPG as gas-guzzling.
To sum this up - energy consumption we are accustomed to today will not be around anymore soon, most likely within most of our lifetimes. Even if it is a problem of tomorrow, our children will have to face the consequences eventually. Why not start today and conserve energy? Turn off that light when you are not using it, walk instead of drive, buy less in general etc. etc. Every little bit counts, and hopefully, a national effort will actually work. Am I completely energy-conscience? No... my A4 eats gas and I commute 20mi ea. way to work, but I try to do the RIGHT thing whenever I can (ie. when I actually had a choice in where to live when working at Duke, I freaking walked to work every day!).
Finally drilling in Alaska is a no-no, I rather pay more for gas or drive less so my children can still see the wildlife. I am aware of the arguments by oil companies about how drilling can actually be "good" for the animals - don't take my word for it, feel free to ask any environmental scientist knowledgable in this issue, and decide for yourself who is dishing out the BS.
And oil, like all goods, follow the laws of supply and demand. Supply becomes stagnant + rising demand = high prices. From the supply side, there is simply not much more slack to give. The biggest proven oil reserves are all exploited already. There may be some reserves that are still out there, but finding/using them will be at the cost of destroying fragile wildlife and maybe even entire ecosystems. And even if we discover every last drop of oil on Earth, we will use it up - all of it. So tackling this issue from the supply side is a simple-minded solution that merely delays the inevitable. And we don't even need to get in the discussion about what burning oil does to the environment.
Other solutions that are aimed at increasing supply are promising, but all come with added costs (money cost, environmental cost, etc.). Best example is corn oil as the "next" fuel source. Sounds great on paper - grow bunch of corn and have ourselves endless supply of fuel... yeehaw? But what do you need to grow corn?
1) Water (let's all get thirsty)
2) Land (how about min. $2000/mo. for rent?)
3) Fertilizers in the soil, nature and artificial (chemicals sound yummy)
It is clearly not much of a solution.
Sure, there are energy sources that burns clean and can last much longer - solar, hydrogen cell etc. etc.
But there are ALWAYS cost associated with consumption - maintaining the roads, manufacturing new cars and so on.
So, in any case, the ONLY solution is to stop the rising demand - or even better, lower it.
This solution is much more difficult, people never like less of something, and this involves making choices that will make life harder, not easier. And this is also something that require everyone to do it together - and I can not recall the last time we all agree on something of this scale.
Anyhow, to start
1) All SUV drivers out there - there is no need to sell your SUV (will just go to someone else) or set it on fire (pollutant). Rather, make a conscience decision to drive it LESS. No other vehicle to drive? Hell, if you can afford a Hummer, you can pick up the cost of a Tercel, right?
2) For the regular car drivers - drive LESS anyways. Walking is out of fashion, but trust me, it is very good for you. Too lazy to walk? Take the bus, car-pool, get a bike, crawl... there are always a way to get around.
3) For all - tell your neighbor/friends/family about energy. Try to convince them not to buy something energy inefficient. The S is on the borderline, I would consider anything with worse MPG as gas-guzzling.
To sum this up - energy consumption we are accustomed to today will not be around anymore soon, most likely within most of our lifetimes. Even if it is a problem of tomorrow, our children will have to face the consequences eventually. Why not start today and conserve energy? Turn off that light when you are not using it, walk instead of drive, buy less in general etc. etc. Every little bit counts, and hopefully, a national effort will actually work. Am I completely energy-conscience? No... my A4 eats gas and I commute 20mi ea. way to work, but I try to do the RIGHT thing whenever I can (ie. when I actually had a choice in where to live when working at Duke, I freaking walked to work every day!).
Finally drilling in Alaska is a no-no, I rather pay more for gas or drive less so my children can still see the wildlife. I am aware of the arguments by oil companies about how drilling can actually be "good" for the animals - don't take my word for it, feel free to ask any environmental scientist knowledgable in this issue, and decide for yourself who is dishing out the BS.
here's where you belong on this topic...www.epa.gov
Approaching this problem from the supply side is practical, not simple-minded.
Humans are much more uncontrolable than natural resources.
which entire ecosystem will be destroyed if we tap into the reserves that you're not sure even exist???
most of the land corn is grown on doesn't go for the price of a Manhattan apartment by the way.
the corn used for fuel doesn't need to be yummy..grown organically it could surely propel a vehicle just as well as some with butter and salt!
A significany number of the type of people driving Hummers probably couldn't afford a Tercel actually. They've overextended themselves financially. They probably financed the gas hog...these are the type of people who spend more money than they have! Rich people don't drive Hummers! (unless your source of income is from athletics or rapping)
Walking is great but it's not an option for many people in the US. It's just not doable. Don't get me on the walking. I logged about 3000 miles last year on the AT!
Finally, do you and your children go to Alaska much?
Hopefully, you're not too sensitive I'm just having fun and I'm pretty sure bringing some valid points at the same time.
