Gas Prices rising. What will you do?

[CyberGuy]

Washing post reports that Gas will rise on average to $3.50 A gallon and will hit $4 a gallon in some areas.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022901434.html

What do you plan to do this summer with those higher gas prices.

This means higher airline tickets

Higher fuel costs to drive.

So what will you do.

Walk more?

Invest in a motorCycle?

Invest in a Hybred car?

Eat less?

[CyberGuy]

If prices get to bad I am investing in a good Bike. Not a motorcycle but the type ones peddles. I live three miles from work and It would take 12 minutes to bike to work. I could do that. Shopping would be more of a chore.

I guess this means eating out less and cutting back on those weekend getaways.

[David Koot]

Bruce, that sounds like a pretty fast time biking it in the Riverside smog. I remember it well. 15 mph sustained or avg for 12 minutes would be a pretty decent workout. Prolly need a shower when you get to work lolol.

[CyberGuy]

I only need to travel about 2 1/2 miles. I think I can cover that in 15 minutes. That would be only 10 MPH but up one hill and down again. Yes we have a showers in the warehouse if I need that. As for smog it is not as bad as it used to be. With stingent catalytic converters on cars and highpriced highly refined fuels there is less smog now with twice as many cars on te road than there was 25 years ago.

Most of the year it would be pleasant. Some days it would be raining or just to hot. Those days I would drive. I only need to fill up once every two weeks if I do not drive much on weekends. Still it costs me 40 dollars to fill up where it used to cost me 25 dollars.

[Gerr]

I don't have much choice but buy the fuel. I have a Bluetech diesel and gets 37 mi/gal on the highway, and about 32 local driving, which I think is almost as good as any of the best hybrids. It still hurts though when I spend $65 to fill up. The oil producing nations and the oil companies can pretty much dictate what price they want to charge. It is a diminishing commodity.

We have the largest coal deposits on this planet. It boggles my mind that we are not looking for a technology that could convert it to gas & diesel more efficiently without increasing pollution.

Gerry

[Neil D]

In your position, I would've been doing that already...Why drive when you can get there with a bit of exercise...?

Since I see patients in thier homes, I have to drive...And some days I put on over 200 miles...I get to bit the bullet....dang...

Looking for a car that gets over 30 miles to the gallon....

Who was it that is using diesel engine run on vegetable oils from a local fast food restaruant?

[Gerr]

I have a friend who uses discarded vegetable oil from restaurants. Unfortunately I can't do that with mine. Mine requires ultra-low sulfur diesel.

Gerry

[Amelia]

The extra gas money will come out of my food and entertainment budget. Guess it's time to stop the Netflicks account.($9 a month) And I won't be buying fresh fruit much longer.

[Denise]

I guess I'll just have to go nowhere and save money on food by plant a garden....tomatoes, squash....etc....

[CyberGuy]

Hey if you lived next door to me I could trade you Alvacados, Peaches, Percimins, Apples, Lemons, Tangerines, Palmogranets, Bannanas and Apricots for your vegetables. Yes I have all those trees in my yard.

[David Koot]

And you all are in such a great area of the country to plant a garden! I used to live not THAT far away, in western NC. Had a fabulous garden out back, best maters I ever tasted, squash coming out our ears, melons, silver queen corn, stuff like that. Just gotta watch the raccoons. One day I was looking at the melon patch, and saw one just ready for picking--tomorrow. Went out the next morning, and the coons got to it first!!!! Guess they were watching it too. If you have a good coon dog and let him run at night, that could help. I should have invested in coon traps, but never did. But they are wily creatures. Otherwise, a friend with a .22 on guard duty is handy.

Dave

[CyberGuy]

In your position, I would've been doing that already...Why drive when you can get there with a bit of exercise...?

Since I see patients in thier homes, I have to drive...And some days I put on over 200 miles...I get to bit the bullet....dang...

Looking for a car that gets over 30 miles to the gallon....

Who was it that is using diesel engine run on vegetable oils from a local fast food restaruant?

I have considered Walking. It would take me 25 minutes to get to work each way. Problem when it gets hot in the summer I would would be walking in 95 to 110 degree heat. That is no fun.

You can get a Saturn Aura hybred. It is a midsize car that gets 32 MPG highway.

[aldona]

My husband has already got himself a bicycle and is riding to work.

In peak-hour traffic, the trip takes him about the same time as driving in on the freeway (20-30 min).

My trip to work is a lot longer and I have to do house calls so I have no choice but to continue driving. I have an economical little car and I am about to update so I might look for a hybrid.

As well, I might start to do all of those things that I used to do as an idealistic long-haired sandal-wearing tofu-eating student, before I gave up through disillusionment at being surrounded by people who didn't care (that was 15-20 years ago, before it became trendy to do the following)...

- Eat more plants and less animal protein

- Grow my own vegetables again (memo to self: install a water tank and redirect laundry water)

- Walk more and ride bike when possible

- Compost everything that can be composted (free fertilizer!)

- lobby our local politicians for more bicycle paths (to me, signing petitions is as natural as breathing!)

- do some research about solar panels for the house! (I have already given up on my clothes dryer and use what I call the "environmentally friendly solar clothes dryer" - i.e. hanging things out on the clothes line.)

aldona

[Bravus]

I'm already doing far fewer international conferences than would have been the norm a few years ago, though more for reasons of greenhouse gas reduction than cost. But I'll probably keep doing what I've been doing... smile to myself, a little smugly, as I full up my motorbike for pocket change and watch the anguished expressions of the car drivers.

[CyberGuy]

I'm already doing far fewer international conferences than would have been the norm a few years ago, though more for reasons of greenhouse gas reduction than cost. But I'll probably keep doing what I've been doing... smile to myself, a little smugly, as I full up my motorbike for pocket change and watch the anguished expressions of the car drivers.

Motorbikes are all well and good until you get in an accident on one of those little mopeds. Then you are dead meat. A little late to wish you had a little armour around you in a collesion.

[Bravus]

I wear my armor on my body - helmet, jacket, boots, gloves at all times - and in my head: careful riding, maximal hazard awareness, defensive riding and the basic assumption that every car on the road is actively out to get me.

[CyberGuy]

I wear my armor on my body - helmet, jacket, boots, gloves at all times - and in my head: careful riding, maximal hazard awareness, defensive riding and the basic assumption that every car on the road is actively out to get me.

I will take Steel armour around me in a car to leather clothing armour any day of the week in a possible collesion.

[CyberGuy]

I have also read that if Oil is disrupted from Iran or Venezuela then gas prices could well jump to $5 a gallon.

Today in the news Venezuela sent 10 divisions to the border with columbia because Columbia made a raid across the board into equador chasing Farc rebels and killed a Farc Leader. Now Chavez says this could mean war if Coumbia makes a raid across its border. Chavez says he may have to liberate Columbia from its own government.

If the USA intervenes with at least technical support for Columbia which I expect will happen then Venezuela may cut off oil shipments in retailiation. Chavez seems to be spoiling for some excuse for war. He has bought up hundreds of millions of dollars of high tech anti aircraft missiles and fighter aircraft from China. He seems intent on using them against someone.

[Planey]

...gets 37 mi/gal on the highway...which I think is almost as good as any of the best hybrids.

The Toyota Prius has been tested many times and regularly uses about 4.4 litres/100 km.

Working on the assumption that an American gallon is about 3.785 lires that equates to about 54 miles per gallon.

So you are not even close, yet.

Graeme

[Robert]

I'll buy a battery car when they get to the States. I've seen a 200 mile range per charge. At $0.09/KWh it will cost me about $1.60 per charge. Assuming that I drive 200 miles per day 5 days a week, it would cost me $32.00 to drive this car 4,000 miles/month. The same monthly mileage in my Miata would cost me $400 per month! (4000 miles per month/300 miles per tank x (10 gal tank) x ($3/gal).

Now if I drove that much a month I would have to buy a battery approx. every 2 years. Most batteries run about $5000 (worse case) and last approx 100K miles. So now I need to factor this in by taking $5000/24 months = approx. $210 per month. Add that back to my $32 per month and it would cost me $242 per month to go 4000 miles. Compare this to my gas bill @ $3/gal the battery car keeps 158 extra dollars in my pocket.

[CyberGuy]

I'll buy a battery car when they get to the States. I've seen a 200 mile range per charge. At $0.09/KWh it will cost me about $1.60 per charge. Assuming that I drive 200 miles per day 5 days a week, it would cost me $32.00 to drive this car 4,000 miles/month. The same monthly mileage in my Miata would cost me $400 per month! (4000 miles per month/300 miles per tank x (10 gal tank) x ($3/gal).

Now if I drove that much a month I would have to buy a battery approx. every 2 years. Most batteries run about $5000 (worse case) and last approx 100K miles. So now I need to factor this in by taking $5000/24 months = approx. $210 per month. Add that back to my $32 per month and it would cost me $242 per month to go 4000 miles. Compare this to my gas bill @ $3/gal the battery car keeps 158 extra dollars in my pocket.

If one does not have to commute large distances this may work. Problem is that a battery car only has 200 mile range before it needs a recharge. Also a recharge takes some time to recharge. At our local mall they have some parking stalls that are for battery cars where you can recharge for free while you shop. Battery cars never really caught on in the USA. It is hard to find one that is currently being manufactured. Hybred cars are the in thing now.

I have read they are even coming out with Hydrogen cars now. Hydrogen cars the exhaust is water vapor. No pollutants at all. Of course Hydrogen filling stations are rare at this time. But they should catch on with time.

[CyberGuy]

Ok. I just read this on battery Cars. New breakthroughs in battery technology will make it so a car can be fully charged in five minutes and will have a range of 300 miles.

Article says it will have these batteries ready for cars by 2010

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22240865/

[Amelia]

Mar 3, 2008

Oil Jumps to New Record on Dollar's Fall

By JOHN WILEN

AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- The surging price of oil reached another milestone Monday, jumping to an inflation adjusted record high of $103.95.

The weaker dollar that has propelled oil and other commodities prices higher sent light, sweet crude for April delivery past $103.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the level many analysts consider to be the true record high for oil, after its $38 barrel price from 1980 is translated into 2008 dollars.

The price later traded up $1.52 at $103.36, fluctuating with the normal ebb and flow of trading.

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

Of course Hydrogen filling stations are rare at this time. But they should catch on with time.

The US Postal System is suppose to go to hydrogen which will create a nation-wide infrastructure for hydrogen. Dealers that sell hydrogen cars will also have fuel for them.

[Denise]

Quote:

Hey if you lived next door to me I could trade you Alvacados, Peaches, Percimins, Apples, Lemons, Tangerines, Palmogranets, Bannanas and Apricots for your vegetables. Yes I have all those trees in my yard.

Awwww man!! Why'd you have to live so far away? I love all those fruits you mentioned! Especially the avacados. Hey, how'd you know that I was going to ask you if you had those in your yard? l o l I had to edit this because ummmm...well...you know....asked you if you had the trees in your yard....and then I didn't see that until after I submitted it......I think it's time for me to go to bed.....