gas prices

there is no exscuse for oil companies to be taking advantage of us the way they are

I demand that they supply more gas at a lower price, heh heh. ;)

What is the price for premium out there? My latest purchase was $4.79, though the highest I've seen was $5.03. This was right off the 101 in San Francisco.

I'll drive to a gas station that is further away if it's cheaper. Six miles down the road, it's 20 cents less per gallon. It's probably a wash financially, but for what it's worth, I'm voting with my dollar.

Yeah, it's all relative, eh? My folks in Ohio said it just crossed the $4.00 barrier, but what is it in the U.K., like 4 pounds? (Sorry, I don't have the British Pound sign on my keyboard. ;) )

Your anger should be directed at the government for not funding alternative energy research more.

If you believe that you live in a paradise. If anything that would drive the price of oil up, not down. People would have to do something to recoup their losses. even if we did find a renewable energy source as awesome as oil. It would still come at a premium; then we'd be getting it from both ends. One more thing. We've still got enough oil reserves to last us for another century or two. By then it won't be our problem anymore.

to be clear, I'm not opposed to alternative fuel sources, but just blaming the government for rising oil prices because they don't support alternatives enough is short-sighted.

it will force people to think a little differently and likely change their habits

Changed my habits, that for sure. I'm a lot slower off the line after red lights these days, I put my cruise on 67 mph, and I even turned off my engine when I know I'm going to be stuck at a light for more that a minute.

There may be some promise in electric cars though, I believe. Word is that Tesla Motors is making a 4-door at around 60k. A little high, sure, but like every new tech, the price will come down. It gets me thinking that the future of alternative fuel/energy lies in the private sector, not the gov.

Yeah, it's all relative, eh? My folks in Ohio said it just crossed the $4.00 barrier, but what is it in the U.K., like 4 pounds? (Sorry, I don't have the British Pound sign on my keyboard. ;) )

About £1.15-1.25 a litre (roughly £4.50-£5 per gallon if my maths is right, so more than twice what you pay). Diesel is about an extra 10p per litre.

Slient Killer - While there's some truth in what you say, it's also fair to point out that it's been obvious for a few decades that this point was going to be reached sooner or later. The West (both companies and governments) have had the power to prepare for such a time, and been found severly lacking on the whole until recent times - and even then it's only the last few years that alternative sources have been taken seriously as possibilities. Part of that's been down to public perception - it's not been seen as politically/financially viable (for politicians/businesses) to do more than put token amounts of money into reducing reliance on limited resources until recently... indeed, stats say that many people (although less than previously) still don't accept there's a problem with global warming or limited resources in terms of fossil fuels (remember, it's not just about petrol, it's about our heating/electricty as well).

If China/India and other emergant nations continue to increase their demand as expected, then supplies could (not will, I should add) run out within 50-70 years, with the price increasing fairly rapidly still as supply becomes ever more scarce. That doesn't give long to do something about it - if we can fund alternatives, then our reliance on oil would drop;
- reducing demand
- increasing availability
- lengthening the lifespan of the remaining supply
- probably reducing prices
If subsidies and help are given to the major emergent nations to use the same technology then there's the potential to make a real difference to fuel costs across the board.

IMHO :o)

Gas is outrageous right now.

I'm really hoping the Chevy Volt makes it's current 2010 production estimate.

It'll take 6 hours plugged into a standard 115v outlet to charge it. After that it'll get 40 miles on an all-electric engine and then 50mpg on gas after that.

The only downside is that it'll cost about $40,000. But if gas keeps going on its upward trajectory, that still might be worth it.

For example, if you drive 15,000 miles a year and get 30mpg, that's 500 gallons of gas per year. At $5 a gallon, that's $2,500 a year on gas. At $6 a gallon, that's $3,000 a year. Etc.

We've still got enough oil reserves to last us for another century or two. By then it won't be our problem anymore.

That sorta thinking disturbs me, but alright,

I don't really have much of an opinion on this, I won't be driving for 2+ years, so I don't really want to get worried about things Before it becomes my problem,

True, I dislike the outrageous gas prices...

and with gas rising, everything else rises,
In order to transport food and other things to stores, it needs vehicles, almost all (Effective) transportation requires gas, gas and more gas, thus prices for EVERYTHING has gone up(Except Fast food, they changed their sizes, amounts, ingredients and wrappings to save money)

THAT is what pisses me off... so I suppose I DO have an opinion, though it isn't really about the gas itself, more the products that were raised in the process of all this...

as for bikes, well, there is a burger king and a taco bell one-two miles from me, a mcdonalds 2 mile, a school about 3 miles, a playground 1 mile, quite a few friends within 8 miles, a skating rink, a mall(though a lot further then the others), a thrift store, food lion, bi-lo, a gas station in practically every direction, an aldies, a dollar store, plus I have a pretty good mountain bike, so I am set for that
but anyways I'm drifting from the main topic and falling into the sub topics, so back to what I was saying

I have read about quite a few experiments taking place to try and use better sources, but, those may cause worse problems,

ethanol, the stuff made from corn, well, that jacked up corn prices and a few meat prices for some reason...

Water, if they ever made an affordable car that runs on water(there was an experimental one in 2003 or so, going for about 3 Million $ or so X__X) that'll just waste water and just bring us closer to running out of water

to be honest, unless the new renewable energy source researchers get a lot more money to work with, I don't think we'll ever get out of oil...

the problem is, I guess investers of oil, as well as oil companies... they're the ones keeping us stuck on oil, am I right? they hold quite a bit of power in this matter, though I am not a genius on this matter, so I don't really know, after all, I'm 14 :P lol

The Economist had an interesting "special report" on different alternative energy sources in last week's issue, if anyone's interested:

Wind
Solar
Geothermal
Biofuels
Carbon capture and storage
Nuclear
Future cars

I maybe in the minority, but I for one WELCOME high gas prices. So many idiots kept buying SUVS and pick-up trucks, and now i'm actually starting to see a difference on the roads - so many smaller cars then ever before.

So keep the price up and up and force the idiots in the world to adapt to the new reality - that oil is a resource that will one day run out.

Actually I've noticed more people on motorcycles and I've even spotted people on scooters. Never seen that around here before the gas prices went up. Ofcourse not everyone can live where the climate is dry for about 3/4 of the year.

It's Prius land where I live. The game "Slug Bug" has been replaced with "Prius Punch"!