Gas Prices/Shortages

[DigitalDave]

His advisors are telling him this …

… do you really think he’s that smart …?

[unicycle6869]

Originally posted by rob.northcott
[B]That’s possibly true in the cities, but not so in more rural areas. It would take me nearly two hours to get to work (less than ten miles!) by bus. It takes me 20 minutes on the bicycle, an hour on the uni, or less than 15 minutes in the car. Petrol is more expensive here than in areas where there is better public transport (the oil companies claim it’s because of the costs of getting it here), and it could be argued that we need to use it more because of the lack of (practical) public transport. That’s why we all drive cars that do a decent mpg (both mine will do 45-47mpg on a long trip, 35 average, and they’re over 30 years old). The longer the trip, the more practical public transport becomes, but for normal journeys of <20 miles it’s hopeless.

I like cycling, so it doesn’t really affect me that much personally, but I’m probably still compelled to drive a lot more than most city dwellers (who often choose to drive all their short trips anyway).

I know there are other reasons for the price of various things in different countries, but I can’t agree that our public transport justifies the petrol prices here. The “PC” reason given by the government would be that they are trying to cut down petrol use because of pollution (which is rubbish because they supported change to unleaded petrol that is far more toxic due to its benzine content than the leaded stuff ever was, and there is still hardly any tax on aero fuel which causes far more pollution), but I suspect they just don’t want to lose the huge tax income they make from it.

In general, looking from our point of view, it certainly seems that life is much cheaper in the US than almost anywhere else in the western world. Similarly in Scandinavia everything seems to be ridiculously expensive and average income isn’t any higher than here - after being to Norway for a couple of holidays I can’t see how anybody can afford to live there… any Scandinavian members got any remarks on that? [/B]

You do make some good points. My only argument is that I do live within the suburbs of Minneapolis and so there should be public transportation that I can use. Guess my next step would be to sell my gas gusler and buy a more efficient car but I’m not quite willing to do that right now. Still having too much fun with the good ol pony (convertable mustang) but suppose I will eventually when I can’t afford it…Guess there’s a price to pay to have some fun in style!!

[Brian_MacKenzie]

Originally posted by evil-nick
Even way up Nawth

I make note of how funny something is if I am forced to make an audible laugh, for an extended period of time, even when sitting alone in an empty house. (with 2 cats, perhaps asleep)

This is one of those

[BillyTheMountain]

Labor Day vacation at home!!!

Originally posted by john_childs
[B]I understood the line to mean for people not to hoard gas. I didn’t have any problems comprehending that.

If people went and filled every container they had with extra gas just so they could have an extra 25 or 50 gallons on hand at home just in case, well that would cause some problems. I heard a CNN anchor talking about the statoins running out of gas in Atlanta about a day ago. He was wonder out loud whether he could fill up the 5 gallon can he uses for the lawn mower with extra gas. Hoarding would not be good on the whole.

It’s not a question of wheter he thinks Americans are stupid. It’s a question of asking people not to hoard when in reality they really want to haord if they could. [/B]

quote:

Originally posted by JJuggle
Below is the exact quote. Perhaps he thinks Americans are stupid. Perhaps he was talking to himself out loud.

“Americans should be prudent in their use of energy during the course of the next few weeks. Don’t buy gas if you don’t need it.”

I understood it to mean cancel your Labor Day vacation if it involves using gas. You could just as easily vacation at home.

Why wouldn’t hoarding be good, if done safely? Isn’t that why America has Oil Reserves???

Billy

[johnfoss]

Re: Labor Day vacation at home!!!

Originally posted by BillyTheMountain
[B]“Americans should be prudent in their use of energy during the course of the next few weeks. Don’t buy gas if you don’t need it.”

I understood it to mean cancel your Labor Day vacation if it involves using gas. You could just as easily vacation at home.[/b]

If it meant making more gas available where it’s really needed, yes, that’s exactly what it could mean. Something wrong with that? Some of us are locked into plans that would be hard to get out of, while others were planning to hop in the car and just drive somewhere.

I plan to ride to work every day, if possible, until the shortages are over down there. I have never done this, and at my best normally only ridden every other day at the most. It should be a fun challenge, and good for me! Not all of us are in a situation where they can ride to work, but it works for those of us who are.

Why wouldn’t hoarding be good, if done safely? Isn’t that why America has Oil Reserves???

Reserves are something you build up from normal supplies, without worsening a shortage. Hoarding in a shortage is selfish, and makes the problem worse. Sorry, got to side with the President on this one. Is your house un-flooded and un-destroyed? Cut back on some of your gas use. It’s not that hard. Do it now, because now is when the problem is. Nobody planned it to be during this holiday. Suck it up.

I always laugh when Americans complain about high gas prices in international forums. Oops! Our gas has always been way cheaper than yours? By the liter, yet? Yes, most of the world uses the metric system.

Gas has always been in finite supply. Back in the 70s, when we had rising gas prices and bad fuel economy on cars, people figured it out. It takes the car companies a few years to respond to that sort of public need, due to the long product development cycle. Since the early 80s, we have drifted back to bigger and fatter cars, even though gas prices have continued to rise. All of a sudden we’re waking up again. Hey, the gas my big truck uses is expensive! Yup. Look for the price of Hummers to plummet pretty soon…

[BillyTheMountain]

Re: Re: Labor Day vacation at home!!!

Originally posted by johnfoss
INobody planned it to be during this holiday. Suck it up.

There you go siding with Bush again. And you say it more clearly than Bush. You could be his spokesman, or speech writer!

[DigitalDave]

I learned a couple days ago the the old style pumps can’t charge over 2.99 a gallon.

But, on todays news… these stations that have them,

can now charge by the HALF-gallon.

Read the signs carefully !

[DigitalDave]

gouging …

this is 3 days old … now, way over $3.00 now …

[Gilby]

Gas is cheap here, only $0.74.

[sarah.miller]

Originally posted by unicycle6869
.Guess there’s a price to pay to have some fun in style!!

I have to say that both Rob’s cars have style AND are remarkably fuel effient. Go on Rob, show him the pictures.
Sarah

[rob.northcott]

Originally posted by sarah.miller
I have to say that both Rob’s cars have style AND are remarkably fuel effient. Go on Rob, show him the pictures.
Sarah

I posted some pics in the vehicle gallery thread http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39182&perpage=15, they’re on page 2.

I’ll leave it at that - I can be a bit of an anorak on such things and don’t want to start waffling about cars on a unicycle forum :o

Rob

[john_childs]

Originally posted by john_childs
[B]I understood the line to mean for people not to hoard gas. I didn’t have any problems comprehending that.

If people went and filled every container they had with extra gas just so they could have an extra 25 or 50 gallons on hand at home just in case, well that would cause some problems. I heard a CNN anchor talking about the statoins running out of gas in Atlanta about a day ago. He was wonder out loud whether he could fill up the 5 gallon can he uses for the lawn mower with extra gas. Hoarding would not be good on the whole.

It’s not a question of wheter he thinks Americans are stupid. It’s a question of asking people not to hoard when in reality they really want to haord if they could. [/B]

I just saw a local Seattle TV news segment on gas shortages at some stations here. The problem is with people filling up more often to keep ahead of the price increases and filling up whatever gas containers they have on hand. This creates a problem because gas stations are on allocation which means that the amount of gas they get is based on their past sales. When there is a run on gas due to hoarding they can run out. There isn’t necessarily a shortage of gas up here, just people buying more than the station’s regular allocation. A gas station manager interviewed said there is no shortage because they are getting full 100% or even 120% of their allocation. If there was a shortage the stations would only be getting a fraction of their allocation.

If we do get a gas shortage it would be interesting if we see retaliation against SUVs.

[DK1]

cars-r-coffins

ride yo bike/uni/horse/midget!

[unicycle6869]

Originally posted by Gilby
Gas is cheap here, only $0.74.

What???
You must not be in MN?? Or $0.74/cup or something…

[unicycle6869]

Originally posted by sarah.miller
I have to say that both Rob’s cars have style AND are remarkably fuel effient. Go on Rob, show him the pictures.
Sarah

They do have style and are remarkably fuel efficient that’s for sure! But I bet he paid a lot of money for them cause they look like antiques! So my quote still stands that “there’s a price to pay to have some fun in style!!”

[leo]

When I 1st heard about it took me very long to believe it…

But in Holland they use sunflower-oil and other non-fosil oils in stead of gas. Just straith from the supermarket!
However the customs are giving out penalties as the goverment misses taxes because of it, and they think the law forces to use environtment-unfriendly gas, and forbids the environtment-friendly bio-diesel.
Weird enough just accross the border in Germany they even sell it at the gas-station (with a small amount of conventional diesel mixed in it)!

Have a look at http://www.biodieselnow.com/