Comments on: Keep Gas Prices High

By: Our Oil Addiction | Fruitfulista

Our Oil Addiction | Fruitfulista — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:18:43 +0000

[...] situation Give cash-back incentives/deposit returns for reusable items like glass bottles Increase the price of gas dramatically to fully capture the true extranalities and create local economies Institute policies that [...]

By: Max

Max — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:20:07 +0000

This article sounds well, but how everything is related together?

By: Electric Bike

Electric Bike — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 06:15:34 +0000

Here we go!!!

By: TNK

TNK — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:01:32 +0000

Keep gas prices high??? So what Exxon can continue its record profits?????

“Lifted by record crude prices, Exxon Mobil says its second-quarter earnings rose nearly 14 percent to $11.68 billion, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation.”

By: Cassie

Cassie — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:11:12 +0000

I drive between 50-100 miles a week. 2600-5200 a year. I average $40-60/month in gas costs. Last month it was $37. I bike an average of 50 miles a month to work (4 days a week/3 miles plus biking to aerobics). Of course, less in the winter though.

By: TNK

TNK — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:51:17 +0000

I was dinking around with a carbon output calculator and checked on our cars… here is what it spit out (I used a default of 12k miles per year, but some of us drive more and some less).

Cassie 10,207 lbs CO2
Britton 8,095 lbs CO2
Grandma 10,207 lbs CO2
Me 10,671 lbs CO2
Grandpa 14,673 lbs CO2
Tracker 10,207 lbs CO2
2001 Prius 5,726 lbs CO2
2001 Chevy Tahoe 16,769 lbs CO2

Here is the weird part..

My car today brand new puts out 11,179lbs, which is WORSE than the older model.
Brittons car today brand new puts out 7,826lbs, which is a tad lower but not much.
Dads truck puts out 13,810 lbs brand new, not much of an improvement.

Proof that car makers are not into making a smaller impact on the environment (the Prius new today puts out 4,995, which is less but not much). You would think that in the 9-10 years that have past these cars would have WAY better Co2 footprints.. but they don’t.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:43:02 +0000

TNK (Is this Torrie?) I agree. We should limit our consumption in general. All of the suggestions about turning off lights and AC, gardening are also great. And we do most of those. (Our thermostat is set at 79 degrees in summer and 65 in winter). People should not go out and buy a new car unless the difference is much greater (I would, for instance, switch from a Hummer to a Civic for instance, but Hummers shouldn’t have been used by civilians in the first place). And even then, I would only buy a used car because I am cheap and that reuses materials instead of creating more waste.
But people in general don’t keep their cars for longer than 5 years, so IF they are going to buy a new vehicle, a scooter or electric car would greatly decrease our dependence on oil. In one generation (20 years or so) we could have 80% of the vehicles on highways and roads operated with electricity or human power (muscles) with that kind of turnover.

In addition to having NO emissions, the amount of products used to create a 30 lb bicycle is much less than to make a car of about 1,500 to 2,000 lbs, or an SUV or truck of 2 tons (4,000 lbs) or more. In addition to saving all that material, bikes are easier to fix and people will keep them much longer than a car. Britton has gone through 2 (3 if you count the wreck) cars while keeping the same bicycle the whole time. Scooters would be in between. They use some gas, weigh more and use more materials than a bike, but not nearly as much as a car.

Electric vehicles may use many more materials than those two options, but their value is in not using gas. If we had incentives to power our houses with wind or solar power (incentives derived from a higher gas tax), then we wouldn’t have to burn coal or nuclear power to generate our energy (for our homes and cars). These (EVs) could be used as the vehicles for commuting or for longer distances than a bike or scooter.

Overall, high gas prices have got people thinking about these kinds of things and that in and of itself is useful. If people consume less in general, we could help turn these problems around. Awareness is the first step. “You become aware by accident, educated by choice.”