THE Gas Price Thread (merged)

UIUCstudent01 · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 894

CNN
The economy is going to be destroyed some say, but that won't happen for awhile. We can have people dig ditches, then fill those ditches up obviously.. but there's also some more practical ways of conserving... for example:

emailking · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 11, 2006 Posts: 743

On my grad school salary last year (19K) these prices would be killing me. On my current salary (60K) it's not so bad. Still, I drive as little possible: to and from work (5.5 miles each way), and once a week trip to get mcdonalds, movies, random shopping, food for the week, and fillup on gas. Of course I sometimes have to make other trips too, but if I do I try to put it together with something else. I also take the slow way to work because it saves 1.5 miles of driving. I guess I'm doing this mostly as preparation, in addition to saving for a hybrid. I could handle the prices if I was still clueless.

kaycee · Coal Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 3

I am going to use ETHOS FR, an additive used by the US Military and Bejing China to reduce pollution and gain 7%-19% more mileage.

http://www.sandiegomag.com/issues/april05/business0405.asp

http://ethos.12w.net

Brian C.
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tdrive · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 11, 2004 Posts: 350

grabby · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Nov 08, 2005 Posts: 1328

gas burned in your vehicle is 98 percent combusted. you cannot get 20 percent more out of the gas.

you cant make the combustions gases higher pressure,

its non physical. (not calculaterable.

energy doesnt come out of anywhere.

it comes from inherent heat of vaporization and heat of combustion, and I know all the gas in my car cumbusts.

no gas runs out of the drainpipe.

you could walk, though.

Jellric

I have call options on oil companies so as the price increases my profits increase even more. I like to think of it as "gas-hike insurance".

Eventually I can see myself planning my trips to maximize efficiency, but I'm not feeling the pain so far.

SolarDave · Heavy Crude Joined: May 19, 2005 Posts: 371

I'm testing the batteries in my solar powered electric car. I have a few weak ones. I'm going to replace/recycle them and drive it more often to offset the rising cost of gas. I can save the battery cost back by not driving the gasoline car as much. Simple as that, once you have the alternative infrastructure, the old oil-based transportation is irrelevant.

Frank

SolarDave - how about posting some details on your car?

Basically, we've become a society of spoiled slobs who think the world is ending if we're forced to (gasp) compromise our lifestyles a bit and change our plans. You won't find any of The Greatest Generation complaining!

Doly · Expert Joined: Dec 03, 2004 Posts: 4027

SoothSayer

>> I remember they had tons of those cons and shams in the 70's during the oil embargo. Funny how little things have changed.

That Teflon oil additive worked! I out it in a small 1.8 liter car, and the idle revs shot up amazingly due to the reduced friction.

It may have reduced fuel consumption ... but sadly the PTFE articles tended to damage engines- especially old ones - by lodging in metal pores and then expanding sometimes causing cracks.

Ludi

It's not affecting me significantly, because we drive so little and have a very fuel efficient vehicle.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

rushdy · Heavy Crude Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 120

Public transport for me, although my train tickets are going up (journey 50 miles each way).

Unfortunately it's not a good solution because local bus stations are closing due to increasing costs Confused

I'm a student so I aren't rolling in money.

SolarDave · Heavy Crude Joined: May 19, 2005 Posts: 371

magician

the girl and i moved off the east coast (richmond va) to a economically depressed area (huntington wv), sold our van, got bikes and started making most of our own crap (medicine, ect). we got jobs in restauraunts and I was makeing like 9-20$/hr bartendingfor about a year and a half. we funneled it all into survival gear, tools, bike equipment/clothing, food store, ect. the high gas prices after katrina cut my income down to barely above minimum. we downshifted to 6.00/hr jobs in small business grocery/ veterinarian respectively. retail sucks (she loves vet teching regardless of the money) but going local versus corperate restaurants gives us the comfort of being in industries that dont rely on peoples disposable income. (and the chicken restaurant I was working in is suffering from peoples fears of bird flu)

So because we dont drive these prices dont affect us directly, but because of disposable income drop in others budgets, our lives have changed significantly. now we are gardening voraciously with all our spare money and energy. its tight but we have cushioning everywhere. stocks of food, herbal medicine, bike parts, ect. our income combined is 1500 a month wheras our expenses are about 900 a month so we are able to keep up the stocks and expand some into new sustainability projects.

so we feel it and have felt it but not directly.

--frater coyote

killJOY · Fission Joined: Feb 21, 2005 Posts: 2207 Location: ^NNE^

I'm fortunate enough that in the summer I take off my teaching hat and put on my farming hat.

I stay home.
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"By the time individuals discover that remaining resources will not be adequate for the next generation, the next generation has already been born. " David Price