Sick n' tired of these gas prices! What can we do?

I really do feel sorry for all the people who have these problems.

One of the things I read in this thread is that europeans shouldn't complain about gas prices because we earn 3 times as much. Now I can tell everyone that 3 times as much would be nice but it's not the case. However we do earn more. But...(yeah I know always a but) the costs of living are more expensive here too.

I used to have a fiancee from Texas. We lived together in the Netherlands for a while and got to compare things very well. But if you ad all the things up than things can be hard in all countries.

I do have some advice if you don't want to rely on the government to help you (because I believe they won't).

*smaller cars are cheaper in fuel usage
*getting a job closer to home if possible
*drive along with others if possible
*use public transport if possible
*bicycles!!! (here people will use a bicycle for distances of 5 mile... trust me you will get used to it)(also easy with finding parking space
)
*make your car as light as possible (clean out your trunk,strip unneeded things of your car)
*have enough air in your tyres
*combine routes (in other words, pick up groceries straight from work, drop of kids at friends places when you drive to work)
*if you buy a new car invest in a hybrid
*diesel cars will run on sunflower oil ( I don't know how well this is for your engine though)

I know the whole gasprice thing is a **** but try to make the best out of it and try to come up with creative solutions. I believe 90% of the people on this board to be very inventive, so let us hear your tips on how to survive high gas prices!

Do what I do. Take public transit. It is very cheap and you will save a lot of money. Or how about biking or walking to work if its not too far away? Buy a cheap car with great fuel mileage so you don't have to pay as much.

There are many things a person can do other then complain.

rikriley, first it was the EMF blocking "chip", now its the gas saver "chip", STOP trying to scam people! I am not going into the physics of why magnetics and infrared won't do a dam for ANY part of function of the car, as no one probably cares about this post or that rikriley is SCAMMING ATS members and visitors.

This gas saver chip is a fridge magnet sticker, no electrical connections, no silicon waffer chip...the fact that it can flex says it all. If terrorisim was a real ongoing problem here (US/Can) he would have an anti-terror chip that works on tachyons.

The best way to stick it to the man is to use full electric very small vehicles, bikes, scooters and mobility scooters/power chairs (modded to go faster) with a small back up generator. Sure it would be funny to see 500 people like that going down the road at 40kph but the energy it takes would cost 1-3 dollars a day. Now if light gas "toys" were legal and there was no social "issues" with it, we would need about %10 or less gass then we do now.

In the end it comes down the better battery/capacitor tech, free energy and most of all social "I'm better and bigger then you" attitudes.

Make sure your cars motor is running at peak efficiency. Use Iridium spark plugs and high flow spark wires. Do the best you can in the situation until some magic 100+mpg engine mod is available for your motor.

I can convert your car to electric.

PM me.

120+ mpg equivalent

gas prices reach $5.00 well the president could declare martial, take control over oil companies under executive orders already passed covering martial law and drop the prices down to where they should be. but then again do we want martial law in usa ?

Originally posted by horsegiver
reply to post by jedimiller

 

Over here in England it's over ten dollars a gallon, has been for ages,

Exactly! most of Europe has been like that since the early days of cars. I'd say the key problem is that north american society has become way two dependent on oil and products based on it. use more bikes people!

I'm currently working from home and watching the rugrats when they get home from school. I'm saving about $300 a week in gas.

I haven't figured the savings in maintenence on the vehicle yet but there will be!



My living expenses have increased a little ( High speed internet and electricty) but the savings in gas far exceed them.

Many employers offer incentives to work from home.

Look into it , for earth's benefit

Originally posted by Graber

Originally posted by horsegiver
reply to post by jedimiller

 

Over here in England it's over ten dollars a gallon, has been for ages,

Exactly! most of Europe has been like that since the early days of cars. I'd say the key problem is that north american society has become way two dependent on oil and products based on it. use more bikes people!

The United States is not like Europe. We can't use public transportation or bikes or walking to get to work. Most Americans live 20+ minutes (driving) away from their place of work.

There is very little public transportation in this country, with the majority of it being in big cities. I don't have a bus I can ride from my house to work, nor can I ride my bike to work.

Originally posted by Double Eights
The United States is not like Europe. We can't use public transportation or bikes or walking to get to work. Most Americans live 20+ minutes (driving) away from their place of work.

Good point. I drive 30 miles to work everyday. I think that the way america was built could have been wrong. I'd like to live in a place like rome where everything is close, but that would mean that we would all have to live very tightly and crowded.


still, it's a shame all the money i'm spening in gas.

Jedi, take it from a Digital Jedi, the rising gas prices is due to a large increase in Oil demand by China's booming economy.

It was engaging and appeasing China that is destroying the US economy through a huge trade deficit and stressing Oil supplies.

You can't expect 1 billion people in China to have the same quality of living we do in the states. Doing this requires immense resources and will stress the global economy much further. They are paying much higher Gas prices everywhere else too, expect Iran of course.

We just have to endure a year or two of pain - until we get electric and other alternatives on line. Or we can do what this guy did



[edit on 20-5-2008 by verylowfrequency]

Utterly of sick of you Yanks whinging about the price of "gasoline" we are paying £1-12 per litre which works out to be around $10-00 per gallon at todays exchange rate.You use the most, you invaded Iraq and you drove the price up so stop for a moment and think of the effect your tiresome nation has had on the rest of the world.When you've done thinking you can start apologising and think yourselves very lucky that your fuel prices are still pretty cheap compared to your so called European allies

There are five main problems with gas prices.

One is competition for crude oil, which we depend on unstable sources for. Another is a bottleneck here in the US because of an insufficient number of refineries. The refusal of Democrats to allow exploitation of our own oil, both on-shore and off-shore is another. Maybe the most influential in the prices we are paying now is speculators in the futures market driving the cost of crude up beyond what it would be based solely on supply and demand. Last is demand.

What were people thinking when they were buying those huge gas-guzzling SUVs?

I have no sympathy for such folks.

For myself, I have just stopped driving unless it is an absolute necessity. I can go for days without even getting into my car.

It's not an ideal situation, but what the hell! At least, I'm not burning money indiscriminantly and if worse comes to worse, I can just sell my car.

But, be aware, there are problems with reduced demand.

After last year’s stellar profits, American refiners are going through a traumatic period. In a time of record gasoline prices, some of them actually lost money in the first quarter, and for virtually all refiners, profits are down sharply.

Experts say the refiners are caught in a double bind. The price of their raw material, oil, is rising because of strong global demand. At the same time, consumption of gasoline in the United States is falling as a result of slower economic growth and consumer efforts to conserve.

However much the companies would like to raise gasoline prices enough to pass along the full increases in oil, analysts say they have been unable to do it. Oil prices doubled in the past year, while wholesale gasoline prices rose a mere 39 percent.

www.nytimes.com...

[edit on 2008/5/20 by GradyPhilpott]

Umm. Here's a freaking solution, drill anwar, North Dakota, offshore, more refineries and nuclear power plants. It's pretty jacked up the chicoms can drill off FL but the US can't. At the same time find other means of power. Ween off the system. But that will never happen. So enjoy $8.00 a gallon while we are held hostage to OPEC because a bug might have to relocate in Alaska. Oh yeah, thanks congress for inflating our food supply cost for your hair brained ethanol scheme.

reply to post by jedimiller


There's only 1 way that you can help yourself and others to help themselves at battling high costs in the gasoline department.... and that is to realize that you don't "need" to drive. There are other ways of transportation in and around the city that you live in.. if in country... think Horse... but then bails of hay prob cost more than gasoline.

bicycles are another lost forgotten transportation...

Well, anyway, I'm sure what I have said has been spoken about on this thread, I just read your OP and responded without reading other people's responses... so if this is a repeat offender... change the channel, I'm sure there's something else out there we can complain about... like Why do the corps of America Outsource everything and then complain that the end product sucks? American Made Cars were the BEST!

The fact is the greed of the oil companys is going too far. That along with week leaders in our goverment we can not seem to stand up and fight. Last time i checked the word American ment i can do anything if i work hard enough and i will not let the stupid people of this world stop me from bettering my life and the lives of my children. I would not live in any other country in the world but it's time to start pushing for change start finding leaders to believe in. We as Americans are far from perfect but i can tell the world this don't bet against us cause we will find our way and in the end we will only be stronger for it.

Richard

reply to post by JDN24


What do you do if there is no public transportation available and you find yourself short of funds to purchase a vehicle or scooter?

Originally posted by jedimiller

I'm paying 4 bucks per gallon over here; hurtin' bad!
is there a way to have the president arrested over this? Like a citizens arrest or other. who else is sick and tired of paying ridiculous prices and is looking for other ways out. And what are you doing about it? Bush destroyed our economy and due to the invasion of iraq we are paying more for the barrels. Bush used the war to get rich, control the oil production and hike up the prices. Now that he's taken over iraq, he can sell the barrels at any price he wants. either we arrest him or we go broke.

1. The economy is still strong overall, even if it's growth is slowing.

2. Oil production has only decreased marginally since the start of the Iraq war, and there is no way to predict if it would not be less now if Saddam Hussein were still in power.

3. Bush does not control oil production. In fact, it's the U.S. Congress that is limiting production.

4. Bush doesn't set the price of oil.

Just curious, if you think Bush is controlling the oil production, what do you think about the Congress limiting drilling in the U.S., and preventing new refineries from being built in the U.S. for the last 30 years?

What do you think of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius putting a stop to a $10 billion oil refinery being built in Kansas?

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