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Gas at $4/gallon?


Snowguy716

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High gasoline is here to stay. The economy will be fine in the long run, but a lot of people to have to change the way they live, especially in terms of consumption. The days of exploiting cheap land, cheap labor and cheap resources made possible by very cheap energy are over with.

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High gasoline is here to stay. The economy will be fine in the long run, but a lot of people to have to change the way they live, especially in terms of consumption. The days of exploiting cheap land, cheap labor and cheap resources made possible by very cheap energy are over with.

We will adapt to this. There may be some pain in the short term as we slowly wean ourselves off our wasteful habits; driving less and smarter, using public transit when feasible, buying/demanding more efficient vehicles and alternative power sources. It's best that gas stays higher priced to keep us on that track, otherwise we will throw away any gains we make.

I also agree, cheap easy oil is over. The largest fields are showing signs of slowing, so the good old days of cheap oil are over.

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My concern is mostly for those living in rural areas, where there are more seniors (on fixed incomes), longer distances to drive to get to services, and less public transit. What can be done to help these people?

The answer in urbanized area is much easier... it is getting to the point where the investment in transit is worth it no matter what... but it still is not economical in rural areas.. and alternatives are still years away...

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My concern is mostly for those living in rural areas, where there are more seniors (on fixed incomes), longer distances to drive to get to services, and less public transit. What can be done to help these people?

The answer in urbanized area is much easier... it is getting to the point where the investment in transit is worth it no matter what... but it still is not economical in rural areas.. and alternatives are still years away...

No its not so simple. For example 20% of all oil burned in this country is devoted to just the very wasteful food production industry that supports the urban areas in this country. People living near farms or ones that have their own gardens have a lot more alternatives than people that are dependent upon a supermarket for their food. There are other options available to rural folk to reduce energy usage than what can be found in cities. I would argue that most seniors and people in general in rural areas use much less energy for their lifestyle than people in urban and suburban areas. They will be the least affected by a huge increase in energy.

The people most affected by high energy prices will be the people living the middle class lifestyle, and it does not matter if they are in the city or in the suburbs.

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Hasn't gas been the equivalent of US $5 per gallon for quite some time in Europe?

The Europeans have apparently adjusted to it. Europeans drive much much smaller cars than the Americans. I can't imagine very many monster trucks driving down the freeways of Germany!

Maybe the hey-day of the SUV, and the return of 8 cylinder motors will soon be a thing of the past. Not only is $4 per gallon gas possible, I feel that it is a near-term certainty.

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Shutdown of BP Alaska Pipeline causes spike in world oil prices

The funny thing that has been happening is that people are curtailing their weekend trips to tourist destinations (which would probably only cost them $20 more per trip), but are still maintaining their weekly regimen of single use multiple trip suburban driving habits (which eats up $20/week easily). It's going to take a lot more than $4 gallon to make people make drastic changes in their lifestyles. I have seen a lot more SUV's for sale on the sides of the roads though.

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Hasn't gas been the equivalent of US $5 per gallon for quite some time in Europe?

The Europeans have apparently adjusted to it. Europeans drive much much smaller cars than the Americans. I can't imagine very many monster trucks driving down the freeways of Germany!

Maybe the hey-day of the SUV, and the return of 8 cylinder motors will soon be a thing of the past. Not only is $4 per gallon gas possible, I feel that it is a near-term certainty.

The entire time I was in Austria, which has cheap gas compared to the rest of Europe, the price for a liter of normal gas was

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I hope it doesn't reach up there. My van only gets 13-14mpg, although it'd be better if I logged more freeway time.

I hope it doesn't reach up their either. I have an SUV and have increased the fuel budget to where I have it budgeted right now for $3.50 a gallon. I have pretty much cut out all non-essential trips and try to run errands while I'm in the company car on the way home from work. I'm afraid though there's probably no avoiding $4-5 a gallon gas.

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No its not so simple. For example 20% of all oil burned in this country is devoted to just the very wasteful food production industry that supports the urban areas in this country. People living near farms or ones that have their own gardens have a lot more alternatives than people that are dependent upon a supermarket for their food. There are other options available to rural folk to reduce energy usage than what can be found in cities. I would argue that most seniors and people in general in rural areas use much less energy for their lifestyle than people in urban and suburban areas. They will be the least affected by a huge increase in energy.

The people most affected by high energy prices will be the people living the middle class lifestyle, and it does not matter if they are in the city or in the suburbs.

Read the following article. It discusses how Manhattan is one of the greenest places on earth because of the lack of fossil fuel usage (among other reasons). it does it more on a per person usage than the city as a whole. obviously it requires power for their subways and stuff, but all in all, it's better for the environment. the author compares his own living habits as he moved from manhattan to litchfield county, CT, which is quite rural. he also discusses other facts outside of his own lifestyle. it's a very interesting read.

Green Manhattan

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I didn't see much in that article that actually addresses the fact that Manhatten is particularly green. It touches on the obvious fact that people drive less there, but it misses the point that most oil burned in this country does not go towards gasoline for automobiles. For example he does not address the food production issue I brought up above, the amount of energy that it takes to heat the structures in the winter, city lighting, and other indirect energy uses that are financed through high taxes rather than direct payments.

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I didn't see much in that article that actually addresses the fact that Manhatten is particularly green. It touches on the obvious fact that people drive less there, but it misses the point that most oil burned in this country does not go towards gasoline for automobiles. For example he does not address the food production issue I brought up above, the amount of energy that it takes to heat the structures in the winter, city lighting, and other indirect energy uses that are financed through high taxes rather than direct payments.

i think the point was that on a per person basis, it uses less energy.

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The comment on rural areas above hits us; at least where we were in California, we could ride the bike to the store to get some groceries and supplies sometimes (and in fact, I sometimes did). The nearest convenience store is now 4 miles away, supermarket's 6.6, and most other shopping is 9 miles away, and on these country roads, biking is neither practical nor safe. We are having a hard time with fuel and have had to cut back on other recreation just to pay for gas. Even in a suburban setting this could be mitigated somewhat.

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Hasn't gas been the equivalent of US $5 per gallon for quite some time in Europe?

The Europeans have apparently adjusted to it. Europeans drive much much smaller cars than the Americans. I can't imagine very many monster trucks driving down the freeways of Germany!

Maybe the hey-day of the SUV, and the return of 8 cylinder motors will soon be a thing of the past. Not only is $4 per gallon gas possible, I feel that it is a near-term certainty.

Yes Europe does have high prices on gas but they also tax it very heavily.

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In a perfect world, the high gas prices will encourage all levels of government to work in cooperation to establish a comprehensive mass transit system comprising of mostly light and commuter rail systems. People will move back into central downtowns in efforts to improve pedestrian accessibility and mixed use will be a common occurrence.

BUT since we don

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*shrug* I like cars. I'll be driving 'till the cows come home. I may end up having to drive a little beer can POS econobox car, but if that's what ends up taking, then that's what I'll do.

i agree... almost nothing will stop me from driving for many reasons, among which is the fact that i enjoy it. the biggest reason is that i have family in other states and it just isn't convenient for me to take the train or the bus to get to them.

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In a perfect world, the high gas prices will encourage all levels of government to work in cooperation to establish a comprehensive mass transit system comprising of mostly light and commuter rail systems. People will move back into central downtowns in efforts to improve pedestrian accessibility and mixed use will be a common occurrence.

BUT since we don

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