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Automotive News & Views How does gas at $4 and higher impact you?
2183 messages, Last post on Nov 21, 2009 at 5:13 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 12, 2009 4:48 am) Gasoline, the stuff refined from oil, has dropped a whole nickel since its summer peak in my area, and now that we are officially at mid-October, I am a little miffed that it hasn't dropped below $3/gallon again (although it is close). |
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 12, 2009 4:48 am) Let's hope not. That was a good move, regardless. And Gary, "econobox" is really an outdated term. There are no "econoboxes" sold in the USA any more. Even the smallest of cars are safety tested and are not on the road "solely with economy in mind, with all other aspects being ignored, including lack of any luxury items" which is a good definition of "econobox." Most people today are too spoiled to buy a "completely no-frills" vehicle. Those cars are usually sold to frugal parents wanting to get their kids a "new first car" but not willing to spend a load of cash on it. I'm willing to bet there are very few people out there who traded a luxury-appointed SUV for a low-end, no options car merely for the sake of saving gas money. Plus, there is a separate topic for that: Are you happy you didn't sell your SUV?
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 12, 2009 4:48 am) I didn't do anything like that, but now that gas has gotten "cheap" again, I've made some not-exactly-economical choices. I drove up to PA last weekend for a car show, and again just this past Saturday. Normally, I'll drive my Intrepid, which can get 30 mpg on the highway without too much trouble. On a few occasions, I drove my uncle's '03 Corolla, but it's just too much of a torture-chamber econobox (sorry Larsb  ) for my tastes. And it's not really all that much more economical than my Intrepid. The one time I checked its fuel economy, I got 37.4 mpg. Sounds pretty good...until I mention that my Intrepid got around 32 on the same trip, same type of driving. Well, this past Saturday, I drove my '79 NY'er 5th Ave, and last weekend I drove my '76 LeMans. The LeMans got about 16.6 mpg. Haven't filled up the NYer yet, but it went about 230 miles round trip, and the gas gauge is still showing about half-full, so it might have done as well as 20. However, I didn't drive these guzzlers just to waste fuel. I had a lot of work put into the LeMans a couple months back, and haven't had a chance to take it on a good, long drive, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to test it out. And before Saturday, my poor, neglected NYer had only been driven about 39 miles, over the course of 3 months. So I figured it needed a good run to blow the cobwebs out. So hopefully that reasoning gets me a pass from the tree huggers. 
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Replying to: nippononly (Oct 12, 2009 6:47 am) Then we could convert the many millions of home-owners who use oil for heating to natural gas. (My new hybrid oil system is used not just for heat, but heating my water before it is stored in a water-tank). That heating oil could then be used as diesel, or to produce gasoline; increasing the supplies of automotive fuels.
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 12, 2009 9:23 am) Oh, well then, lower gasoline prices are just around the corner!
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 12, 2009 9:23 am) I averaged about 450 gallons of oil per year, so at $5.62 per gallon, I was looking at around $2500 per year just to heat the place! I knew the heat pump would make my electric bill go up, but I figured there's no way it would make it shoot up $2500 per year. However, with oil down to around $3.00 per gallon, well that's around $1350 per year. At that point, the savings is a bit more iffy. This past winter, I did have one electric bill that ran around $514 (our electric rates shot up...leave it to me to switch energy sources just as one drops and the other rises.  ) However, this has also been the coldest winter we've had in about 5 years, so if I was still on oil, I probably would've used more than my 450 gal/yr average. I probably made the best choice in the long run, but I was mentally kicking myself for awhile. Anyway, if nothing else, I freed up an average of 450 gallons of oil per year that can now be allocated elsewhere. |
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Replying to: nippononly (Oct 12, 2009 11:45 am) For example if natural gas production were to decrease each of the next 5-10 years what would people do for heat? Some would turn to coal, but for the cleanliness and ease factor many would convert and burn heating oil. In many ways energy is just one big pie-chart. And if we put a lot of windfarms in and produce relatively cheap electricity, then yes that does free-up oil for other uses such as diesel vehicles. Because energy demand keeps going up with population growth we need to use all forms of energy. |
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Replying to: nippononly (Oct 12, 2009 6:47 am)
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Replying to: larsb (Oct 12, 2009 6:59 am)
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 12, 2009 5:54 pm)  Seems to be quite a few public CNG stations down in Utah on the interstate corridor, mostly for semis. Apparently someone down in Reno has figured out how to generate power from geothermal wells that doesn't require the superheated water that the current ones have. Right now you need 225°F to 360°F water for a "binary" plant (one's in Mammoth CA and there's one at Raft River here in Idaho), or over 360°F for a "flash steam" plant. |
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