Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Just wondering if people plan to pay for it like they do now and will it really change or crimp your lifestyle?

$5.00 a gallon gas what will you do?
1.   just pay for it
2.   crimp my lifestyle


definately number 2 and i have a hybrid. I will be getting a horse and buggy soon as i build my barn this spring ;)

PS: I just read its 9.60 in london    yikes how do they survive  :o   trains i guess  ;D

Errrrr - here in the UK we already pay over $9 a gallon and we have been told it is soon heading towards at least $10 probably $12 or more

So you will forgive us if in place of sympathy we express our considerable irritation and envy that you have it so darn cheap! You really have nothing to complain about.

We have been paying over $5 a gallon for longer than I can recall - at least 15 years!

I was about to say something about the UK.  It's why I don't understand why so many people were driving when I visited--the gas was ridiculous.

I'm going to be cutting back on driving...and eating from the dollar store more because I'm a poor college student. XD

Half the world pays over $5 per gallon.

Here is the current prices. World Gas Prices (http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/)

I'd have to quit my job.  I don't even think they pay enough to cover $4.00 per gallon in expenses, and they don't offer fuel compensation.

I'm sure a lot of customers will be very upset when they stop getting their deliveries.  But there's nothing I would be able to do about that.

Thing is most of our cars now do between 50 and 60 mpg - and some German and Japanese models can manage between 70 and 90 Mpg so actually in terms of the cost per mile it is no more costly - we just burn it WAY more efficiently than you do.

(My car averages 65.1 mpg for example - and those are real figures)

It's just your American manufacturers have gotten UBER lazy and because you had such ridiculously under priced gas they didn't bother to build very efficient or modern engines.

If you look at the engine management technology in your cars it looks positively stone aged compared to the stuff under our hoods! Which is how cars like the Blue Motion Polo manage such astonishing gas mileage - well over 84 mpg!

Quote from: rejennyrated on February 26, 2011, 05:16:57 PM
Thing is most of our cars now do between 50 and 60 mpg - and some German and Japanese models can manage between 70 and 90 Mpg so actually in terms of the cost per mile it is no more costly - we just burn it WAY more efficiently than you do.

(My car averages 65.1 mpg for example - and those are real figures)

It's just your American manufacturers have gotten UBER lazy and because you had such ridiculously under priced gas they didn't bother to build very efficient or modern engines.

If you look at the engine management technology in your cars it looks positively stone aged compared to the stuff under our hoods! Which is how cars like the Blue Motion Polo manage such astonishing gas mileage - well over 84 mpg!

My American car gets better gas mileage than my parents European based car and their Japanese based truck (both of which they bought in the UK [where they're both still at]). xD I get nowhere near the figures you mentioned, but I still get better mileage than their vehicles.

Quote from: rejennyrated on February 26, 2011, 05:16:57 PM
It's just your American manufacturers have gotten UBER lazy and because you had such ridiculously under priced gas they didn't bother to build very efficient or modern engines.

Yeah.  They didn't bother to have any real management, either, seeing as how the taxpayer had to loan them money to keep those companies from going bankrupt.  I blame that on their building LESS efficient automobiles (Hummer, anyone?) instead of doing the practical thing.  'Cause, you know, people were buying oversized trucks and boy-toys until the gas price went up a few years ago.

American companies are really good at following silly market trends, rather than making practical products...

I'm not sure I can crimp my lifestyle any more then I already have. I don't leave the house the way it is now.

This is just an example of GREED!

The U.S. gets 4% of oil from Libya for our refineries.

Shelly

A couple of years ago when it was up to 4 something a gallon I had a ford explorer and I was spending 80 plus dollars a week to fill my tank. If it hits 5 dollars I am buying a bicycle.

Well I filled up my car yesterday at $1.45/Litre. and it cost me over $70 to fill a little korean Elantra, that will last me about 4 weeks. That works out at $5.80 an American gallon. Our petrol (gas) prices are set on the Singapore crude price so it is a true reflection of the International price . The UK has a massive amount of excise on petrol. The USA has little if any.

Be interesting to see how things spin out in the Middle East. Libya has the largest reserves of oil (I think) so it will be interesting to see who ends up running the show.

Cindy

I'll still be driving because I (currently) don't really have a choice in transportation. I'm hoping that once student loan comes in, I can replace my current ride with something a bit more efficient (2012 ford focus).

I am paying over $600 a month now for driving, it goes higher and I will be on the streets again as I barely make it now and use food pantry to eat sometimes. I get decent mileage for an american van 37mpg. My job is going to have to change its views on paying for my work time gas.

What jenny said.

I don't drive anyway, which I'm kind of grateful for as cars are expensive. I do how ever think they should increase duty on fuel ti incetivise people to drive more fuel efficient cars.

I dont see any problem at this price (as here at europe is gas more expensive than 5$ per gallon)
Every of my cars are 20-25 mpg and I dont see any problem at using them as much as I want

We pay about the same price like the people in the UK.
Our goverment is a bit greedy with their taxes on gasoline.

We don't do 60 mpg because we have a lot of crowdy traffic jam, driving 100 yards and stop, driving 50 yards and stop.
The train sucks, no good connections and they are rarely on schedule, so we are spending money on gasoline like we were very wealthy wich we don't are.

When I spent a vacacion in the US people look at me like I'm crazy coz I'm the only one who likes the prices of gasoline.

If it gets much worse, I guess I'll be selling my car and buying a horse and a bicycle.

Drive right over the border to canada with a gasoline tanker truck and fill up on their .33 cents a gallon gas =P
lucky asses!

haha, but really, i'd probably buy a cheap 6-cylinder somewhere.
I have a '89 V8 right now, which i love but it is a bit of a guzzler.
I can't steer myself away from old cars though, so it'd have to be an older one still, which is fine since i'd be a 6-cyl anyways.
I'll still keep the v8, but use it once prices go down or just occasionally.

tho on the other hand, if i get a decent paying job and am the position to do so, i can use the v8 more anyways =P

I don't drive anyways though I am learning to so I'll take a car when I have to and use a bike with the bus system the rest of the time because it's like $4 a day where I am at to get an all day pass and $40 a month to get a monthly pass that allows me to take it whenever. Sucks because it takes extra time and the buses are usually late but at least I have that option :)

Libya has the largest reserves of oil (I think) so it will be interesting to see who ends up running the show. 
Saudi Arabia wins that, hands down, that's the only reason that anyone in the world cares about the House of Saud at all.
Here's the CIA analysis of who's got what:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2178rank.html (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2178rank.html)

But cut off 4% of anything that is in 100% demand and the price is going to rise.  The real deal with the oil from Libya is that it's considered the 'sweetest' oil in the world, you can almost run it in a diesel engine straight out of the ground.  Because it need far less refining, it's cheaper to use in the long run.  And because it's so pure it has industrial applications as a very fine lubricant.

Americans might pay less at the pump, but considering the tax-write offs, the 'inducements' and the out right give-a-ways, they are paying for it in hidden ways.

I'll keep on riding my bike and using public transportation.  We have that option here because we put a lot of effort - going back decades and decades - into building a system that at least kind of works.  The bike sure helps fill in the gaps, and all the ferries, buses, trains and stuff have provisions for us to take our bikes on them.  And those people out there reading this - particularly the older members - these bikes today are not the Schwinn toys you grew up with.  They are light, quick, and can stop on a dime.  What I ride (with a few modifications):
http://www.marinbikes.com/2009/us/bikes/assets/bikes_detail/MHT_HHT_HH.jpg (http://www.marinbikes.com/2009/us/bikes/assets/bikes_detail/MHT_HHT_HH.jpg)

The reality is that at some point I decided that aside from all that good stuff, like 'helping the planet', and 'not trading blood for oil' (and make no mistake, people are dying so you can keep on driving), 'making urban living a lot nicer for everyone' that I really got tired of working a month and a half a year to keep a ton of metal in my driveway.  I have better things to do with my time.  Really.

Oil is finite, and we are using it on an exponentially increasing scale, something has to give, and it has.

If your life depends on driving, you're already living in the past.

that fits in with me perfectly, i make an effort to live in the past =P
and ill admit that, lol

As Cindy said, we'd love to pay that!   

Personally I'd rather ride any motorcycle, Ferrari performance and Hyundai economy in the same vehicle are hard to beat!

As for the British and Euro cars that are giving such great economy, they are  Diesels, so performance can be a bit pedestrian until they get wound up. I'll stick with my 87 Honda City thanks.

Quote from: CindyJames on February 27, 2011, 01:13:21 AMLibya has the largest reserves of oil (I think) so it will be interesting to see who ends up running the show. 

Libya is number 10 on this list:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves)

Not that Wikipedia is definitive.  Also, recent articles I have ready say Russia is much higher than the 9
on that list.   USA at number one is interesting.  The amount attributed to Canada at number three is probably
low as the Albertan Oil Sands are a remarkable resource that have not been well researched yet.

I will happily go on record and say humans will invent new technologies that make oil obsolete
long before the Hubert's Peak is ever found. 

Another source is numbers is the US DOE-EIA: http://www.eia.gov/countries/?fips=BR (http://www.eia.gov/countries/?fips=BR)
On that list USA, Russia and Saudi Arabia are all 9,000 barrels a day or more. 
Here is reserves by DOE-EIA: http://www.eia.gov/countries/index.cfm?view=reserves (http://www.eia.gov/countries/index.cfm?view=reserves)

At $5 a gallon in the USA I will watch my trips.  At $10 a gallon I would park the Expedition for a while
and drive my biodiesel pickup more. 

-mS

Quote from: tekla on February 27, 2011, 08:42:22 PMIf your life depends on driving, you're already living in the past.

I have tried explaining that to my boss over and over.  Alas, driving will continue to be part of many workplaces
until there are significant changes in management structures.  Far to many bosses resemble Dilbert's PHB.

-mS

Quote from: tekla on February 27, 2011, 09:42:22 pm

If your life depends on driving, you're already living in the past.

Well, maybe I'm living in the past but I have to find a way to reach my workplace.
When you are living in the big city there is public transportation, outside of that it's horrible and in the evening even dangerous.

So , I must live in the past for earning my salary.

Less than 100 years ago that problem was solved by living close to where you work.

Places that have strong public transit options are places that were willing to pay for it and develop it.

I really wish I could get rid of my car and use public transportation, but unfortunately thats not possible where I live.  The closest bus stop is about 2 miles away, and there are no busses past 9pm around here, some routes stop at 7pm.   During the summer I do try to ride my bike whenever possible, but we get a lot of snow here, making roads narrower so its not safe to ride for a good portion of the year, not to mention the freezing temps. 

I lived in Chicago for 3 years, and was able to get everywhere with the transit system, so it worked out well to not drive at all.  I loved not owning a car, and tried to not have a car where I live now,  but its just not possible.

Luckily my car ('94 Toyota Camry) gets decent gas milage, and insurance is super cheap on it.

Quote from: tekla on March 02, 2011, 05:43:06 PM
Less than 100 years ago that problem was solved by living close to where you work.

I have a 25 mile round trip to work, and it can take up to 45 minutes each way depending on traffic. I have searched for a closer job, but there just isn't anything available. 

I spend years where it was a 45 minute walk to one job, 20 minutes to the other.  I chose that location to live in largely for that reason.

I'd probably try to crimp my lifestyle more...not that it's really possible to do much to it.
I scarcely drive anywhere aside for to and from work and necessary errands, and currently
it's cheaper to drive 20 miles a day than take the bus for $4 a day. 
.
$5 a gallon though?  Ouch.  Public busses are better here than most places, but
it's not going to be pretty.  I'll probably keep driving though.  Bus fare here is going to skyrocket
due to recent policital changes.  (We're possibly losing 1/6 of the funding for our bus system from
federal grants due to Walker's idiocy, + gas going up...is going to make ticket prices skyrocket.) 
.
Hrmm...It will probably still be cheaper to drive my car...so I guess it won't mean any changes for me. 
It'll just take longer to save toward my goals.
.

Quote from: tekla on February 27, 2011, 09:42:22 pm
If your life depends on driving, you're already living in the past.
reply from Tekla:
Less than 100 years ago that problem was solved by living close to where you work.

Sorry, but in my opinion THAT was the past.

By saying in the first place, I love this discussion, I really do, but it's useless to compare your own situation with others.
In my situation there was a government decision that people had to move from the big city years ago.
Those cities were to big and had too many problems, there was a fear that there should come getto's.
So they build new places, miles and miles away from the old places, they only forgot to build  good transportation or enough workplaces in the new cities.
So you can refuse driving and sitting on the couch unemployend or driving to the old place to work.
35 miles walking to your workplace is not an option for me.
They demolished the old houses in the city and maked new ones, with a price I never can afford even if I will work 24/7.
So, my solution was, by a car who is not very thirsty with gasoline and drive to the workplace.

annette

As I said, just get a motorcycle or scooter.  You can put something on the road here  for the price of a Hyundai buzz-box that will eat Porsches and still get over 50 to the gallon.   ;D ;D ;D

Quote from: justmeinoz on March 03, 2011, 04:06:13 AM
As I said, just get a motorcycle or scooter.  You can put something on the road here  for the price of a Hyundai buzz-box that will eat Porsches and still get over 50 to the gallon.   ;D ;D ;D

It would be quite interesting to try that in a blinding snow storm on the freeway. I drive for work, some days to 5 cities for 1 to 3 hours each. Buses, taxi's, trains, etc. are not an option.

You could keep the car or 4x4 for the snowy days and ride the rest. You should still be able to cut your costs by at least 50%.
As for the rain, we aren't made of sugar, we won't melt! Also I stay in my waterproofs to the front door at work, and let the car drivers struggle with their umbrellas. :laugh:

Quote from: justmeinoz on March 03, 2011, 04:06:13 AM
As I said, just get a motorcycle or scooter.  You can put something on the road here  for the price of a Hyundai buzz-box that will eat Porsches and still get over 50 to the gallon.   ;D ;D ;D

I can drive just big sedan, everything other is too playful to me and I then drive like a pirate  ::)
When I bought motorcycle I have it 2 months (because it was cold to ride it most time) and then I wreck it (I'm lucky to not have any aftereffects, just 6 months walk like Dr House  :-X)

Living close to work isn't always an option. Mass transit, no matter how much they improve it is not going to be as efficient as driving a car. What I particularly don't like are cities who deliberately plan transportation in a way to force people to use mass transit over driving. Examples include narrowing roads by reducing lanes that cars could travel on to replace that space with buses, trains, trolleys, bike lanes, etc. or zoning buildings where parking is so limited that you pretty much can't drive there. Whether it is a privately owned horse and buggy, privately owned bicycle, or privately owned car, most people want to have the option of travelling by themselves and/or independently. I don't allow meth-heads, ex-cons, crazies, people who don't shower, etc. in my car but when I get on a public bus, subway, or city train I'm now in an enclosed space surrounded by these people.

Ultimately, I think the best solution would be to develop more fuel-efficient cars, cars that run on other types of fuel, etc. and have mass transit systems that don't interfere with automobile traffic (i.e. reducing lanes, parking, blocking traffic with train signals, etc.). I'm not going so far as to put on my tin foil hat but I do believe that in some cities particularly with certain kinds of a political composition it is a goal to manipulate people out of their cars and onto mass transit. And I don't like it.

It looks like petrol here is going to go to around $1-40 a litre for 91 octane, 98 will be about $1-60/L.
As the Aussie dollar is at $1-01 to the US$ that puts us pretty close to the OP's figure per gallon.  Half way between Perth and Adelaide, on the Nullabor Plain it will probably be over $2 a litre.

Well, so far - and it's pretty amazing what with this unprecedented level of civil strife - that there has not been an event (as they say) at an oil terminal, refinery, or pipeline.  Nor, and this is pretty huge, has there been real problems in Kingdom or the real gulf states - stuff that would really effect oil supplies.  When one - or both (I'm betting on both, and sooner rather than later) - of those things happen then oil could go much, much, much (like double or more) higher.

I'm not going so far as to put on my tin foil hat but I do believe that in some cities particularly with certain kinds of a political composition it is a goal to manipulate people out of their cars and onto mass transit
Well no tin foil hat needed, it's no big secret that urban planning as a field, and urban planning schools where they teach urban planning to urban planners, who then go off and work for cities doing planning - loathe cars.

The preference has always been for real efficiency which is putting the most people in the closest possible space and making most of it self-powered.  Cities where most of the people walk (or ride bikes, bikes are walking in urban planning terms) most of the time are considered by planners to be working at the most efficient level.  It's really all about space and how much space you need to give over to cars (and it's huge, roads, parking, garages, infrastructure like gas stations, dealerships, etc). 

The least efficient use of just about anything and everything is using a personal one to two tons of metal and plastic that's about 4x8 and is constantly and forever taking up 4x8 feet of space, and burning intense levels (as a collective whole) of a highly refined fossil fuel that as matter of routine electro/chemical processes is spewing all sorts of toxic stuff into the air we are required to breathe.

So, to a considerable degree, yeah, there are people in all sorts of different offices sitting around and trying to figure out how you can move all these people around without each one needing a car.  In many places, there is just not enough room for everyone to have a car so that's a factor too.

But, I don't think that is the city you're living in Britney, you're in a place that was pretty much 100% designed with cars in mind.  All the war/post-war cities of the West and Southwest were laid out from the get-go based on streets to be used by cars.  It's all but impossible in that kind of sprawl to live without a car, it's just too far from any one place to the other (LA is the best/worse at that) and there is no real public transit -both intercity as well as regional (like NYC, or SF, or Chicago has) - too far to walk - if there are even places to walk - and riding a bike is pretty much an open death wish.

At least for now.

Who knows, as a geographical deal LA is really well laid out now for mass transit and bikes - most of the main areas are pretty flat - soon come, soon come.  But places like NYC, Chicago, SF, and several other dense urban areas have been trying to get people out of cars for a long, long time now.

Quote from: tekla on March 07, 2011, 06:22:17 AM
you're in a place that was pretty much 100% designed with cars in mind.  All the war/post-war cities of the West and Southwest were laid out from the get-go based on streets to be used by cars.  It's all but impossible in that kind of sprawl to live without a car

That's the same boat I'm in.  We have very few sidewalks or bike lanes.  Cycling means you are constantly hugging the shoulder of the road with cars whizzing by you a foot from your shoulder.  Walking or biking means you are constantly crossing dangerous intersections.  We also have lots of poorly designed traffic lights here that are dangerous enough to get past even in a car.  Good luck getting across that street if those lights don't happen to be designed for pedestrians (which only the new or recently replaced lights are)

If your job is more than a few miles away from your house, you are pretty much screwed without a car.  There is very little public transportation, and riding a bicycle for any great distance is impractical.  While it isn't too hard to walk or bike if you take the "scenic" route, using (or even just crossing) any of the main streets is just asking for punishment.

This week petrol in Adelaide has gone up 25cents a litre, about $1/gallon.

I'm so jalouse about your gasprices.
We pay 1 euro and 70cts for one liter.
That is 2dollar and 40 cts for 1 liter.
a gallon is 3,8 liters.
So if anyone can tell me where i can take gas for 5 dollars a gallon in my neighborhood I would go there right away.

It's all about taxes coz the price of oil is lower today, but not at the gasstation.

A hug from your expensive sister
annette

Quote from: annette on March 10, 2011, 06:21:41 PM
I'm so jalouse about your gasprices.
We pay 1 euro and 70cts for one liter.

wow you have 20-30cts more expensive than neighbouring states
I was amazed why is so popular lpg at Netherland

lpg is popular when you must drive a lot of miles, for bussinesspeople or account managers.
We pay also tax for the road, it's not cheap about 200 euro's for three month's depending on the weight of your car, when your car is using lpg the tax is three times the normal tax.
I don't know why because it's a quite clean way of driving but they want the money.
So if you drive a lot you can be cheaper with lpg but you have to drive more than a 30 or 40 thousend km a year otherwise it's more expensive because of the roadtax.
Diesel has also a tax raise, that's about twice the normal tax.
The only thing for cheaper driving is electric or hybride.
So, I bought a hybride, because I thought I was paying more than enough tax with half ny salary for incometax, paying tax for my home, paying tax for the electricity, water and citytax.
I live in a taxcountry.
Hugs from a taxoverloaded girl
annette

My round trip to work and back is 80 miles, in a jacked up four by four with 37" mud tires because the winter road maintenece is crap. Gas is $1.30 a litremostly taxes to pay for the roads ha ha. I gotta get something cheaper to drive ,but little cars scare me ,i wrecked in one years ago ,never again So medium size car it is, plus its gotta be fast, cause im allways late, and it cant be lame cause i grew up in a family of "car people" . My weekly fuel cost is about $150 the price of rural living , the farm is paid for. I suppose we ll seen a few thousand fresh faces to get slaughtered in Lybia and it ll all be better .

My car turning into a piece of >-bleeped-< has already crimped my lifestyle. And I live in a rural area without public transportation, so a car is the difference between leaving the house or being stuck indoors.  :(

Quote from: Janet Lynn on February 26, 2011, 05:12:30 PM
Half the world pays over $5 per gallon.

Here is the current prices. World Gas Prices (http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/global_gasprices/)

I have no idea where they are getting their info on the U.K from but trust me It's very very wrong. If anyone could get gas in this country for $5.79 gallon you would see the worlds largest queue!!!!

Some petrol stations are now charging £1.46 litre which is more like $8.97 gallon!!

My original calculation was wrong because I didn't realise that a U.K and U.S gallon were different! ???

I am already crimping and with the price of everything going up with gas prices I am going to have to resort to eating beans. So maybe in the end I can fill up my car with my freshly made gas...lol

Well we are up to 4.00 a gallon in most places across the USA (3.87 here) and i surely have crimped my driving. I expect fuel to be 5.00 by this time next yr at least. I do drive a honda civic hybrid which gets me 46mpg because i drive around 59mph. its a 2003 which mom bought new and gave it to me this past fall, since she is 88 and i am her caregiver. I had thought about a small pickup truck but now i will just keep loading things on the roof and hang long things on the side with ropes. I may even cut the back and make it into a pickup truck. I'll beef up the rear axles on each side. Anyway i can't even begin to think how people can afford to drive regular trucks getting 20 miles per gallon or under sheesh i pay now like 35.00 to fill up. Oh i live in a county with no emissions testing. my check engine light comes on and off and i am at 140k miles but i passed inspection since we have no emissions test here.

Seeing it's Easter the price here has gone up a bit as usual. Most of our oil is local so Libya has nothing to do with it. More like greed on the part of the oil companies and the Tax Dept.

91 octane is around $1.37 litre ( $1.40 or so US as our $ has gone up again).  Premium (98 oct) is around $1.53 and diesel is about the same. LPG is about 60c.

I have picked up a 1987 Honda City ProT microcar which uses less than 6L/100km, although I find I am using it like a sports car rather than an econo job. It weighs under 1000lb and has a full size 1200 Civic motor so goes like a rocket. I'd love to see what the Turbo2 version is like!

If I don't need the car to carry stuff I  use my motorcycle , because let's face it too much horsepower is not nearly enough.  ;D
Karen.

My petrol costs $8.26 for a US gallon. (1 US gallon = 0.83267384 of a UK Imperial gallon)

Lots of people saw this coming and made changes in their lives that they are now taking to the bank.

Quote from: rejennyrated on February 26, 2011, 05:02:53 PM
Errrrr - here in the UK we already pay over $9 a gallon and we have been told it is soon heading towards at least $10 probably $12 or more

So you will forgive us if in place of sympathy we express our considerable irritation and envy that you have it so darn cheap! You really have nothing to complain about.

We have been paying over $5 a gallon for longer than I can recall - at least 15 years!

It was over $4 a gallon when I was there back in 1990! So yeah. It's all relative though because everything is spread out too much in this country and you spend $10 in gas going out to the grocery store here as easily as you spend $10 in gas doing the same in london.

I've always tried very hard to use public transit when i have to, but use my bike most of all.  There was a period when I lived in rural Iowa when I couldn't, but the first thing I did when I got out of a rural situation was sell the car.  That was 10 years ago, and I've kept all the money that you are spending on gas, tires, oil changes, insurance, registration, maintenance and upkeep and car payments, parking and all other car costs and reduced my expenses to about $125 per year, and that's mostly a new set of bike tires, and if I stayed out of the hills and quit trail riding (not likely) I could get that down to new tires every 3 years or so.

I really got into that entire notion back when I was in High School and we had the very first Earth Day.  (Yeah, I'm that old).  I'd imagine over the years I've saved way over $100K doing that.  Easy.

One of the chief ideas of all the Earth Day stuff was that these changes would make not only make the planet better off, but radically improve your own life and I'm pretty much convinced that my reactions, my stamina, my strength and avoiding becoming too chubby to really be of much good to myself or anyone else is directly related to riding a bike at every possible opportunity, and walking a hell of a lot too when I could not ride.  It give me a very real and powerful sense of my place in the world.  It's also allowed me to feel connected to the world - as opposed to removed from it, cocooned in a couple of tons of glass and metal, removed and distant from everyone else, and everything else.

So HAPPY EARTH DAY!  Everyone has choices, all you have to do is have the courage to live them out.

Quote from: tekla on April 22, 2011, 12:58:49 PM
I've always tried very hard to use public transit when i have to, but use my bike most of all.  There was a period when I lived in rural Iowa when I couldn't, but the first thing I did when I got out of a rural situation was sell the car.  That was 10 years ago, and I've kept all the money that you are spending on gas, tires, oil changes, insurance, registration, maintenance and upkeep and car payments, parking and all other car costs and reduced my expenses to about $125 per year, and that's mostly a new set of bike tires, and if I stayed out of the hills and quit trail riding (not likely) I could get that down to new tires every 3 years or so.

I really got into that entire notion back when I was in High School and we had the very first Earth Day.  (Yeah, I'm that old).  I'd imagine over the years I've saved way over $100K doing that.  Easy.

One of the chief ideas of all the Earth Day stuff was that these changes would make not only make the planet better off, but radically improve your own life and I'm pretty much convinced that my reactions, my stamina, my strength and avoiding becoming too chubby to really be of much good to myself or anyone else is directly related to riding a bike at every possible opportunity, and walking a hell of a lot too when I could not ride.  It give me a very real and powerful sense of my place in the world.  It's also allowed me to feel connected to the world - as opposed to removed from it, cocooned in a couple of tons of glass and metal, removed and distant from everyone else, and everything else.

So HAPPY EARTH DAY!  Everyone has choices, all you have to do is have the courage to live them out.

AMEN TEKLA   

I totally agree with what you have done. good job and stay healthy as i am sure you will
PS: I did start a recycling center in redway Calif at the new container site (which took over the burning dump in garberville) in 1975 after i got out of the USMC and built 6 green homes in Phila Pa Burbs in the late 80's and early 90's which use 1/10th the rate of energy to heat and cool compared to any other local 2400sq ft home's nearby.

I tell you it's very hard not to laugh my ass off when I'm in line at the AM/PM down the street and listen to how much money it costs for people to fill up their car.  And if it's a Hummer or SUV, I do laugh.

I bought a little crap box for a hundred bucks, a 95 ford escort. So for about 500 i ve got a little commuter car all safe and legal like.  Only 88hp though, but theres always swapping in a bigger engine. Even a slow car beats a pushbike. 

I am reading through Stan Meyer's work about getting a car to run on water.  The system in the patent information seems plausible but surprised that no one else has figured it out yet.

Energy can neither be created or destroyed, so like ethanol, I'm sure it takes more energy to get the water to usable elements (like 2000 degrees of heat) and you would end up using more energy to make it happen then you would get out of it.

This is true but water in its thermally explosive form has a tremendous amount more energy than oil.  Through various techniques using the properties of electrical currents and water it is possible to separate water in burnable hydrogen and oxygen as fast as you can get the water into the system with extreme efficiency.  I have just really started reading through his stuff so I don't fully understand the exact details of the system but I understand the concept.

I'll just keep driving my little Kia, it gets great mileage.

Count your blessings - it's over $10/gallon here in the UK :(.

I live in the city so I don't need a car. w00t

Sorry Amy but it won't work due to the basic chemistry involved.  It's like trying to burn ashes in a fire, which obviously doesn't happen.   Water is the "ashes" we get from oxidising (burning) hydrogen. 

The only way to burn the hydrogen again is to split it from the oxygen in something like a fuel cell. Entropy means that you will never get more energy out than it took to extract the hydrogen.

Bit like photovoltaic solar cells. They never over their life produce more energy than went into manufacturing and installing them.

Or in normal language-"There ain't no free lunch".

Sorry, Karen.

hi Karen,

I certainly believed the same thing before I started reading Stan Meyers info but i guess only time will tell and until then I will keep putting gas in the car.

Just grab a basic Chemistry book and you will save yourself from another charlatan.

Not to mention you would need pure distilled water, so you need energy to distill it and pure water is perhaps the only thing on earth fast becoming as rare as oil.

I have a degree in biology and I understand why it shouldn't work and I also understand why there is a possibility using standard physics from the mid 80's and the way he put it together that it could work.  he was using the water as it's own capacitor to ultimately generate up to 20,000 volts of power and stripped the electrons from the water molecule rather than just rip it apart.  Very radical way to put stuff together.  Strange the guy successfully did so and ended up dead, his research material and operational car were stolen within a week of his death in the 80's

Seeing that a capacitor holds an electic charge between two poles seperated by a conductor I can't see it acting as such if it contains water. 
When you mention those details I start to think 'Urban Myth' I'm afraid.  Bit like  "who killed the electric car?" scenarios.
The answer of course is  "Air Conditioning"! Nobody is going buy a something  that will have them sitting in an un-airconditioned car, in a Melbourne traffic jam  when it's over 40 degrees C, let alone somewhere like Adelaide or Perth in summer.
Death Valley?  Our summers  laugh at your Death Valley!!

Buy a longboard and use it to commute to work. That's what I do ;D

At one time everyone thought the Earth was flat too.  I am not explaining it off the top of my head very well.  The info that i am reading is the actual U.S. patents that Stan Meyers was given for the system.  If it was just some off the wall guy that threw some stuff on a website I wouldn't give it any credence at all.  Check it out for yourself.

http://waterpoweredcar.com/stan.html (http://waterpoweredcar.com/stan.html)

Quote from: Helena on April 24, 2011, 06:14:29 AM
Buy a longboard and use it to commute to work. That's what I do ;D

I live in a valley, it's never gonna work! ???

Whilst I understand those who say, use public transport, or ride a bike, this is not a practical solution for everyone. For one thing, our public transport system blows, hard it's expensive, unreliable and frankly, smelly! Many people work 20, 30 or more miles from where they work and don't have the time or the energy to cycle that far every morning and then start work as an exhausted sweaty mess. I am not a diehard motorist, far from it, although I do own a little car, I still haven't passed my test so I speak about public transport from many painful years of experience.

People can raise environmental issues to justify the high cost of petrol and this would make sense if the extra duty was ploughed into better alternatives but it isn't it just goes into the same black hole that the rest of our money goes into. It's just a nice soft touch for the taxman as people need cars.

We already have pretty high fuel prices, 7.5$ a gallon is the cheapest 95 octane petrol and it is around 10$ a gallon if you want premium 100 octane petrol. Compared to our wages here, it is outrageous. So what I'll do? When I'll finish building my almost 30 years old turbocharged Japanese coupe I'll fill it up with 75 liters of 100 octane petrol and I'll have some fun :D

Lately i have been using 98 Octane, the highest you can buy here. Currently around AUD $1-60 a litre.
I find that both my bike and car get enough improvement in consumption to more than offset the greater cost.  They also run better and give more performance. Win-Win situation.
Regular 91 Octane is around AUD $1-35 litre.

Anne, don't be surprised at the economy you will get when the engine is off boost. Depending on the carb/injector setup, the turbo can break up the fuel droplets more finely, giving more efficient combustion.  I am seriously thinking of a Sprintex centrigfugal supercharger for my 1987, 1200 Honda City Pro-T. Should give about 100 bhp and over 50 mpg (Imp gal). No intercooler need either due to their efficiency.

Karen. (the rev head).

Only one fuel company has 98 Octane petrol here, only other choices are 95 or 100. My car can be surprisingly economical for an old 2L turbocharged vehicle with throttle body injection. I'll maybe make a compromise and fill it up with 98 Octane petrol, it should be good enough(but not much cheaper), the user manual states 97+ octane :)

100 Octane? Lucky you! In Oz we get 91, 95 and 98.   
If your car has a throttle body injector you should get the same fuel churning effect as a carby.  I had an old article by the  great engineer Phil Irving( he designed the Vincent V-twin m/c engine and the Repco Brabham F1 engine in the 60's) that explained  it all.
I figure if 64 bhp and 650 kg goes okay, then 100 bhp should be almost enough to dent a WRX drivers ego!!

Yeah, we can get a lot of things here, just have to pay the quite high price for it :)
I plan to go for MPI in the future, that should solve the inherent problems of the TBI system, but right know I would be happy to use the car as is. It's a quite heavy car, so I'm not expecting really great mileage, but it's not too bad. It's 1220 kg and 180 BHP, it goes alright :)

But back to fuel prices, our government is greedy as hell so the tax on fuel(and everything else) is very high. It is not the highest in EU but compared to the living standards here it is quite a ripoff.

While I want a smart fortwo or a different (but less cute) car, I think that at a certain point I don't need a car if I really don't want one, it just makes things rather impractical.

Where I live I can take the train up to the DC area, it takes a long time. I can also get around my local city with a bike, but some of the roads aren't really safe for it. A 50cc scooter is also good for that and gets about 100mpg, and feels a bit safe than a bicycle on busy roads. Even with $5 gas, it isn't too bad to get that sort of fuel economy.

A car is just simpler though, and the area I live in, public transportation is an after thought, not something that the local government seems to care about.

In my last job, my employer had an incentive of they would pay you $10 a day to ride a bicycle to work or otherwise they would pay your public transport fares if you took that.
In my current job, I take a work vehicle home, so can't complain.

My personal car is diesel and is efficient considering it is 25 yrs old at about 7km/litre . I pay equivalent of about $5 a gallon here in Darwin Australia and as fuel prices go up I will continue to drive it, well that is for as long as I have it. I did want to get something a bit smaller and maybe something a bit less masculine, though that's not what I bought it for

I bought this week next car (http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j434/Alison_Pateru/24062011265.jpg)
It have nice 17 mpg (14 l/100km)
But it cost me just 200$ (3500czk) and look in good shape, so with this price I have lot of money for gas  ;D

Pay for it! There is no way in Hell i am driving anything less than a V8! or Giving up my Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

Quote from: Dana Lane on April 23, 2011, 07:07:48 AM
I live in the city so I don't need a car. w00t

ditto.  :icon_geekdance:

I pay $7 per gallon in Sweden. Needless to say, I take the bus whenever I can.

I'm still getting 46mpg from my 2003 honda civic hybrid.. which has hauled many things on its top like a truck.. with ropes tied thru doors and rugs softening the load  ;D

There is 3.78 litres to the gallon Way down south in Oz were paying about 1.60 per litre thats 6.04 dollars Au per gallon. ( 5.89 USD)

In NZ when we went in august it was 2.10 per litre....7.93 per gallon (5.90 USD)


Kristyn

1.64 euro a quart !  yuck

Currently, lowest is $3.49, highest is $3.99,

Still drive my gas guzzler because I'd miss it too much if I stopped.

last few weeks diesel in my town has been stuck under the psychological barrier at £1.39.9 per litre which is about $9.50 a gallon? but it is nearer $10 in many other parts of country. petrol prices are about $9.20 locally.
Needless to say the knock on effect is ruining our lives and the economy.

VOTE REPUBLICAN

I would vote Rep if we had them but the choice is Royalist or Communist...one screws the workers directly the other indirectly...but both put fuel costs up.

page just blanked adn I got a 'Hacking attempt' warning... anyone else get that?

Yesterday we just have a nice trip around local villages and suburbs (with wife and children) and looking at nice Christmas decorations on houses
It was like 160 miles long and take about 6 hours
We really enjoyed it
Who cares gas prices, dinner at restaurant cost more than this nice trip
More problem I see in supporting solar power plants, support to someone business now make 35% price of electricity  >:(

America has been living in cloud cuckoo land with fuel prices for years.   In the UK fuel is roughly £1.30 a litre (that roughly equates to $8 a gallon).  As the guys on top gear keep pointing out, US cars have huge inefficient engines.  A 2000 cc toyota is often more powerful and has more torque than a 5000 cc Ford.  It usually handles better too.   This possibly explains the decline in the US car industry as demand for massive gas guzzlers is small.  People these days want nippy, economical, good handling cars with decent gadgets.

O  Great  only $5.00 Gal. thats 40% cheaper :)

We'll get those prices down as soon as we can convince Israel to attack Iran.

I already stretch out a tank of gas to a few months, luckily my work commute is only a mile or so each way and I plan trips to town so I can get everything I need for a few weeks.

Here it comes $5.00 a gallon gas

It won't affect me just yet as right now I take the bus and it's free for me because I'm a college student and we have another bus route that's completely free for everyone or I just catch a ride but I do plan on driving one day and when that day comes you can be sure I will only travel to where I need to go and I will have a small car.  I will still use public transportation a lot so hopefully I will be able to move to where there is a decent bus/train system at.

A lot of us, including me are already in trouble with the gas prices now so what is 5 dollars a gallon going to matter?

In answer to the question. I'll come on over and fill up. That's cheap. By comparison that makes the Aussie price $6.30 AUD per gallon. Anyone know of any tankers coming this way??

Be safe, well and happy
Lotsa huggs
Catherine

Latest tax increase of fuel just came in UK and today the only fuel place on this side of town has unleaded at $9.60 and diesel at $.9.96.