Gas prices at an average of $4 per gallon nationally in US

[Ian]

There's no such thing as "renewable energy." That's a euphemism designed to make people think there is a source of energy that just "renews" - walla!

Makes no sense at all. There are several sources of renewable energy. The Sun being the biggest and most obvious one. Sometimes it's cloudy (that's what electrical storage systems are for), but then sun's always in the same place. Solar power doesn't end up coming through an exhaust pipe or chimney, and you don't have to dig in the ground or a mile under the ocean to find more sources of solar power. Walla! It's always there! That's what renewable means.

Solar power has grown exponentially since it began in the 1970s, and continues to do so btw. Photovoltaic efficiency is developing exponentially, with potential huge jumps forward due to nanotechnology over the next decade or so.

[sandinista]

This is why bicycles/feet exist

Tell you what - you come and bicycle in Toronto during January and February, and let us know how you make out...

I bike year round in a much colder and shittier place than TO!

[Bella Fortuna]

I would go outside and SHIT myself with happiness if prices for fuel here fell to $10 per gallon.

It's currently over £6 ($10) per gallon in the UK.

I heartily concur.

That's definitely horrible - but overall (generally) it's easier to travel around the UK without a car, both due to size and infrastructure...

Yes, if you have a reasonable public transport infrastructure in your area. 30 miles is 30 miles wherever you live.... where I live, if you travelled that distance by bus, you'd spend nearly as much time travelling as you do working.... but I agree in principle....

Yes, I know what you mean.

If I wanted to forgo the use of my car for public transport, for the privilege I'd have to DRIVE to the nearest station, which is in a dismal area (hence my car is more likely to be broken into or stolen), take the light rail, changing at least once, and then walk for a half hour to work, which isn't the easiest thing in business clothes or in the plentiful rain/cold or 110F temps we get, depending on season. It would take at least twice as long as just driving... let alone if I get a call from school if my son is ill or something, or running errands after work... it just doesn't make sense for my life.

[Warren Dew]

A windfall profits tax (if it means a large tax on all oil company profits) will just raise the price of gas and heating oil. They make about 2 cents profit on every gallon now. But, it probably won't happen. Moreover, the term windfall is used in the idiot press as an equivalent to a "big profits" tax. I.e. - if you make a really really lot of profit, then that's a "windfall." That's not what a windfall profit tax is, though. A windfall profits tax will tax profit that occurs unexpectedly as a consequence of some event not controlled by those who profit from it. That doesn't appear to be happening in the oil industry at all.

Any windfall right now is benefiting the owners of reserves, which are primarily governments - for example, Libya.

There seems to be some fighting there right now. I wonder why?

[Ayaan]

I would go outside and SHIT myself with happiness if prices for fuel here fell to $10 per gallon.

It's currently over £6 ($10) per gallon in the UK.

I heartily concur.

That's definitely horrible - but overall (generally) it's easier to travel around the UK without a car, both due to size and infrastructure...

Yes, if you have a reasonable public transport infrastructure in your area. 30 miles is 30 miles wherever you live.... where I live, if you travelled that distance by bus, you'd spend nearly as much time travelling as you do working.... but I agree in principle....

Yes, I know what you mean.

If I wanted to forgo the use of my car for public transport, for the privilege I'd have to DRIVE to the nearest station, which is in a dismal area (hence my car is more likely to be broken into or stolen), take the light rail, changing at least once, and then walk for a half hour to work, which isn't the easiest thing in business clothes or in the plentiful rain/cold or 110F temps we get, depending on season. It would take at least twice as long as just driving... let alone if I get a call from school if my son is ill or something, or running errands after work... it just doesn't make sense for my life.

Mine either. I too would have to drive to the nearest Park & Ride lot, then spend four to five HOURS on the bus with at least three transfers, walk a mile to work - crossing six lanes of highway in the process, and then leave work hours early to get home (I work until 2 am, the buses stop running at midnight). Until I can get a job closer to home, I pretty much have to drive there if I want to work.

[laklak]

I just send Mrs. Lak to work and I hang around posting nonsense on teh webz.

[Ayaan]

I just send Mrs. Lak to work and I hang around posting nonsense on teh webz.

Sounds like what 'Zilla does.

[maiforpeace]

Kept men, lounging around in their bathrobes, eating bon bons.

[Warren Dew]

On the bright side, high gasoline prices are helping make the automobile fleet more fuel efficient, something that federal laws and regulations and pork barrel "energy efficiency" projects have largely failed to do:

Gas Prices Aid April Car Sales

General Motors Co., Hyundai Motors Co. and several other auto makers reported big gains in U.S. new-vehicle sales for April as a recovering economy and high fuel prices spurred demand for small cars.

Overall, new-vehicles sales rose 18% to 1,157,794 cars and light trucks, according to researcher Autodata Corp....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 70708.html

[Coito ergo sum]

There's no such thing as "renewable energy." That's a euphemism designed to make people think there is a source of energy that just "renews" - walla!

Makes no sense at all. There are several sources of renewable energy. The Sun being the biggest and most obvious one. Sometimes it's cloudy (that's what electrical storage systems are for), but then sun's always in the same place. Solar power doesn't end up coming through an exhaust pipe or chimney, and you don't have to dig in the ground or a mile under the ocean to find more sources of solar power. Walla! It's always there! That's what renewable means.

Solar power has grown exponentially since it began in the 1970s, and continues to do so btw. Photovoltaic efficiency is developing exponentially, with potential huge jumps forward due to nanotechnology over the next decade or so.

The sun's energy doesn't "renew." The sun just keeps making a fuckload of energy. Nothing is "renewing." Renewable energy is just a source of energy that isn't going to run out in a really, really, really, fucking long time. Geothermal energy doesn't "renew" either - there is energy there and some of it comes out. I know the term is used to mean solar, wind, tidal and geothermal type energies, but I just don't like the term.

[Ian]

Something I just saw that might (ahem) fuel this thread a bit more...

[Tigger]

I would go outside and SHIT myself with happiness if prices for fuel here fell to $10 per gallon.

It's currently over £6 ($10) per gallon in the UK.

I heartily concur.

That's definitely horrible - but overall (generally) it's easier to travel around the UK without a car, both due to size and infrastructure...

Actually it isn't. I think that's one of the rare times I've disagreed with you! It's really shit if you live outside of the relatively small areas that are served efficiently by public transport and want to get somewhere regularly and in time for work, say. Then they make it really awkward.
My experience of it is twofold. Our family sold the second car when I became a full-time student a little over a decade ago, because we thought we could rely on public transport. It failed miserably, and within six months, to avoid two bus journeys and a train ride, we purchased another car. More recently my wife's work has taken her about 20 miles away. This involves a bus ride to the railway station (it's about 4 miles), that takes anything up to 45 minutes, followed by a 20 minute train ride, followed by a half hour walk or another 10 minute train/bus. She works weekends and shifts. There is no Sunday service, and Saturday is all to pot. Ergo I take her to work.

[Coito ergo sum]

There is no train for me to get to work, and to take a bus I would have to drive about 1/2 the distance of my 30 minute drive to get to the bus stop. Then I'd have to pay for parking, and take the bus for 40 minutes to get to work. Then I would be stuck with no transportation at work.

It's a huge waste.

[Bella Fortuna]

There is no train for me to get to work, and to take a bus I would have to drive about 1/2 the distance of my 30 minute drive to get to the bus stop. Then I'd have to pay for parking, and take the bus for 40 minutes to get to work. Then I would be stuck with no transportation at work.

It's a huge waste.

See my previous post about similar torturous route I'd have to take to not use my car...

That's definitely horrible - but overall (generally) it's easier to travel around the UK without a car, both due to size and infrastructure...

Actually it isn't. I think that's one of the rare times I've disagreed with you! It's really shit if you live outside of the relatively small areas that are served efficiently by public transport and want to get somewhere regularly and in time for work, say. Then they make it really awkward.
My experience of it is twofold. Our family sold the second car when I became a full-time student a little over a decade ago, because we thought we could rely on public transport. It failed miserably, and within six months, to avoid two bus journeys and a train ride, we purchased another car. More recently my wife's work has taken her about 20 miles away. This involves a bus ride to the railway station (it's about 4 miles), that takes anything up to 45 minutes, followed by a 20 minute train ride, followed by a half hour walk or another 10 minute train/bus. She works weekends and shifts. There is no Sunday service, and Saturday is all to pot. Ergo I take her to work.

I stand corrected then - certainly I was going by my general observations, but I trust those of you who live there more!

[Coito ergo sum]

Many times I've heard friends call for "more public transportation." When pressed, however, it comes to light than none of them expect that they would actually take that public transportation. The common refrain, "I need my car during the day" is ubiquitous. Unless there is going to be a train stop right by one's house, and the train is going to be coming by every 15 minutes and taking one quickly to work, then most people are just going to drive.

A subway like in NYC works well, because of the fact that like 10 million people live within walking distance from a subway platform, and the trains can run all day and night and come by all the stops within minutes.