none of the "see a cop, slow down" deterrent effect.
Not sure about that. They put stop light cameras at many trouble intersections here in town, Over the last two years accidents dropped dramatically and red light running all but stopped. Out of 5 intersections they all issue a total of 2 or 3 summons a month.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I'm surprised no one here has mentioned this by now. On Monday Sen. McCain proposed a $300 million prize to anyone who can develop a car battery that is a major breakthrough in today's technology. That kind of money should inspire some new ideas.
Here's another part of his proposal that caught my eye:
In addition, a so-called Clean Car Challenge would encourage U.S. automakers to develop zero-emission vehicles by offering consumers the incentive of a $5,000 tax credit when they purchase one.
I think if they pass that last one I'll be first in line to buy a $100 bike at Kmart. No one said anything about having to RIDE the thing and I'd come out $4,900 ahead. Yeah, it's late...even for me.
They put stop light cameras at many trouble intersections here in town, Over the last two years accidents dropped dramatically and red light running all but stopped. Video surveillance for small potatoes like stop lights is too Big-Brotherish to be consistent with American democracy. Is the goal to turn us all into 100% mechanically-compliant little [non-permissible content removed] underlings? I can see it for major crimes, but the proliferation of this kind of technology raises the question of whether nit-picking, rigidly enforced obedience is consistent with a healthy, vibrant, creative democracy. If risk-takers are completely controlled and stifled, creativity and innovation will die, and the dull sluggards who benefit parasitically from innovation will be left to stagnate in the economic dark.
I just called the oil company, to get an estimate on what home heating oil prices will run this winter. Obviously, that's too far off for them to accurately predict, but the guy I talked to said that right now, people who are renewing their contracts are locking in at $5.62 per gallon. I probably average around 450 gallons per year. This is gonna be painful.
Don't many repair shops have furnaces that are capable of burning used motor oil? I wonder if household units can burn used motor oil?
I'm worried about my parents. They (foolishly) switched from coal to oil about 13 years ago when their 67 year-old coal furnace finally died. They live in a much cooler climate than central Maryland. My place in Philly has gas heat, so I'm used to paying high heating costs as the Philadelphia Gas Works is more crooked than the mafia.
Don't many repair shops have furnaces that are capable of burning used motor oil? I wonder if household units can burn used motor oil?
I never heard of that type of furnace, but I guess it's possible. I'm sure that motor oil would pretty much destroy a household unit though. Too thick and probably not that easy to burn. Home heating oil is about as thick as Diesel fuel. I imagine used motor oil would put off a lot of pollution, too.
Anyway, I think I'm going to look into getting a heat pump. This past winter was a mild one. They only had to come out twice, and I used about 337 gallons total. Market price was $3.55, but by the time they put on all the taxes and crap, it was around $3.70 per gallon. So I blew around $1200, even in a mild winter. At $5.62 per gallon plus various taxes, I could be looking at $2000 in a mild winter.
My grandmother has oil heat as well, but she has a boiler, which heats baseboards and also supplies their hot water. So it runs all year round. Plus she has a bigger house than me. Her total bill over the past year was around $2400. It could very well run $4000 or more this year. Unfortunately, putting a heat pump in her place wouldn't be cheap, because since she has baseboard heat right now, there is no ductwork in the house. At least my place has forced air, so they could probably just swap out the furnace with a heat pump, and it would be no big deal.
Are you enthusiastic about the reverse scenario? (no sacrifice = more extreme crisis)
My point was that I believe sacrificing by conserving gasoline will have a neglible impact on the severity of a major disruption to our oil supply. So what's the point? I feel the same way about opening up ANWR and our coastlines to more drilling. It's not a solution or even a partial solution. Maybe conserving and drilling can push back the year that gas hits $10/gallon but it will inevitably happen unless we develop alternatives. If I was asked to make a sacrifice that might expedite the development of these alternatives I would very enthusiastically agree.
If a person who's currently spending $3,000/year on gasoline can cut back 10% he's saved himself $300. The personal savings are the only valid reason I can see for conserving. It's up to the individual to decide if the savings justify the sacrifice. In my case the sacrifice of slowing down outweighs the savings.
My place has central air, so all the ductwork is there for a heatpump. There's going to be a lot more poor and elderly people freezing to death this coming winter in Philly and possibly a lot more fires started by people trying to keep warm with portable heaters. If this psychopathic run-up in fuel prices is due to greedy energy speculators, may they all end up in a place where there is no lack of heat! :mad:
"Finally, legislation proposed this month by Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., would prohibit anyone without the ability to actually accept delivery of crude oil from buying a futures contract on an over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market.
Would this legislation apply just to oil or all commodities that are traded?
There's probably a lot of reasons this law couldn't work but here's a big one. There's no way that you can force oil producers to sell their oil on the current, established exchanges. If an exchange were to impose these restrictions on who can bid for an oil contract it would definitely lower the price of oil. But the oil producers would simply set up their own exchange without these restrictions.
Maybe they've overcome this but my understanding was that ultra-capacitors had a low energy density compared to batteries and they also had a tendency to self-discharge.
I do believe there is a place for ultra-capacitors to supplement battery packs in EVs. If they handled recovering the energy from regenerative braking and then delivering the burst of energy needed for acceleration they could take a lot of wear and tear off the battery pack allowing it to last considerably longer.
I'm somewhat familar with Maxwell Technologies and I believe they have partnered with someone to pursue this configuration in an EV.
Put in a coal furnace. Get a car load dumped in your yard. Start selling to your neighbors.This may get the wheels turning on control of speculators. When Our cities become black again from coal and wood smoke maybe Congress will quit pandering to those that control these things.
It was very similar in the late 1970s when we were paying $1.56 for heating oil on our Minnesota farm. Interest on home mortgages was 16%. Working as a Union Carpenter I was making $9 per hour. I had to drive 75 miles to find work. Those were the toughest times for me during my 46 year work career. I gave up farming and went back to Alaska.
Five years ago heating oil was less than a buck a gallon. Now it is over $4 per gallon. What will people on fixed incomes do to keep warm in the winter?
What's interesting about it is that this is the town my wife works in and actually knows one of the people quoted in the article.
My wife has also told me that many of her employees are either trading in their large trucks and SUVs for smaller cars, buying smaller cars to use for commuting (and leaving the leviathans in the driveway) or trading vehicles with their husbands to cut down on fuel usage.
Even in-town driving out there (it's about 15 miles east of where we live) means 5-10 miles from the house to the grocery store, for example. My wife explains to people all the time who want to live out there that they will be spending more time in the car.
No kidding - one desperate family was actually tearing pieces of wood from their walls and burning it. They were literally burning their own house to heat it! Maybe when hundreds of poor burn to death in fires this'll capture the attention of those in charge. Nah! They're just po' folks! They don't care!
My neighbors next to me have a wood stove. The neighborhood smells like a forest fire all winter and my Park Ave has a film of soot on it from the chimney. I sure hope they're regularly cleaning their chimney!
Five years ago heating oil was less than a buck a gallon. Now it is over $4 per gallon. What will people on fixed incomes do to keep warm in the winter?
Yeah, it's amazing how quick the price ran up. Here's the rundown of how my oil prices went up...
11/2003: $1.19 per gallon 11/2004: $1.74 per gallon 11/2005: Market price with a $3.19 cap. Luckily the most I paid was $2.64 11/2006: Market price with a cap, but I forget what it was. Most I paid for that term was $2.78. 11/2007: Market price with a $3.55 cap. And both times they came out, it was $3.55. Now: $5.62/gal. By the time my contract renews in November, probably even worse!
I do have a chimney in the livingroom, where a wood burning stove used to be. Sometimes I'm tempted to try hooking back into it, but that chimney hasn't been used in about 20 years. Plus, my livingroom is kind of small, and a wood stove would take up a lot of space.
My grandmother has a wood burning stove in her basement, but it hasn't been used in ages. At least with her house though, the stove and the furnace tie into the same chimney, so it's not like the chimney has been dormant for years.
It really does make you wonder though, what people on fixed incomes, or limited resources in general, will do this winter. I'm sure that it's not just oil prices that have shot up, too. I dunno what natural gas costs these days, but it's probably not cheap. Electricity has been creeping up, too. Our electric rates shot up about 15% in 2006 and then another 50% in 2007. So no matter what, you get screwed, I guess. :sick:
I am trying not to let the gas prices affect what I do, but it certainly makes me question where I go and if I want to use the gas to go somewhere. It is frustrating, and thank god that my car gets decent mileage. I still run my A/C, and if I want to go out and have fun, than I still do it, but in the back of my mind, I am thinking, man, I am using my gas up sooner only to fill it up with nearly $60 worth for my tank. Its really just annoying, and stupid that I used to pay in 06 about $40, and now nearly $20 more now to do that same job. I feel that I pay a decent amount for my leased car, so why not be able to enjoy it, other than driving back and forth to work. I do live about 30min from work, so if I do need to go to town, I definitely have to plan on being there for a few hours to make it worth it. My advantage is probably the fact I drive mostly highway and some city, so that helps.
My next lease is definitely going to be some kind of hybrid technology, and I will be looking closey at Honda/Acura line up. Or even the Camry Hybrid, for a sedan.
I will say this comment though, if you notice that they Toyota Prius Hybrid is going for nearly $30k!! on Ebay! Okay, so you are saving gas, but you are not saving any money, perhaps you are losing some money, because you are dumping money into your $30k price tag!! You will not see any gains for years to come. I am not sure people are understanding that. You might as well get a regular car of which you want, and still be paying less $$ than the way overpriced Prius. It defeats the whole purpose of the car, it is an economy car. Dealers are going to do that, due to the demand, but now its not practical, and does not makes sense to purchase one, because of the price increase. You are putting your cash right into the payment.
So please be careful and realize that when looking at a car for fuel efficiency.
Even in-town driving out there (it's about 15 miles east of where we live) means 5-10 miles from the house to the grocery store, for example. My wife explains to people all the time who want to live out there that they will be spending more time in the car.
What is the difference in home prices? That was the original draw to the suburbs. Cheaper housing. If you move out 20 miles further and save $100,000 on a comparable home the interest alone should cover the additional gas in the average car. At 27 MPG you can justify an additional 136 mile round trip on the interest alone. The peace and tranquility of living out where you do not have traffic noise is hard to put a price on. Plus a place to grow a garden for your vegetables can save a bit also. Though you can do that in town will a small yard.
For me to own the home I now own in a decent San Diego neighborhood would be double my current home value. Spending a $million plus for a home is crazy. Being retired I only drive to town maybe once a week. The 30 mile round trip trip to Costco in my Sequoia costs about $9. If I can buy local I do it. I have most things I need within 3 miles, including great restaurants. Some of the best Mexican food in So California. I'll stay in the quiet Burbs even if gas is $10 per gallon. Which I believe our society would go into cardiac arrest long before it gets that expensive.
"one desperate family was actually tearing pieces of wood from their walls and burning it. They were literally burning their own house to heat it!"
I believe it. Remember those goofballs last week whose house blew up because they were storing jugs full of gasoline in their closet? They thought they'd beat future high gas prices by storing up at today's price.
I decided to give the EthosFR product a try to help economize my gas bills. Yes 12.5 is a realistic number. Using the Ethos product I am now seeing 23.5 MPG. Take it easy people. I also have changed my driving habits, I no longer feel that this beast has to head the pack. In the 2000 miles since I started using EthosFR I have seen fuel economy as high as 27.3. That is slick with rpm at 1900 MPH 65. Unrealistic over a long run. I carry two Kayaks on a roof rack and the last time I did this I got 21 MPG.
These are real numbers.
My HEMI has a catback system, cold air ram and the performance microchip. I have removed the resonators as well. I plan on keeping this Magnum for a very long time so I do baby it.
The beauty of this beast (5300lbs) is that once its rolling it relaxes and if you need the extra power it is there. I will accept the 23+ mpg. As a driver of muscle cars since 1957 I also note that the Magnum with modifications seems to run a lot smoother and cruises lighter.
QUESTION? My next oil change will be a conversion to AMSOIL 100%SYNTHETIC. I am currently using a synthetic blend. Comments on AMSOIL APPRECIATED. This product has been around for a long time.
Ethos looks like another MLM scam to me, and the fact that you are new to the forum and bragging on it makes me wonder if you are trying to sell it - skepticism runs high around here.
But I don't believe in Amsoil stuff either, so please pardon my assumptions....
Wow, that is cheaper than San Diego. My last three times they filled the tank it was $3.28 per gallon. I had one month of heating in SD that was over $400. The last 4 months of hot water, cooking and cloths dryer was under $100. So the two furnaces really burn up the gas. I will let it get colder in the house next winter for sure.
This kind of initative is exactly the one I would support the most enthusiastically.
There is no really groundbreaking approach to oil dependance other than alternative technologies. I think US have the capacity to develop such, but did not have the will until now. This is better than self-flogging laws that just give us the feeling that we "do something".
Where the money come from ? Certainly not from gas tax. I don't see many US politicians daring to add 1 USD per Gallon to finance such projects.
and it seems one can purchase an electric bike for less than $800 that will go 25 mph, will go 25 miles on a single charge, could easily be recharged during the day at work (the ones I looked at all had normal wall socket plugs), and has a full-electric mode (or will go pedal assist or full pedal only modes if you would prefer to get a workout). Some of them in this price range even fold up for space savings.
If I only used it for the commute, it would save me about $15/week, and if I did some of the pedaling I could get some much-needed exercise at the same time. If I also used it for other local errands, I could probably get $25/week or more in savings vs using the car (gas is $4.50/gallon where I live).
There is a dedicated bike lane/path all the way from my front door to my office. I see more and more people on their bikes now when I commute. Hmmmm.....I'm thinking about it......
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
There is a dedicated bike lane/path all the way from my front door to my office. I see more and more people on their bikes now when I commute. Hmmmm.....I'm thinking about it......
You apparently missed the headlines earlier in this narrative... Gettig on a bike is.... dangerous, and you'll most likely a: eat lots of bugs if you don't wear a full-face motorcycle helmet, or b: BE a bug on the grill of some SUV.
There is not a lot in the way of traditional 'tract" housing in Elizabeth. Some homes in town, but the zoning regulations really don't allow for much smaller than a 2 or 3 acre lot size.
We've looked at houses out there in the past couple of years, and while there are some homes under $300K, most of them are probably sold for north of that number.
The advantages are the "peace and tranquility", as you call it. Of course, being out in the sticks means you are much closer to nature. I have some co-workers who live out that way, and they've recently told stories about mountain lions (cougars) who roam the plains and occasionally will snatch a pet. Another advantage is the lot size, and not feeling like you are living on top of your neighbor.
My wife works for the school district there and she's told me that the enrollment has dropped slightly in the past year or two. 5 or 6 years ago there were some preliminary plans for adding a 3rd elementary school, but they have since been shelved.
> it is my understanding that heat pumps are currently the most cost effective way to heat. Geothermal units offer a 4 to 1 ratio even in harsh winter (meaning 4 KW of heat produced for 1 KW of electricity used) as opposed to air units which efficiency depends on outside temperature. I estimate that Heat pump may help cut the heating budget in half in comparison with 4.5 USD / Gallon of heating fuel.
In France, thanks to Nuclear plants, electricity KWH price only increase about 3% every year. Heat pumps are selling like hot cakes, and the government incentive (50% of the investment amount up to 5000 Euros (7600 USD) help many people sign in.
> if we weren't blowing billions of dollars in Iraq
I refrain from discussing politics, but I guess that if all the money spent in Iraq was invested instead 50% in alternative infrastructures and 50% in technology/industrial initiatives, US would be on a much better road towards less Gas addiction.
I have good trust in private initiative, but I think the Govt should step in some capital/technology intensive R&D. Nuclear power was not invented by a private corporation and I doubt Fusion power will be.
I wish they'd do 50% incentives around here. My heat pump is 32 years old and the compressor leaks a little oil and so does the outside fan. Got a service and a ballpark bid just this morning. Only $6,000 bucks to replace it.
I think there are two mindsets - fearfulness and cynicism - prevalent in this forum, and one or more is apparent in most of the posts. I try as hard as possible personally to keep either from influencing my decisions. Therefore, one of these electric bikes is still very much under consideration.
Having said that, comfort is a primary governor in too many of my decisions, which will weigh against the bike in the final outcome here. :-(
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
>get us to lower OUR standard of living so they can raise THEIRS.
As everybody needs heating (well not much in my place but..) it is easy to see energy speculators as criminals. But didn't we put ourselves in a precarious situation by heavily relying on oil ? How about breaking that vicious circle ?
- Better house insulation (Internal or external insulations, double or triple glazing..) - Alternative energies like solar power (water of PV) - Wood burning heating (but need a real forest country-wide policy) - High efficiency Heat pumps - Stronger heat distribution strategies
All this need investment, like the price of a very nice car. Transitioning away from oil is painful indeed.
My heat pump is 32 years old and the compressor leaks a little oil and so does the outside fan. Got a service and a ballpark bid just this morning. Only $6,000 bucks to replace it.
Good lord, are those things that expensive to replace these days?! I had the heat pump in my condo replaced back in 1997, and it was only about $1800! Now, I had a friend of a friend do it, so that's one reason why it was so cheap, I guess. I just took a wild guess that to swap my furnace for a heat pump might be around $4,000, but maybe that's a bit optimistic?
If any individual, group, company, institution, etc., can develop a battery that leapfrogs today's battery technology a $300 million prize will seem paltry compared to what the market will reward them with. So while I agree with Senator McCain's message, which seems to be that this is an area that deserves emphasis, I've got some misgivings about this prize approach. If this technology actually comes about the developer will undoubtably patent it and potentially charge a very high licensing fee. If the government is going to spend taxpayer dollars promoting and or developing a technology then it's my opinion that the taxpayers should own it or at least have access to it at a reasonable price.
My neighbor spent $8,000 on his replacement heat pump just last month, but he added duct work to take cold air to his downstairs. Like him, I'll have to replace the inside as well as the outside unit; can't match a new outside thingamabob with the old blower/furnace unit inside. Apparently R-22 is getting phased out soon by Trane and some other companies and the new refrigerant will cost about double.
10 cents/gal surcharge for credit card use? Every gas station in my area has tthis surcharge for about 1 month now. I was wondering what everyone is seeing in their neck of the woods?
I only use cash now which saves me $1.30/fill-up vs. credit! That's $6.20 per month for using plastic for me! :sick: :sick:
I don't know why that car comes up under my name sometime.
Anyway, I read about an additive that is supposed to increase milage and it SEEMED legit becuase it had a NASCAR sponsorship and these guys used it yadda yadda.
But for the life of me I can't remember what it is.
Anyone got an idea? I apologize for being so specific...... :shades:
Some yahoos were saying using mashed-up corn to fuel NASCAR cars was appropriate, given the moonshine history of part of the region where NASCAR is huge. :P
Yeah, the news had a story, and apparently the credit card companies charge a percentage of the sale, which was fine when gas was $1.50 because the profit margin, though thin, could cover it. Fast forward to today, and that same supposedly wafer-thin profit margin will no longer cover the total credit card charges because prices have doubled or tripled, so in real dollars gas sales to credit customers at cash prices are now actually creating a loss. So they charge the extra fee for credit customers to cover the credit card companies' percentage.
I find it credible, which is why I always go in the Quik Mart and get a Coke and a bag of chips when I fill up. Gotta keep the gas stations in business, don't want their numbers to decrease! :-)
I have noticed however that the name brand stations with companies that issue their own credit cards don't have the credit card charge even if you are just using a regular Visa, not their captive charge card.
So if you always pay by credit card, you may want to switch from Quickie gas to a name brand, as the price for a fill-up may wind up being the same....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Put in a coal furnace. Get a car load dumped in your yard. Start selling to your neighbors.This may get the wheels turning on control of speculators. When Our cities become black again from coal and wood smoke maybe Congress will quit pandering to those that control these things.
Bring back updated locomotives burning coal and having some type of chimney scrubber. That would save deisel/petroleum use.
Didn't realize there might still be some folks burning coal for home heating somewhere. The healthy part about that is the exercise of moving the coal to a storage room in the basement. Then, the nightly fill-up of the stoker, and getting the clinkers out of the furnace and out to the garbage can. Lots of exercise there. And, America has probably a 1000 year supply of coal for home heating and other energy needs. But, how to clean it up.
There is a lot of wood smoke during fall/winter when people burning wood in their fireplaces for "effect" and "ambiance".
Restrictions Placed On Wood-Burning Fireplaces In SoCal Television images of cozy fireplaces will often have to do next winter after air pollution regulators imposed restrictions limiting the use of wood-burning fireplaces in Southern California.
My neighbor heats with wood. I am used to the smell in the winter. The Easterly breezes carry the smell and ash back down the hillside into San Diego.
Passing by the same gas station on the way to work, each morning it seems as though the gas prices have climbed by a penny or two. On those rare instances when the price actually drops, be it ever so marginally, Amanda Jay becomes giddy. "It's as if it's a sign that at least for a moment all is right with the world. But the feeling doesn't last long," she says. "By the time I pass by again on the afternoon commute it'll likely be three or four cents higher."
Amanda, like many people, was putting over sixty dollars worth of gas in the tank of her SUV at least twice a week. With fuel costs cutting wide swathes into other areas of her personal budget, she finally said enough is enough. Amanda made the same move that many Americans are making to deal with the rising cost of gas. She bought a motorcycle. "My motorcycle gets better than twice the mileage that my SUV," Amanda says. "On days that the weather is decent, I can ride my motorcycle to the office and I have more than cut my commuting cost in half. The bike will end up paying for itself."
Amanda's not alone. While car sales are in decline, motorcycle dealerships across the country are setting sales records. People who would have never considered themselves the "biker type" are throwing a leg over a motorcycle for the first time, while many former motorcyclists are returning. Men and women of all ages have been flocking to dealerships, and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation is estimating that over 300,000 people will take the new rider course this year.
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the American Motorcyclist Association both highly recommend taking a training course for new and returning riders. "Riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than driving a car and a rider, new or old, can never be too prepared." In addition to taking an organized course, the MSF recommends the use of personal protective gear including abrasion resistant jacket and pants, gloves, boots and (most importantly) a DOT approved helmet.
"Not only am I saving money by riding a motorcycle to work," Amanda went on to say, "it's actually made my commute fun."
"10 cents/gal surcharge for credit card use? Every gas station in my area has tthis surcharge for about 1 month now. I was wondering what everyone is seeing in their neck of the woods? "
Actually, I think that it is against the law to place a "surcharge" on credit card gasoline sales.
Technically, they can offer a "cash discount", though the effect is the same.
Red light cameras haven't shown to stop red light running. It may affect the accident rate at the particular intersection due to T-boning, but may increase the rear end accidents as people stop in front of someone thinking they'll go on through on the yellow.
Accidents are best prevented by having policemen move around and watch for unsafe actions such as running the yellow and issuing real citations. They can even find the drivers affected by alcohol or drugs who do it; much safer for society to get them off the road than just sending them a bill in the mail.
I just heard that Ohio helped the safety factor that the cities using red light cameras are seeking. They passed a law requiring the yellow to be increased by 1 second at red light camera intersections to help the safety. The camera companies usually shorten the yellow to help trap more victims, er I mean red light runners, to send their tickets. It will interesting to see the scramble now. The camara ticket mills aren't going to like that. This is the second try by the legislature; the first required an officer be present and was vetoed by the convicted governor Taft as he left office. This one is law.
Apparently they are poised to do much more than assist the battery in an EV. Keep an eye on Maxwell Technologies, they may have the key to our battery problems.
Comments
Not sure about that. They put stop light cameras at many trouble intersections here in town, Over the last two years accidents dropped dramatically and red light running all but stopped. Out of 5 intersections they all issue a total of 2 or 3 summons a month.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Here's another part of his proposal that caught my eye:
In addition, a so-called Clean Car Challenge would encourage U.S. automakers to develop zero-emission vehicles by offering consumers the incentive of a $5,000 tax credit when they purchase one.
I think if they pass that last one I'll be first in line to buy a $100 bike at Kmart. No one said anything about having to RIDE the thing and I'd come out $4,900 ahead.
McCain Proposes $300 Million Prize
Video surveillance for small potatoes like stop lights is too Big-Brotherish to be consistent with American democracy. Is the goal to turn us all into 100% mechanically-compliant little [non-permissible content removed] underlings? I can see it for major crimes, but the proliferation of this kind of technology raises the question of whether nit-picking, rigidly enforced obedience is consistent with a healthy, vibrant, creative democracy. If risk-takers are completely controlled and stifled, creativity and innovation will die, and the dull sluggards who benefit parasitically from innovation will be left to stagnate in the economic dark.
I'm worried about my parents. They (foolishly) switched from coal to oil about 13 years ago when their 67 year-old coal furnace finally died. They live in a much cooler climate than central Maryland. My place in Philly has gas heat, so I'm used to paying high heating costs as the Philadelphia Gas Works is more crooked than the mafia.
I never heard of that type of furnace, but I guess it's possible. I'm sure that motor oil would pretty much destroy a household unit though. Too thick and probably not that easy to burn. Home heating oil is about as thick as Diesel fuel. I imagine used motor oil would put off a lot of pollution, too.
Anyway, I think I'm going to look into getting a heat pump. This past winter was a mild one. They only had to come out twice, and I used about 337 gallons total. Market price was $3.55, but by the time they put on all the taxes and crap, it was around $3.70 per gallon. So I blew around $1200, even in a mild winter. At $5.62 per gallon plus various taxes, I could be looking at $2000 in a mild winter.
My grandmother has oil heat as well, but she has a boiler, which heats baseboards and also supplies their hot water. So it runs all year round. Plus she has a bigger house than me. Her total bill over the past year was around $2400. It could very well run $4000 or more this year. Unfortunately, putting a heat pump in her place wouldn't be cheap, because since she has baseboard heat right now, there is no ductwork in the house. At least my place has forced air, so they could probably just swap out the furnace with a heat pump, and it would be no big deal.
My point was that I believe sacrificing by conserving gasoline will have a neglible impact on the severity of a major disruption to our oil supply. So what's the point? I feel the same way about opening up ANWR and our coastlines to more drilling. It's not a solution or even a partial solution. Maybe conserving and drilling can push back the year that gas hits $10/gallon but it will inevitably happen unless we develop alternatives. If I was asked to make a sacrifice that might expedite the development of these alternatives I would very enthusiastically agree.
If a person who's currently spending $3,000/year on gasoline can cut back 10% he's saved himself $300. The personal savings are the only valid reason I can see for conserving. It's up to the individual to decide if the savings justify the sacrifice. In my case the sacrifice of slowing down outweighs the savings.
Would this legislation apply just to oil or all commodities that are traded?
There's probably a lot of reasons this law couldn't work but here's a big one. There's no way that you can force oil producers to sell their oil on the current, established exchanges. If an exchange were to impose these restrictions on who can bid for an oil contract it would definitely lower the price of oil. But the oil producers would simply set up their own exchange without these restrictions.
I do believe there is a place for ultra-capacitors to supplement battery packs in EVs. If they handled recovering the energy from regenerative braking and then delivering the burst of energy needed for acceleration they could take a lot of wear and tear off the battery pack allowing it to last considerably longer.
I'm somewhat familar with Maxwell Technologies and I believe they have partnered with someone to pursue this configuration in an EV.
It was very similar in the late 1970s when we were paying $1.56 for heating oil on our Minnesota farm. Interest on home mortgages was 16%. Working as a Union Carpenter I was making $9 per hour. I had to drive 75 miles to find work. Those were the toughest times for me during my 46 year work career. I gave up farming and went back to Alaska.
Five years ago heating oil was less than a buck a gallon. Now it is over $4 per gallon. What will people on fixed incomes do to keep warm in the winter?
http://www.theenergy.coop/OIL%20PRICE%20UPDATING/hhoil_pastprices.htm
NY Times Article
What's interesting about it is that this is the town my wife works in and actually knows one of the people quoted in the article.
My wife has also told me that many of her employees are either trading in their large trucks and SUVs for smaller cars, buying smaller cars to use for commuting (and leaving the leviathans in the driveway) or trading vehicles with their husbands to cut down on fuel usage.
Even in-town driving out there (it's about 15 miles east of where we live) means 5-10 miles from the house to the grocery store, for example. My wife explains to people all the time who want to live out there that they will be spending more time in the car.
My neighbors next to me have a wood stove. The neighborhood smells like a forest fire all winter and my Park Ave has a film of soot on it from the chimney. I sure hope they're regularly cleaning their chimney!
Yeah, it's amazing how quick the price ran up. Here's the rundown of how my oil prices went up...
11/2003: $1.19 per gallon
11/2004: $1.74 per gallon
11/2005: Market price with a $3.19 cap. Luckily the most I paid was $2.64
11/2006: Market price with a cap, but I forget what it was. Most I paid for that term was $2.78.
11/2007: Market price with a $3.55 cap. And both times they came out, it was $3.55.
Now: $5.62/gal. By the time my contract renews in November, probably even worse!
I do have a chimney in the livingroom, where a wood burning stove used to be. Sometimes I'm tempted to try hooking back into it, but that chimney hasn't been used in about 20 years. Plus, my livingroom is kind of small, and a wood stove would take up a lot of space.
My grandmother has a wood burning stove in her basement, but it hasn't been used in ages. At least with her house though, the stove and the furnace tie into the same chimney, so it's not like the chimney has been dormant for years.
It really does make you wonder though, what people on fixed incomes, or limited resources in general, will do this winter. I'm sure that it's not just oil prices that have shot up, too. I dunno what natural gas costs these days, but it's probably not cheap. Electricity has been creeping up, too. Our electric rates shot up about 15% in 2006 and then another 50% in 2007. So no matter what, you get screwed, I guess. :sick:
My next lease is definitely going to be some kind of hybrid technology, and I will be looking closey at Honda/Acura line up. Or even the Camry Hybrid, for a sedan.
I will say this comment though, if you notice that they Toyota Prius Hybrid is going for nearly $30k!! on Ebay! Okay, so you are saving gas, but you are not saving any money, perhaps you are losing some money, because you are dumping money into your $30k price tag!! You will not see any gains for years to come. I am not sure people are understanding that. You might as well get a regular car of which you want, and still be paying less $$ than the way overpriced Prius. It defeats the whole purpose of the car, it is an economy car. Dealers are going to do that, due to the demand, but now its not practical, and does not makes sense to purchase one, because of the price increase. You are putting your cash right into the payment.
So please be careful and realize that when looking at a car for fuel efficiency.
What is the difference in home prices? That was the original draw to the suburbs. Cheaper housing. If you move out 20 miles further and save $100,000 on a comparable home the interest alone should cover the additional gas in the average car. At 27 MPG you can justify an additional 136 mile round trip on the interest alone. The peace and tranquility of living out where you do not have traffic noise is hard to put a price on. Plus a place to grow a garden for your vegetables can save a bit also. Though you can do that in town will a small yard.
For me to own the home I now own in a decent San Diego neighborhood would be double my current home value. Spending a $million plus for a home is crazy. Being retired I only drive to town maybe once a week. The 30 mile round trip trip to Costco in my Sequoia costs about $9. If I can buy local I do it. I have most things I need within 3 miles, including great restaurants. Some of the best Mexican food in So California. I'll stay in the quiet Burbs even if gas is $10 per gallon. Which I believe our society would go into cardiac arrest long before it gets that expensive.
I believe it. Remember those goofballs last week whose house blew up because they were storing jugs full of gasoline in their closet? They thought they'd beat future high gas prices by storing up at today's price.
This country has an abundance of idiots.
These are real numbers.
My HEMI has a catback system, cold air ram and the performance microchip. I have removed the resonators as well. I plan on keeping this Magnum for a very long time so I do baby it.
The beauty of this beast (5300lbs) is that once its rolling it relaxes and if you need the extra power it is there. I will accept the 23+ mpg. As a driver of muscle cars since 1957 I also note that the Magnum with modifications seems to run a lot smoother and cruises lighter.
QUESTION? My next oil change will be a conversion to AMSOIL 100%SYNTHETIC. I am currently using a synthetic blend. Comments on AMSOIL APPRECIATED. This product has been around for a long time.
But I don't believe in Amsoil stuff either, so please pardon my assumptions....
Wow, that is cheaper than San Diego. My last three times they filled the tank it was $3.28 per gallon. I had one month of heating in SD that was over $400. The last 4 months of hot water, cooking and cloths dryer was under $100. So the two furnaces really burn up the gas. I will let it get colder in the house next winter for sure.
There is no really groundbreaking approach to oil dependance other than alternative technologies. I think US have the capacity to develop such, but did not have the will until now. This is better than self-flogging laws that just give us the feeling that we "do something".
Where the money come from ? Certainly not from gas tax. I don't see many US politicians daring to add 1 USD per Gallon to finance such projects.
If I only used it for the commute, it would save me about $15/week, and if I did some of the pedaling I could get some much-needed exercise at the same time. If I also used it for other local errands, I could probably get $25/week or more in savings vs using the car (gas is $4.50/gallon where I live).
There is a dedicated bike lane/path all the way from my front door to my office. I see more and more people on their bikes now when I commute. Hmmmm.....I'm thinking about it......
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
This is the ultimate goal of the criminals who are manipulating our energy markets; get us to lower OUR standard of living so they can raise THEIRS.
You apparently missed the headlines earlier in this narrative... Gettig on a bike is.... dangerous, and you'll most likely a: eat lots of bugs if you don't wear a full-face motorcycle helmet, or b: BE a bug on the grill of some SUV.
How ya fixed for blades?
We've looked at houses out there in the past couple of years, and while there are some homes under $300K, most of them are probably sold for north of that number.
The advantages are the "peace and tranquility", as you call it. Of course, being out in the sticks means you are much closer to nature. I have some co-workers who live out that way, and they've recently told stories about mountain lions (cougars) who roam the plains and occasionally will snatch a pet. Another advantage is the lot size, and not feeling like you are living on top of your neighbor.
My wife works for the school district there and she's told me that the enrollment has dropped slightly in the past year or two. 5 or 6 years ago there were some preliminary plans for adding a 3rd elementary school, but they have since been shelved.
it is my understanding that heat pumps are currently the most cost effective way to heat. Geothermal units offer a 4 to 1 ratio even in harsh winter (meaning 4 KW of heat produced for 1 KW of electricity used) as opposed to air units which efficiency depends on outside temperature.
I estimate that Heat pump may help cut the heating budget in half in comparison with 4.5 USD / Gallon of heating fuel.
In France, thanks to Nuclear plants, electricity KWH price only increase about 3% every year. Heat pumps are selling like hot cakes, and the government incentive (50% of the investment amount up to 5000 Euros (7600 USD) help many people sign in.
I refrain from discussing politics, but I guess that if all the money spent in Iraq was invested instead 50% in alternative infrastructures and 50% in technology/industrial initiatives, US would be on a much better road towards less Gas addiction.
I have good trust in private initiative, but I think the Govt should step in some capital/technology intensive R&D. Nuclear power was not invented by a private corporation and I doubt Fusion power will be.
Having said that, comfort is a primary governor in too many of my decisions, which will weigh against the bike in the final outcome here. :-(
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
As everybody needs heating (well not much in my place but..) it is easy to see energy speculators as criminals. But didn't we put ourselves in a precarious situation by heavily relying on oil ? How about breaking that vicious circle ?
- Better house insulation (Internal or external insulations, double or triple glazing..)
- Alternative energies like solar power (water of PV)
- Wood burning heating (but need a real forest country-wide policy)
- High efficiency Heat pumps
- Stronger heat distribution strategies
All this need investment, like the price of a very nice car. Transitioning away from oil is painful indeed.
Good lord, are those things that expensive to replace these days?! I had the heat pump in my condo replaced back in 1997, and it was only about $1800! Now, I had a friend of a friend do it, so that's one reason why it was so cheap, I guess. I just took a wild guess that to swap my furnace for a heat pump might be around $4,000, but maybe that's a bit optimistic?
I also try for a big spash of "live and let live"
Gas prices aren't the only thing going up.
Heck, maybe I'll just try turning the window units around backwards in the fall. :P
I would suggest switching to a new one, as I doubt an old one would offer the same efficiency.
I only use cash now which saves me $1.30/fill-up vs. credit! That's $6.20 per month for using plastic for me!
Regards,
OW
Anyway, I read about an additive that is supposed to increase milage and it SEEMED legit becuase it had a NASCAR sponsorship and these guys used it yadda yadda.
But for the life of me I can't remember what it is.
Anyone got an idea?
I apologize for being so specific...... :shades:
Some yahoos were saying using mashed-up corn to fuel NASCAR cars was appropriate, given the moonshine history of part of the region where NASCAR is huge. :P
Live green, go yellow, drink clear.
I find it credible, which is why I always go in the Quik Mart and get a Coke and a bag of chips when I fill up. Gotta keep the gas stations in business, don't want their numbers to decrease! :-)
I have noticed however that the name brand stations with companies that issue their own credit cards don't have the credit card charge even if you are just using a regular Visa, not their captive charge card.
So if you always pay by credit card, you may want to switch from Quickie gas to a name brand, as the price for a fill-up may wind up being the same....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Bring back updated locomotives burning coal and having some type of chimney scrubber. That would save deisel/petroleum use.
Didn't realize there might still be some folks burning coal for home heating somewhere. The healthy part about that is the exercise of moving the coal to a storage room in the basement. Then, the nightly fill-up of the stoker, and getting the clinkers out of the furnace and out to the garbage can. Lots of exercise there. And, America has probably a 1000 year supply of coal for home heating and other energy needs. But, how to clean it up.
There is a lot of wood smoke during fall/winter when people burning wood in their fireplaces for "effect" and "ambiance".
Orange County, CA
Restrictions Placed On Wood-Burning Fireplaces In SoCal
Television images of cozy fireplaces will often have to do next winter after air pollution regulators imposed restrictions limiting the use of wood-burning fireplaces in Southern California.
My neighbor heats with wood. I am used to the smell in the winter. The Easterly breezes carry the smell and ash back down the hillside into San Diego.
Amanda, like many people, was putting over sixty dollars worth of gas in the tank of her SUV at least twice a week. With fuel costs cutting wide swathes into other areas of her personal budget, she finally said enough is enough. Amanda made the same move that many Americans are making to deal with the rising cost of gas. She bought a motorcycle. "My motorcycle gets better than twice the mileage that my SUV," Amanda says. "On days that the weather is decent, I can ride my motorcycle to the office and I have more than cut my commuting cost in half. The bike will end up paying for itself."
Amanda's not alone. While car sales are in decline, motorcycle dealerships across the country are setting sales records. People who would have never considered themselves the "biker type" are throwing a leg over a motorcycle for the first time, while many former motorcyclists are returning. Men and women of all ages have been flocking to dealerships, and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation is estimating that over 300,000 people will take the new rider course this year.
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the American Motorcyclist Association both highly recommend taking a training course for new and returning riders. "Riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than driving a car and a rider, new or old, can never be too prepared." In addition to taking an organized course, the MSF recommends the use of personal protective gear including abrasion resistant jacket and pants, gloves, boots and (most importantly) a DOT approved helmet.
"Not only am I saving money by riding a motorcycle to work," Amanda went on to say, "it's actually made my commute fun."
Actually, I think that it is against the law to place a "surcharge" on credit card gasoline sales.
Technically, they can offer a "cash discount", though the effect is the same.
"Nor will homeowners who rely on a fireplace for heat, or who have properties at an elevation above 3,000 feet. "
Southland air district limits fireplace use
Accidents are best prevented by having policemen move around and watch for unsafe actions such as running the yellow and issuing real citations. They can even find the drivers affected by alcohol or drugs who do it; much safer for society to get them off the road than just sending them a bill in the mail.
I just heard that Ohio helped the safety factor that the cities using red light cameras are seeking. They passed a law requiring the yellow to be increased by 1 second at red light camera intersections to help the safety. The camera companies usually shorten the yellow to help trap more victims, er I mean red light runners, to send their tickets. It will interesting to see the scramble now. The camara ticket mills aren't going to like that. This is the second try by the legislature; the first required an officer be present and was vetoed by the convicted governor Taft as he left office. This one is law.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Keep an eye on Maxwell Technologies, they may have the key to our battery problems.