Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

ok... please do not bicker that its in all caps... thats how i recived it and didnt feel like re-typing it =P... and i put it in here instead of the off-topic because i figured more people read this forum instead of chit-chat...

I thought this was kinda cool idea... please post this on ALL forums that you go to!!! thank you!!!

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF GASOLINE FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OF OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.

THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT TO THEM" DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.

THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU SPREAD THE WORD TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT.

WAITING ON THIS ADMIINSTRATION TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF GASOLINE GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES, TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH EFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING MATERIALS, MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. IF THEY DON'T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Interesting concept... How many people around the nation do you think will do this?

I have found a whole lot of sites promoting it. But has it received any natiional media attention?

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

they tried something like this in canada a while back (like 5 years ago or so) and I know it didnt work.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I'm not trying to be a party pooper, but I seriously doubt that everyone in the United States would stop buying gasoline, even for one day. Some people's jobs depend on the greedy consumption of petrolium, and most people prefer money to a healthy enviroment.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Tis true. But if enough people made a conscious effort not to buy on Wednesday, then I guess it could make a dent.

Especially if you scored big users of the stuff, such as trucking companies and airlines and delivery companies and pizza guys.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

That would kind of defeat the purpose if you look below the surface.

Our economy depends on oil. That's the way it works. Every major industry depends on oil on a day to day basis. Airlines, trucking lines, emergency services, etc. It would do more harm to the economy, and infrastructure in general, with all the business that would be lost and goods wasted in that one day by not purchasing gas, than if you actually did purchase the gas.

Cory

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I was just wondering how one "duces" in the first place :p

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Besides being too lazy to put it in a presentable form, you're also too lazy to check the facts. http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/nogas.asp

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I'm not an expert on economics or anything, but don't situations like this usually send the economy into chaos instead of stabilizing it and allowing for lower prices?.. They lead to underconsumption, which leads to heightened prices, no? *shrug* :yikes:

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

when I was a kid people did this for one day EVERY WEEK - and gasoline was only 35 CENTS a gallon

so I guess it works

BTW - we boycotted the gas stations every sunday - It worked so well that stations werent even OPEN on sundays for as far back into my youth as I can remember

:^)

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

It can't hurt to try. And seeing how many people are in FIRST and if they all boycotted, that't a large number of people and a large blow to the gas stations.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I hate to burst your bubble here... But according to the 2000 census. There are 281,421,906 people who live in the US. For all intensive purposes that is 281,400,000 people.

With FIRST we have roughly 1000 teams. So say on each team including all students, mentors, parents there are 50 people (this is an average some teams have 5 people and some 100). This gives us 50,000 people. When we do that math, 0.00018% of the country is involved in FIRST.

Now to reach 1% of the population we would need to have 75,000 teams with ~50 people (students, mentors, parents) on each team or 30,000 teams with 100 people on each. (BTW: I think this is what Dean is looking for (in the long-run) so that FIRST does have a major impact.)

Just some food for thought!

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I know how to reduce gas prices (and it doesn't involve some silly boycott):

*Don't nationalize Iraq's oil. Right now we are turn Iraq into a Scandanavian Liberal Socialist state, which is absolutely silly. Privatize the Iraqi oil industry and let companies like Shell and Exxon come and pump that country dry! Think about it guys, we control more oil right now than any other country in the world (Iraq has second largest reserves, we have large reserves ourselves) and we are paying 2 bucks a gallon for gas? We should be paying seventy cents!

*Around 37-50 cents of each gallon of gas goes to the government (state, local, federal). Taxes are tyrannical and are driving up the cost of gasoline. Elminate them.

*Get rid of MTBE. Not only does it pollute water supplies, have carcingens, and threaten wildlife, it doesn't work! Get rid of it!

*Kill all the elk in ANWR and drill drill! This will take awhile, but it will help America's longterm energy future!

*Build more nuclear powerplants! I can hear all the hippies now: NUCLEAR POWER IS EVIL! No. No. No. Its the best source of power we have right now. Zero emissions, massive amounts of power, and little, easily stored waste. Even the French realize the benefits of nuclear power, they got seventy percent of their power coming from nuclear power. It will elminate competetion for oil.

*Allow the construction of more refineries. Duh.

*Get more oil from Mother Russia. A non-muslim, non-arab nation which isn't controlled by OPEC.

75 cent a gallon gas here we come.

ZINNNNG!

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

About 10-12 years ago, that wasn't unrealistic. I remember (and my parents definitely remember) that gas prices weren't much over $1.00, and sometimes it'd drop to 90-some-cents.

In regards to stick it to them day, it's not going to work.

But this Slashdot article from yesterday is really cool: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...thread&tid=126

I should be in Shanghai sometime in July or August.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

The only problem with eliminating taxes altogether, however, is the fact that the American government is using part of these funds to compensate for what debt the nation does have. If we rid ourselves of taxes on oil, we will forever be in a hole that we cannot dig ourselves out of. =/

It would be nice though.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I go 2 weeks at a time without buying gasoline, so I don't think wendsday will be a problem.

I'd say the problem lies more with the car companies and the American people. Car companies keep putting out bigger and bigger SUVs and trucks, and Americans keep buying them, like the consumer whores we all are. Yes, some people need larger cars for their jobs or because they have large familes. Why on earth does Toyota have 5 different SUVs to choose from?
I could keep rambling, but, I have no need for a large vehicle. As it is, my camry is too large. Stop wasting the gas, America.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I could sit here and poke holes in your arguments for the rest of the day...

Here's the main points-

1) We don't control Iraq, we have already established a provisional government with members from all 3 sects of Islam, and are working with them so that they can run their country with full autonomy. If you're talking about military power, then sure, we have the ability to control their oil, but for all practical purposes, we don't.

2) What's wrong with Socialism? Look at Norway, and how good they live. They get paid for vacations in greece, EXCELLENT free healthcare, childcare, and the list goes on. There are some downsides, but it is not a system like communism that just doesn't work.

3) I don't know what you're referring to when you say ANWR, but I'm going to assume you mean Alaska. If you look at the facts, that oil overall will not significantly reduce our dependency on oil from the middle east, and will destroy pristine wildlife.

4) Wait, you don't like MTBE because it kills the environment, yet you want to kill a bunch of animals and irreparably destroy protected wilderness? Which one is it?

5) Unless you've figured out some way to put nuclear reactors in vehicles, nuclear powerplants will not eliminate our need for oil. Your argument that they produce very little, and managable waste is also untrue. We have tons and tons of nuclear byproducts, most of which are sitting in Yucca mountain, which was said to not be a safe place for storage in a recent study, I believe (It's sitting over a fault or something, I think...)

6) Have you ever heard how much Europe pays for gas? I believe the average LITER, not gallon of gas is something like $4. That is why the French government is trying to find alternate power sources.\, among other reasons.

7) People like you are the ones that make foreigners think America is full of ignorant biggots, which isn't an entirely false idea. Your entire argument is centered around only yourself, and not the larger picture. Since you like how France is handling their energy needs, why don't you move there, then try to get a driver's license, which will cost you something like $2000, and then have fun paying 2-3 times as much for less gas than you would get here. And you wonder why the middle east hates us so much when you make comments like that about arab nations...

I don't even know why I'm wasting so much time responding to the ridiculous claims of someone like yourself.

P.S. Yan- I remember my parents telling me about the gas shortages of the late 1980's. I dont know about back east, but around here you could only go get gas on certain days, and only some ridiculous amount like 4 gallons or something, for a ridiculously high price.

Cory

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

(Ok, I'm off topic right now.. This will be the only time.) AH! AH! No more tension!

FREE HUGS FOR ALL!

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Getting rid of the gas taxes would be nice but it won't happen.

Gas tax serves several purposes.

First it builds the roads. No money, no roads, nowhere to drive on.

The second purpose is it serves a Pigovian tax. It is an incentive for people not to buy huge SUVs and to drive as much as you want. They want you to think. Hey gas is 2 dollars. Maybe I should by a more fuel efficient car that doesn't kill the environment.

I like the high prices. Maybe it will force some people to think about what they are doing driving a SUV or will help spur development in renewable energy sources in cars.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

alright, alright--here's my solutions:

1) We hunt down every still-functioning FIRST robot, and stick a seat on it. Thirteen seasons, a few thousand robots, a lot of oil in the long run.

2) Point and laugh at every truck and SUV that does not have a trace of mud on it, or any other sign of use as a workhorse. (I will, however, make an exception for luxury SUVs with obscenely large wheels. They just keep spinning!)

3) Drive more mopeds. Those things get crazy mileage...and you can park about six in the space of one car.

4) Require any driver who gets less than 20 MPG to take their wallet out and whack themselves on the head...before paying. (Afterwards, it'd be too light to have an effect!

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

The wheels, they spin so much! :yikes:

Seriously though, it is sad that this message wont reach the vast public, and even more won't adhere to it. The way I look at this problem as just the more reason for otehr sources of energy, electric, or even hybrid cars, or perhaps some sort of energy we haven thought up yet. Solar cars receive enough sunlight in the day to charge all night, and they're stylin'!

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

You know whats even more annoying is that the gas prices are the lowest ever when inflation is taken into accound. :rolleyes: Also a bit more oil refinerys would make gas cheaper. Standardized gas for the whole nation would help two. Why in is there 27 differnt of types of gasoline used in the United States? Why!!!! Why can't we have on federal standard.
Thats really funky since China is rivaling the United States in oil consumption. Its also probably one of the reasons why prices is so high since there is a high demand.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Well, at least the price of gas will drop in October a bit, at least until November 7. The big October surprise. :rolleyes:

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Hey. It's quite a possibility that if America keeps buying gas at (more preferably, above) the rate it is at right now, prices will drop soon enough. Common pattern of economics - if overconsumption occurs, the companies that sell gas will lower prices in order to keep their market stable.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I waited for today just to fill up my truck to get gas!! I only spent $1.92 for regular and it took in just under $50.


I have to have gas to get from place to place, and prices aren't going to prevent me from buying any.

The simple solution to solve this problem is to build more refineries and to open the ANWR.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Actually, the simple (long term) solution is to develop renewable energy sources. Sooner or later it has to be done. Whether the world runs out of oil in our lifetime, or the next, it is going to happen, and drilling in the ANWR will not do anything to stop that. I'd rather have the technology available before the oil is about to run out, rather than being stuck between a rock and a very hard place.

Cory

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Drilling ANWR would be the simple, yet ineffective solution. IT would only provide temporary relief and would destroy priceless wilderness.

I have to agree with Cory that renewable energy sources are the way to go.

And BTW, I didn't buy an gas yesterday either!

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

It is now impossible to purchase gas near me for under $2. And I've seen it as high as $2.169 near me - for friggen REGULAR. Even the discount clubs (Sam's, BJ's) are above $2 now.

It's making it real hard to borrow the car now :) -'cause I'm then expected to put some gas in it. And my family drives a pair of minivans, neither getting much over 20 MPG.

And, no, I didn't buy any gas yesterday :) Not like it'll make a difference, seeing as I only buy gas like twice a month.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Gas here is about $2.30 if I can remember correctly. However, I have a little Honda, so thankfully the gas milleage is pretty good!

I wonder what Wetzel's car's gas mileage is? :D

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Yeah, it was $2.199 yesterday and was supposed to go up again today, here. My Saturn gets OK milage (about 30mpg highway, 24 mpg city) ... but $2.19 is getting to be way too much to pay. :(

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Psssst.. Free gas at limited gas stations in Michigan for a few hours..

Anywho we can't use the reserves as long as Bush is in presidency with the same Secretary of Energy. They want to keep those reserves in the case of a national emergency.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I'm starting to feel better now...our gas is only (only?) $1.859.

Of course, diesel is about a buck and a half, AND it goes further. I'm envious.

Maybe I should get an old Geo Metro, rip out the interior (except for the driver's seat) and drive that around. All the safety of a car, all the performance of a moped! :lol:

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I agree with both of you that alternate forms of energy need to be found, but the research for those has been going on for years and is still very expensive...numerous government funding has gone towards the research of hydrogen powered engines or whatnot, but all we can do is sit and wait for them to hit some discovery (unless someone here wants to jump in and toss their 2 cents into the research :p)

I read something yesterday that gas prices right now are high for 2 reasons.

OPEC
OPEC is charging by the demand of oil compared to their possible supply....(simple supply and demand...we all know that). Whereas the U.S. hasn't increased their demand for oil, 2 of OPEC's other countries they supply to are buying record ammounts of gasoline (China & India) which is driving up our costs....there is really nothing we can do about that. If we quit recieving oil from outside countries, the United States roughly has enough oil (at current production rates) to last around 2 months and then we're in trouble.

The fact that the U.S. hasn't built new refinery capacity in a few decades... This doesnt have as much effect as OPEC, but still...the U.S. Refineries are running at around 95% capacity to keep gas prices down with our own supply. The problem that could happen, if one of these refineres were to dry out and or break, we're going to need more oil from OPEC, which would cause the price of gasoline to probably break over $3.00 a gallon! as the National Average

The long and the short of it, the way to reduce gas prices is to build more refineries and open a limited portion of the ANWR (which would have almost no effect on the wildlife up there....do your research and don't trust those media scum)

That would lower how much oil we would have to get from OPEC and would drive down our costs (hopefully) and eventually once OPEC gets overstocked and lowers their cost, you could slow production in the ANWR and use it just for emergencies or in case of shortages or high prices that most middle class americans can barely afford to pay. Your 2nd option is pretty much give up on gas by switching to an alternate fuel source....and since we're still probably years from that happening, you have 2 realistic choices...build refineries and go to the ANWR or you can continue to pay your 2.199 a gallon. Honestly I dont want to open the ANWR, but we don't have many choices.

I know it gets more complex then this, but I tried to keep it simple since Id rather not get into many of the details, partially because I really don't care to and most of you don't either.


NOTE: This post takes no sides politically and is just straight facts from my independant research. For the record, Bush and Kerry both support the opening of the ANWR...


Edit:
Wow, I spent nearly 40 minutes putting together that post :p probably a record for me ;)

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Hi All,

I thought perhaps I might try to throw a few constructive ideas out in terms of how we can lower gas prices, or better yet make high ones irrelevant. May of us here are engineers or at least have some interest in innovation, science, etc. So what about alternative fuels?? This is something I've been researching over the last few days and in away it is like a real live FIRST with the goal of the game being "to eliminate dependence on foreign oil." Imagine a world where we wake up tomorrow and there is no oil it is simply gone. The world would stop period, the global economy would be in ruins. So to me it seems like it would be quite constructive to put our collective engineering capacity into such noble goals as increasing the presence of Biodiesel as one example, or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Both of which are extremely clean as well as renewable. If we moved to renewable energy sources it would render the need for oil mute and it wouldn't matter if gas prices were so high. This is something that needs attention because sooner or later we will run out of oil and it is pretty arrogant to just write that concern off to the next generation.

Pump the country dry? This is exactly the kind of egocentric attitude that makes countries around the world hate Americans. Thankfully I do not believe that you speak for most of America. What you saying in effect is that it is okay if we waltz into a sovereign nation, topple their government, occupy that nation, allow thousands of their people and hundreds of our troops to be killed all in the name of you paying 70 cents for gasoline. Sadly there seem to be those in this world who have no problem with that concept. America is numero uno, no one can touch us, and we should do whatever we want in our on interest first and foremost. What would you say to the families of the troops who have died in the name of your oil? Did they have to die? Probably not. I fear it is this kind of arrogance and ignorance that will lead to the unraveling of this great republic. I firmly believe in an America that works together with the world to build consensus and act in accordance with international law, and above all respects it's neighbors.

You claim to be from the greatest country on earth however we did not become the greatest country on earth by bullying everyone else. We became the greatest country on earth because we stood up for what we believed in and through the power of persuasion and by setting an example we were able to show the world that we had created something truly special in democracy. As part of that great democracy you have the right to proclaim your views and I have the right to disagree with them. Think however before you bandy about with 1000's of lives and proclaim that Iraq exists to provide you with oil.

-Justin

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Here's an interesting statistic from my AP Environmental Science textbook, for what it's worth:

"Improving fuel efficiency is a much faster, cheaper, cleaner, and more secure way to save far more oil. For example, refining the projected peak oil output from ANWR would provide enough gasoline to run only 2% of American cars and light trucks-an amount that could be supplied much more quickly and cheaply from improving the fuel efficiency of these vehicles by only 0.4 miles per gallon. In addition, requiring new SUVs and light trucks used in the United States to have the same average fuel efficiency as new cars would save more oil in 10 years than would ever be produced from the ANWR."

(G. Tyler Miller, Living in the Environment, 13th edition, p. 360)

I'm not really a big environmentalist (My family has a 1998 Chevrolet Tahoe that doesn't do so hot on the fuel mileage), but taking this class has made me much more aware of some of these problems. I highly recommend taking it, if it's available at your school. Developing machines that run on better fuels more efficiently and output nearly no emmissions sounds like an exciting engineering challenge to me, and I'd love to be a part of it. Just some interesting thoughts...

<off-topic>I thought this was interesting too, although totally unrelated: "The total cost of the (Chernobyl) accient will reach at least $358 billion, many times more than the value of all the nuclear electricity ever generated in the former Soviet Union."</off-topic>

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Looking at a theory from any economics book "Supply and Demand" when the supply of gas becomes too expensive, people will demand either more efficient cars, demand vehicles powered by a different energy source, or change their lifestyles radically, like go back to the horse and buggy.

However, I see none of those things happening soon. We are a society of consumers. Companies sell what the consumer is willing to buy. If the government steps in and tells companies what to make we are reverting to a command style economy. This would make the US economy very similar to what was in Soviet Russia or what is currently in Communist Cuba.

While SUV’s may be inefficient in using gas, one must examine the stories of people like a few friends of mine. Half of their family was driving down the freeway in a very small vehicle. They hit a storm and a large pileup ensued, unfortunately, the semi behind them pancaked their car. They all died. The mother of the family then went out and purchased a large SUV which if hit would crumple but not be pancaked. So, we need to look at the price of gas, but we also need to look at the value of life.

Is this an extreme situation? Sure. But does it drive home a point? Yes.

And for the record, I didn’t buy gas (but that’s cause I didn’t need to)

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Something that would really start to help our situation is the purchasing of hybrid cars. However, those who make hybrid cars often make them look really bad because they know Americans will buy these giant honkin SUV's that get 3 miles to the gallon. I'd like to have a hybrid someday because they get anywhere from 50 to 60 miles to the gallon, and these aren't small cars we're talking about either. The suprising thing I've found is that they're not priced really any higher than any other new cars - Toyota's are around or under 20,000 dollars. Realistically I think this is the way most cars need to go because cars could be much more fuel efficient at this point.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

2 out of 3 family cars are hybrids (I believe) *edit* in my family (that's what I meant, just came out sounding off)*edit* so that sort of gas guzzling isn't exactly a worry. However, this subject came up in class the other day, math more or less, and the basic gist of the discussion was this. It wouldn't hurt the gas companies to have their fuel sitting in the tanks for one day, because the entire population that didn't have fuel on wednesday would go and buy it later anyway and do all the stuff that they couldn't do without fuel and end up spending just as much as they would have. The bottom line is we'd still buy gas, no matter the protest. I personally bike almost every where (I can't drive legally yet) but I still think if we actually put Environmental science into example (go greg mccoy...^^) and/or protest buying gas for a large period of time, i.e. a month or 2 months or half a year or something, then results would occur.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I have gotten this same e-mail message every year for about 5 years now.
Remember when gas hit the $1.50 mark and every one was upset.. Ahh, those were the days huh?

Ok, so the second wave of e-mails I get every year which make a little more sense is this: Don't buy gas ever from Exxon/Mobil (the biggest gas supplier in the world). They merged and are now just one big company. Make the smaller (HA) gas suppliers reap the benefits, and put the big dog out of business (like that will ever happen).

But, then on the opther side of the coin, I see that Gas stations are mostly chains, but do not operate on the chain mantra of one product is the same price at all of the chains?

When was the last time you went to 3 McDonald's anywhere and paid 3 different amounts for a BigMac, coke and fries. The answer is never.
Although, Other more fancy chains are allowed to do this as I found out this year (Applebees in Times Square in NYC was on average $5 more on all meals than the local one here in CT) But, I would expect that for a high class restaurant in the middle of NYC.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Everything in New York City is more expensive than elsewhere -- McDonalds restaurants included.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Yes, and I expected that. Which is what my point was - kind of.

But for the same company running 3 of the same gas stations in a 5 mile radius (not in a big city like NYC) to fluctuate the prices to as much as 10-15 cents a gallon.. That's not right.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Over $2 a gallon for gas!
I am so glad that the motorcycle gets about 50 mpg!! :)
Just hope its a nice enough summer that I can ride it every day!

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

Just something to think about ^^ not saying i'm pro gas price raise, just an interesting site.

Copied from http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/prices.html

Milk -- $2.79 a gallon on average

Coke (KO: news, chart) -- $3.33 a gallon (based on a 2-liter bottle)

Tide (PG: news, chart) liquid detergent -- $12.61 a gallon (based on a 100-oz. jug)

Hershey's (HSY: news, chart) chocolate syrup -- $14.98 a gallon (based on a 24-oz. bottle)

Glidden (ICI: news, chart) Endurance paint -- $22

Other products sell for much more than gasoline, but we pay it little mind:

Kraft (KFT: news, chart) ranch dressing -- $31 a gallon (based on a 16-oz. bottle)

Pepto Bismol -- $56 a gallon (based on 16-ounce bottle)

A1 steak sauce -- $64 a gallon (based on a 10-oz. bottle)

Raid Home & Garden -- $73 (based on an 11-oz.can)

Vaseline (UL: news, chart) petroleum jelly -- $88 a gallon (based on a 13-oz. jar)

And others we're willing to splurge on or buy out of desperate need:

Deep Woods Off insect repellent -- $124 a gallon (based on a 6-ounce can)

Coppertone (SHR: news, chart) Sport Lotion sun block -- $192 a gallon (based on 8-ounce bottle)

Robitussin Maximum Strength (WYE: news, chart) -- $214 a gallon (based on 4-ounce bottle)

Dom Perignon 1996 champagne -- $379 a gallon (based on 750ML bottle)

Robert Mondavi (MOND: news, chart) 1999 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon -- $581 (based on 750ML bottle)

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

You live in Syracuse. That is like hoping that we'll have a snow-free winter. Not likely :)

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

It is worth noting, with perhaps a few exceptions, that most of these are things the average American household doesn't go through 10-20 gallons (more or less) per week of.

Another thing worth comparing is the fact that the vast majority of the items on the list have store brand options to them, or cheaper options, whereas with gasoline the only option you have for lower prices is to go to the lowest available octane - 'cause all of the gas stations have at or about the same price.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

A wonderful point. It is however quite enjoyable to compare sometimes, and I'd rather have lower gas prices than some of the stuff on the list. For example, my family goes through at least a gallon or 2 of milk a week...which gets interesting. Some people do go through a lot of wine...^^

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

I am quite fond of nuclear (aka nukulur, nukeclear, etc.) power for peaceful purposes. It is one of the most cost effective sources of energy that we have. Also think of all the processes that consume oil, that could be switched to electric systems. One of my favorite examples is the process for purifying aluminium (Hall-Herout or something like that). It consumes vast amounts of electricity, which currently comes from oil. If the power of the atom powered such a process, we are essentially getting something for nothing.

Fusion is the true power source of the future - and it will always be.

I also am impressed with photovoltaics. I like solar cells for most light experimentation purposes, but their effectivity in converting solar flux to electric power is rather low. If we could improve that, solar power would get my vote.

Re: Gas Prices CAN be re-duced!!!
 

3 words: Hydrogen, Hybrid, & Solar.