Gas Tops $4 A Gallon

[Ronstar]

Same here! - $4.07 at a BP, but I found a discount station at $3.999.

I dont know if anyone has posted this link:

GasBuddy.com - Find Low Gas Prices in the USA and Canada

[newguy88]

Originally Posted by FinanceDude

We won't have to wait too long........newguy88 is going to start a new thread on EACH 25 cent average increase.......

Hey now not me, I did not start this thread. Funny though the president said about two months ago he had no idea that gasoline would hit 4 a gallon this year.

The dude is in the middle east today maybe he should talk to his saudi homeboyz.

Yea right..

[Walt34]

Originally Posted by Want2retire

I wonder if you have to license those? Is insurance required? That looks like a good solution for some people.

We ended up buying the two motorized bicycles for $350 each, they're about $1,200 new. They don't have to be licensed since the engines are under 50cc. They fold up into a package the size of a large suitcase, that with an eye for a travel trailer in the future. For the present, we'll use them for local rides along the C&O canal and such. The guy we bought them from used them about an hour, then hung them in the garage for two years.

The things will go about 30 mph (sort of scary on a bicycle), 15-20 mph up a steep hill that would be tough with a granny gear. They're noisy though - think weedeater engine sounds.

This will probably be a good year for scooter and motorcycle dealers, at least until winter sets in. I rode a motorcycle through two winters and haven't been "quite right in the head" about cold weather since.

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by Walt34

We ended up buying the two motorized bicycles for $350 each, they're about $1,200 new. They don't have to be licensed since the engines are under 50cc. They fold up into a package the size of a large suitcase, that with an eye for a travel trailer in the future. For the present, we'll use them for local rides along the C&O canal and such. The guy we bought them from used them about an hour, then hung them in the garage for two years.

The things will go about 30 mph (sort of scary on a bicycle), 15-20 mph up a steep hill that would be tough with a granny gear. They're noisy though - think weedeater engine sounds.

This will probably be a good year for scooter and motorcycle dealers, at least until winter sets in. I rode a motorcycle through two winters and haven't been "quite right in the head" about cold weather since.

Thanks for the info!! They sound great. The noise might be a problem for me, though, so I'm glad you mentioned it.

[newguy88]

Originally Posted by Walt34

We ended up buying the two motorized bicycles for $350 each, they're about $1,200 new. They don't have to be licensed since the engines are under 50cc. They fold up into a package the size of a large suitcase, that with an eye for a travel trailer in the future. For the present, we'll use them for local rides along the C&O canal and such. The guy we bought them from used them about an hour, then hung them in the garage for two years.

The things will go about 30 mph (sort of scary on a bicycle), 15-20 mph up a steep hill that would be tough with a granny gear. They're noisy though - think weedeater engine sounds.

This will probably be a good year for scooter and motorcycle dealers, at least until winter sets in. I rode a motorcycle through two winters and haven't been "quite right in the head" about cold weather since.

Had a friend who rode a bike to work about 8 miles from his house to the school. Did it on a -3 degree morning with the wind blowing 25+ mph in his face the entire way. The guy had frostbitten fingers and never rode the bike again!

[Wags]

Yahoo.com - Latest potent biofuel made from Sweet sorghum sap

Latest potent biofuel made from Sweet sorghum sap - Yahoo! News

Excerpts from the article

LUBBOCK, Texas - Sweet sorghum is grown in the U.S. for cooking and livestock feed. But the tall plant also might help at the gas pump.

A sugary sap inside the plant's stalk, which grow as tall as 12 feet, can be turned into a potent biofuel, and experts and companies are studying its potential with hopes that farmers will want to plant more of it.

Ethanol made from the stalk's juice has four times the energy yield of the corn-based ethanol, which is already in the marketplace unlike sweet sorghum. Sweet sorghum produces about eight units of energy for every unit of energy used in its production. That's about the same as sugarcane but four times as much as corn.

End of excerpts.



Hopefully this would cut back on the use of corn for ethanol and thus help with the current global food crisis and lower the cost of food across the board.

God Bless Us All

[Marquette]

Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does: Scientific American

Forget corn, forget sorghum.... ask any pothead, the grass is where it's at, man.

[Wags]

Originally Posted by Marquette

Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does: Scientific American

Forget corn, forget sorghum.... ask any pothead, the grass is where it's at, man.

Great Post.

In Texas we have switchgrass which grows naturally I never even thought that it could be an alternate energy source.

As for the pothead reference I think that HEMP could be and is a good alternate energy source.

Hempcar.org-Pollution: Petrol vs Hemp

God Bless Us All

[Wags]

Originally Posted by Khan

Leading story on local TV news: gas from $3.65 to $3.95 today.

Woman with SUV: "I shouldn't have to pay this much for gas!"

Over what period of time did the price jump from $3.65 to $3.95?

Was the 30 cent jump in one day?

It's $3.75 today in my small neck of the woods (W. Texas).

God Bless Us All

[Bimmerbill]

Dang diesel just went from $4.39 to $4.54 overnight! Still getting 48mpg, should drop a bit once I use AC but geez! Maybe I'll take everything out of the car and pump up the tires a bit...

[mb]

Originally Posted by cho oyu

Ummm. And what happens when the oil from all that drilling runs out? Because it will, you know.

I'm having difficulty seeing how one could possibly equate additional drilling of a failed (non-sustainable) policy with long-term vision.


Vision would be pushing for global energy sustainability. So in regards to there being no structural vision of energy policy in the US, I would agree. That additional drilling is a positive vision for energy policy is, in my opinion, nothing but tripe.

Yes!

[mb]

Originally Posted by Kwirk

"Vision" would, I think, be raising the gas tax substantially, thereby forcing OPEC to reduce prices to maintain demand. Then the price would be the same but the money would remain here.

Oh, and I should mention that this could reduce the need for additional exploration, reduce pollution/global warming, and promote alternative/renewable energy sources.

Unfortunately, vision doesn't seem to be a strength of our system.

Even better!

[Notmuchlonger]

You would have thought the 70's would have been a wake up bell for the USA. Hey obviously not. Pass it on to the next generation.

[ERD50]

yes and yes and yes to the last three posts.

I could accept more drilling *if* it went hand in hand with serious conservation measure. As stated above, and as I've said before, I think a big tax is the most effective means to motivate conservation.

And why drill oil now? It's only getting higher priced - why use it up now @ $110/bbl (or whatever) when it will be $200 soon. Unless that new cheap renewable energy source actually appears 'real soon now'.

ERD50

[HFWR]

The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them.

Sound familiar?

[Khan]

Originally Posted by Wags

Over what period of time did the price jump from $3.65 to $3.95?

Was the 30 cent jump in one day?

It's $3.75 today in my small neck of the woods (W. Texas).

God Bless Us All

Within one day.

The local news folks were there taping as the price was changed.

[Walt34]

I guess we're about to see $4/gallon, saw $3.99 for the first time yesterday. A motorcycle looks attractive from the mileage standpoint but I've seen too many injuries/deaths to take that risk.

I can walk across the room to get myself a glass of water, and I know several people who can't.

[TromboneAl]

"Vision" would, I think, be raising the gas tax substantially,

This latest increase in gas prices (i.e. over the last year or two) has given us a taste of what would happen:

• People are buying smaller cars
• People are driving (a little) less
• Car companies are stumbling over one another in the race to produce electric vehicles

Speaking of driving less. The news reported that memorial day driving will be down by .9 percent this year. Is that really significant? 1/100 drivers will drive less -- doesn't sound like much of a change to me.

[REWahoo]

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

Speaking of driving less. The news reported that memorial day driving will be down by .9 percent this year. Is that really significant? 1/100 drivers will drive less -- doesn't sound like much of a change to me.

It isn't a significant decrease taken in isolation. But I wonder how much other non-essential driving is being reduced by the folks taking those holiday car trips so they can still afford to do so?

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by TromboneAl

Speaking of driving less. The news reported that memorial day driving will be down by .9 percent this year. Is that really significant? 1/100 drivers will drive less -- doesn't sound like much of a change to me.

It depends how the news people present the story. .9% probably does not make a good headline. But consider that the US uses (screw the proper economic terms, I am not going to 'consume' any gasoline!) 388.6 MILLION gallons of gas a day - assume .9% over two days, that is:

Driver's save SEVEN MILLION gallons of gasoline this Memorial Day!!!!

-ERD50

PS - just think if we had gone metric - we could have saved 28 MILLION LITERS!!!!