Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News News Oil hits a high; some in U.S. see $4 gas by spring

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/27/business/26gasweb.php

I'm curious how everyone feels about this and it's implications.
Personally, I adjusted to the possibility a couple years ago, now only having a commute of less then 8 miles round trip. Everything is affected by the rise in cost, as a large part of the goods we buy are trucked in from around the country, I've been particularly hit at the supermarket.

Oh, and hello everyone, as this is my first post. Came across this site a few days ago and have since been enamored by the level of intelligence shown by the posters here, sure hope I don't disappoint.

ChuckNM, welcome to Reader Rant. Thank you for bringing this article to our attention. In addition to welcoming you, as one of the moderators here I wanted you to be aware of one of our guidelines:


Guidelines

If you would be so kind as to edit your post you can change the title of the thread to match the title of the article.

Thanks, and again, welcome.

Phil Hoskins, moderator.

Still praying for Santa to bring me a HHO/Aquygen retrofit kit for my vehicle. The upside of the price surge is that such kits might qualify for a subsidy or tax rebate of some kind in the future.

JeffH in Occupied TX

Welcome, Chuckles!
It is good to have you here.

My husband and I have always been 'thrifty' on what we drive and how much.
Higher prices make it even more so.

I don't understand (and have no patience for) people who drive over sized, over powered vehicles just for the sake of doing so.

a couple of points to note.

Dollar has hit an all time low agaisnt the Euro today (again)

we are somewhat insulated from rising oil prices due to the weakness of the dollar. indeed the weakness of the dollar could be a prime uplifter of the oil price.

i worked it out before that gas over here cots the equivilent of 7/8 dollars a gallon. when it reaches that price ill listen to your grumbles on the matter.

I would like to know how you came to that number. Out of curiosity. My lack of knowledge of your costs over there begs to know.

Thought crossed my mind as to the average travel time / mileage of the commuter going to work and tallying that in as cost to yearly budget to determine real effect on the common person.

I found data for average time to commute to work for the U.S. Here

I'll admit it hardly shows actually gas usage but is an indicator. For instance in my hometown (Albuquerque, NM) this says 18.7 minutes. Which is actually down from earlier numbers I saw in my search, which were in line of 20 minutes, thanks to infrastructure improvements. But I digress. In 20 minutes I can easily travel a variety of distances depending on my direction, from 12(heading into denser part of town) to 22-24'ish (less dense). And this is by following speed limits <(^.^)>. Of course, other variables would have to be applied, gas mileage etc. I wish I had more time, and will try to elaborate more on this thought process, but wanted some input.

And schlack, how are the commute times on the emerald isle, are they similar to this?

Guess what I was trying to get at was more toward a hard number on fuel usage for those travel times. The sheer randomness of so many variables makes this nigh on impossible.

For example, take a New Yorker with the 38.7 min. commute time:

1) How far is their work? I did see a related article saying something bout average speed in NYC at 7.5 mph, for what thats worth. I would like to source that one, but can't find it again, so this is hearsay.

2) What is the mpg of their vehicle? We all know how that varies.

3) How much is their fuel consumption at idle (of course varying due to engine size/type)? I had seen a .pdf after googling this that was put out by a trucking company (Summit - Rocky Mountain LLC):

"– Typical Engine Idle Fuel Consumption
500 - 700 RPM 0.5 gal. / hour
900 - 1200 RPM 0.75 gal. / hour"
*Note: These numbers where used in considering how much fuel usage was used while truckers warmed themselves at night. (Done in June '03, so the economy of new engines may/should be better)

I really looked into the idle consumption cause I imagined a lot of waiting at stop lights in such a large city like New York City. I was assuming the amount of fuel burned would be more when I first thought on the subject (a trucking company does use large engines, though mainly diesel's). I'm having to assume that in a smaller engine it's less (unable to find any good numbers).

4) How do they drive their vehicles?


So in the end the impact on the individual can only really be determined by said individual. It's the responsibility of that person to take their own action to change their own situation to stave off the effects of the price rise upon their budget.

The changes that can be made are many, and to avoid prattling on and turning this into an essay of a post. I'll leave it be.

Thanks
~Charles

Food for Thought

9% above $400/month is astounding to me. This may be ok to soak for those with the wallets to do so, but at my salary, crazy.

P.S. ~ My inexperience at this requires me to ask how to link the .pdf I spoke of earlier. Is it different then a url or no?

Welcome, ChucklesNM: I think what Schlack meant by "worked it out" to 7 or 8 bucks/gallon is simply that - a price per gallon, converted from pounds to dollars.

Yes, Schlack, my brief experience with a rental car in Scotland some 10 years or so ago taught me about complaining about gas prices. At that time, I filled a small tank (there) for about $35, and couldn't fathom such prices. Now I fill a small (here) for around $30, and wonder what you all are paying. Sounds like it's still about double our price.

not sure of the actual price but it was up in that range.

ill give it a go

118.9c (age irish price this week) a Litre X 3.7854118 to make a gallon = 450.085 euro cents

4.50085 euro converted to dollars according to xe.com =

6.80747 USD

a good chunk of that though is tax.

Wow. Thanks.