$5 gas

[Sal Paradise]

Bad, if it happens. The prediction in the news is $5 gas by summer . Are you guys ready? Made decisions and plans so it doesn't make you poor?

I drive 32 miles each way to work, but my Focus is getting 35 MPG for real. I work 4 ten hour days so thats 8 gallons a week for me. I'm okay with that. If I can pick up some more firewood I should save myself buying another tank of oil.

On the riding viewpoint I think the high prices will do some good. See, I live in a congested area north of NYC. Nice roads, awesome roads really, but they get blocked and crowded with hordes of SUV's from the city and Jersey. Especially on summer weekends. Hordes of SUV's and giant pickups with drivers texting. They can't afford to go to Europe like they used to so they are driving around "my" area. Slowly. Or 2 feet from my rear wheel while chatting on the phone. I am hoping that if gas prices get high they will stay home or at least keep to the Thruway.

Trying to see a silver lining; I can get to the big mountain roads on half a gallon and I would like to get some time up there without the usual awful summer traffic. This is a sport where you can get 60 MPG and still have a great time. So the price won't affect my riding habits. But I need some road.

What does everyone think about a spike in gas prices, other than it sucks? Think it will happen?

 

[tooblekain]

It could be a major ding for me.

The good news is I rarely drive my car. I ride my Bonneville everyday so filling up my bike at about $13/week isn't bad

What's bad is that I do a lot of trackdays...so the cost for both the bike and to fill up the truck can kill me. And I just took up racing so that will be a bigger cost. I may have to make a sacrifice of either race only or trackday only...or god-forbid no track at all (really hoping it does not come to that).

I could get a road bike and benefit from the exercise but its hard to justify spending about $13-$15 on gas versus having to spend another $1000+ on a decent road bike

Ive already cut my driving costs by not mountain biking anymore (due to cost of gas to get to a mountain biking spot) and have taken running since its convenient and I can do it around where I live or do it at the gym.

Surfing will take a huge hit for me again because of the need to use the car. However I saw someone actually makes a rail/rack for motocycles and I may go that route.

I know my next car will probably be a SMART car or something small to maximize fuel economy.

 

[2Monkeys]

It will suck, but I'm sure it will come with in 10 or so years. Currently I live next door to work and walk there. My wife and I have a Jetta TDI and the T-100, so we don't pay much for fuel as it is. We can afford to pay more for it. It will certainly make us more conscious about planing trips in to town. I foresee people living closer to work in the future. It is a good setup for me, and assuming you like you job, I would encourage more people to do it.

 

[strokerlmt]

Yes it will happen unless Israel bombs the shit out of Irans nuke plants. Some gent of TV said that even though Iran only exports 2.5% of the supply they are europes largest supplier. And dumb shit congress will not do anything to get us away from petroleum products. I drive all over the county and this will really pinch me.
LMT

 

[Baltobonneville]

Higher prices will help get us away from petroleum products. There's a lot of fuel being burned unnecessarily out there. Change from a big fat suburban assault vehicle to a small sensible car, and you've cut the price of fuel by 50%. Change to a Prius and you've knocked off even more.

When I see what is riding around out there, and parked in my neighborhood, I realize that there are great savings to be had in simply downsizing, and that's with no significant impact on lifestyle.

Take the bus or the train to work, or walk or ride a bicycle if you can, and you're doing even better. Unfortunately, I have no way to get to work other than driving, but I drive a sensible car that gets almost as good mileage as the Bonnie. And sometimes I ride the motorcycle.

By the way, I changed my central heat from the original 1939 oil-fired boiler to a modern--but not super-high efficiency--natural gas boiler in 2010 and cut my heating costs by more than 50%, no exaggeration. Natural gas is a good deal these days, if you're connected, and it burns cleaner too, as far as the environment is concerned.

 

[Kirkus51]

I'm glad I just got done with my driving trip to SoCal from the Mile Hi. I live in an area where fuel prices are lower than average so the $5 bump will hit it here later.

But I'm retired so I don't commute. Where I live I don't have over 2 miles to go to get 99% of what I use. I fill up the Cabrio when it get's down to a half tank, but that takes at least a month to get down to 1/2 a tank.

Where it will hit me the most is in the grocery department. I've already seen a pretty sizable creep up in that department. I can't imagine how high shipping costs will go up.

 

[gcrider]

It's a mixed bag for me. I'm a sales rep driving all over the Midwest to the tune of 50,000 miles/year. So the higher gas prices hurt me on that end. The upside is that I sell bicycles and bike gear. When gas prices go up more people commute by bike and people take "staycations" with new bikes instead of the traditional family road trip. I just have to sell enough more stuff to cover the fuel prices of getting around the territory to sell the stuff.

 

[jhillier71]

I'm glad I just got done with my driving trip to SoCal from the Mile Hi. I live in an area where fuel prices are lower than average so the $5 bump will hit it here later.

But I'm retired so I don't commute. Where I live I don't have over 2 miles to go to get 99% of what I use. I fill up the Cabrio when it get's down to a half tank, but that takes at least a month to get down to 1/2 a tank.

Where it will hit me the most is in the grocery department. I've already seen a pretty sizable creep up in that department. I can't imagine how high shipping costs will go up.

we've been paying that much for quite some in Canada (~1.20L), it's a sign of the times. Try filling up in Europe. The cost of gas in the US is not reflective of what it cost elsewhere in the world (ex. Saudi perhaps). So I guess we are all paying the piper now.

FYI - Probably a little known fact in the USA is that Canada is the USA's largest importer of oil, even more than Saudi and we are payin through the nose up here as we cant even sell it to ourselves due to the complexities/costs of trans-national shipping.

 

[Arkwright]

Hey guys welcome to our world on this side of the pond... Well actually welcome to HALF our world. We've been paying $10 a gallon for some time now.

 

[Demar]

Hey guys welcome to our world on this side of the pond... Well actually welcome to HALF our world. We've been paying $10 a gallon for some time now.

If gas gets to $5.50/gallon here in the US people will riot and stop buying gas.

Edit: If it gets to $4.50/gallon it will be a prominent issue in the upcoming election.

 

[Bonneville09er]

I own:

Dodge Ram = Hemi
'92 Bronco = 351 cu in
'71 Chevelle = 454 cu in

the ram gets 19mpg on the highway when it switches to 4 cylinder but its will be tough

 

[LoVel]

If gas gets to $5.50/gallon here in the US people will riot and stop buying gas.

Not around here. People will buy bigger cars and pretend it doesn't matter. Bunch a stupid fuckers. I can't believe anyone would still buy an 8 cylinder or more vehicle unless it was an absolute requirement.:mad2:

 

[koifarm]

Opec will bump the price up till everyone gets pissed and slows down buying gas....then OPEC will have a glut on the market and lower prices...probably by fall...
Bunch of Bullshit as far as I'm concerned....manipulating the market to their own benefit....

 

[loxpump]

I don't think we'll ever live totally without crude oil.

http://www.ranken-energy.com/Products from Petroleum.htm

 

[FoothillRyder]

If gas gets to $5.50/gallon here in the US people will riot and stop buying gas.

Edit: If it gets to $4.50/gallon it will be a prominent issue in the upcoming election.

Prominent issue? Perhaps (as if there aren't enough real issues)

Riots? Stop buying gas? Get real. Not gonna happen.

As has been mentioned, we've been spoiled here in the U.S., as pretty much everywhere else the gas prices have been double - even triple - what we pay here. While I love my fossil-fueled vehicles, I think it's about time we paid for the privileges afforded by them.

Now get out there and be glad you don't have to be in a cage to get 45mpg. :beer:

 

[jphickory]

I don't think we'll ever live totally without crude oil.

http://www.ranken-energy.com/Products from Petroleum.htm

Good post.

Not to mention the crude oil needs for heavy construction, military, aviation, agriculture etc. A Cat D12 is not going to run on batteries anytime soon. There is no actual shortage of crude oil. There are recovery, refinement and distribution deficiencies. The rising prices in the US are self inflicted by policy decisions that are increasingly anti capitalism and driven by the radical environmentalist agenda.

 

[Sal Paradise]

As far as markets ,I hope that people are slowly getting more and more savvy about the volatility in the petroleum markets and how it works. But maybe not. Its a global market. The price is set by commodities traders and oil producers, neither of which we elect. I don't see riots or voting having any effect or relevance.

How much you are personally affected by the global market is somewhat dependant on the choices you make. I really would like to convert my house to natural gas. That is going to be a money saver. I also wouldn't mind adding another motorcycle that gets high mileage, say 60 mpg or more. And the new fuel efficient cars are selling like hot cakes. I SOLD MY V8 F350 when gas hit around $2/ gallon and I bought a V6 minivan. If it gets to $5 I might trade that for a CMAX which is a 6 passenger light mini van with a 4 cyl that Ford is now making. Working the 4 ten hour days. Maybe looking to telecommute one day.

I still see a tremendous amount of "pleasure driving" with huge SUV's and Trucks. Tourists or errand running. I am near the Metro Area, so I probably will still see a lot of traffic. For the more remote places I can ride, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot less of them this summer. If so, I won't miss them personally.

 

[jphickory]

As far as markets ,I hope that people are slowly getting more and more savvy about the volatility in the petroleum markets and how it works. But maybe not. Its a global market. The price is set by commodities traders and oil producers, neither of which we elect. I don't see riots or voting having any effect or relevance.

How much you are personally affected by the global market is somewhat dependant on the choices you make. I really would like to convert my house to natural gas. That is going to be a money saver. I also wouldn't mind adding another motorcycle that gets high mileage, say 60 mpg or more. And the new fuel efficient cars are selling like hot cakes. I SOLD MY V8 F350 when gas hit around $2/ gallon and I bought a V6 minivan. If it gets to $5 I might trade that for a CMAX which is a 6 passenger light mini van with a 4 cyl that Ford is now making. Working the 4 ten hour days. Maybe looking to telecommute one day.

I still see a tremendous amount of "pleasure driving" with huge SUV's and Trucks. Tourists or errand running. I am near the Metro Area, so I probably will still see a lot of traffic. For the more remote places I can ride, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot less of them this summer. If so, I won't miss them personally.

Voting not having any relevance Sal - really?

Our President will not let us drill in the Gulf, open new oil fields or build new refineries. The Keystone pipeline would have reduced dependency on over seas oil by 8% - with the added benefit of buying from one of our best friends - Canada. Our President wouldn't approve it and now Canada will likely sell the oil to China.

The USA has enough energy resources (oil, coal, natural gas etc.) to make us energy independent for generations. Unfortunately we have a President that is doing everything he can to prevent Americans from accessing their own resources. This is the sad truth.

 

[Sal Paradise]

Jp,

Yeah voting means nothing. I said it. How else could congress have a 9% approval rating?

As for oil drilling - let wikipedia say what it will-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_the_United_States



with approximately 5% of the world's population, the United States is responsible for approximately 25% of annual global oil consumption and according to 2008 estimates has a per-person daily consumption rate more than double that of the European Union, whose population is significantly greater.[44][45] Automobiles are the single largest consumer of oil,[46] consuming 40%, and are also the source of 20% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.[47]


An offshore oil platformThe USA has about 22 billion barrels (3.5×109 m3) reserves while consuming about 7.6 billion barrels (1.21×109 m3) per year.[42]

Simple math is that 22/7 = about 3 years. Total.


The oil companies do not drill the vast majority of the U.S. reserves that they already have leases for? Know why? It doesn't pay. They can import it cheaper. But if they add more and more to their reserves on paper. That makes their stock worth more. They can claim they hold leases on so many billion barrels worth of oil

I have this conversation with people from time to time. For you, perhaps its the first time you are hearing it. For me, it gets repetitive. We couln't pump enough to leverage the entire world market.

I can't vote to change the numbers of the global market. I can change my own numbers though,the mpg's and btu's . I have that power.

Keystone I really do not know enough about, nor do I feel like it. Can we agree to say that gas is predicted to go up and this will have an effect?

You want to blame it on Obama, or the republican of your choice, whatever. Go ahead. I think they are all the same. I am not buying it, but - as John Mellancamp wrote - My opinion means nuts.

 

[henrys]

Oil prices are largely not based on supply and demand. They are set on the NYMEX and ICE commodities market which has been mostly unregulated since 2000 (commodities futures modernization act of 2000). Now half of the oil market futures contracts are held by non-commercial entities (banks, hedge funds, etc) which will not take possession of any oil. They are just making bets. Before deregulation they only held about 20% of the market.

I believe it's no coincidence that the price of oil has almost tripled since these markets have been deregulated. So, I don't think its a supply issue at all. It's the same assholes on wall-street that gambled away all of your retirement money, making the same bets on oil.