A very easy way for people to save on gas is to just slow down. I'm not advocating driving below the speed limits but just try driving the speed limit to 5mph above. thats it! I can be doing 60 in a 55 mph highway and get passed like I am standing still by bug SUV's and pickups. I can even smell the sulpher from their exhaust as they wiz by. They are burning lots of fuel to pass me. For What? What is so pressing that they cannot drive at the posted speed limits? It just proves to me that the price of gas needs to be more. when it begins to hurt in the pocket, people will slow down. I think that a $2/gal fed tax would not only slow people down but help with our budget deficit.
I have not read all 18 pages of this thread but I'll chime in with my opinion. I am upset about the high price of gas. Even with a Prius those high fuel costs are passed along in the form of higher prices in many products that I buy. It is also tough on the economy as a whole so those prices are harming the community that I live in, the state of PA and the country as a whole. All of those things are upsetting. Onto the each individual out there dealing with high fuel prices- I do have a bit of empathy for them but figure that they have made their own decisions and car man and woman enough to deal with the fallout - heck if they did not learn from 2008's prices what else can you do. I guess it all boils down to this - I do not want to feel anything other than bad for the suffering of others, but in 99.9% of the cases it is a problem made worse by their own decisions.
This by you is a hard choice?! Simple. Hard choices are food vs medical vs heat. Take your allotted (current) 1/2 gallon of fuel oil per day, and see how far you can stretch it. I suspect you can't even eat an American diet on that little.
Gas prices are finally starting to fall, in line with the price of oil. Whoever predicted they would fall near summertime is right. Hopefully it stays this way for a while.
I think a way to increase fuel economy in vehicles and the choice people make in the vehicle is to add a gas tax yearly according to vehicle you drive and the combined epa rating that vehicle has for fuel economy. For instance if your vehicle has an epa rated combines fuel economy of 50 mpg's or more you get a tax credit of 1,000 dollars a year, 42mpg's combined 500 tax credit, 32mpg's 0 tax credit nor a tax, 25mpg's you pay 500 a year in gas tax, 18mpg's you pay 1000 a year in gas tax, 13mpg's you pay 1500 in gas tax & below that you pay 2000 a year. Now the exception would be commercial use and farm use. I think that would make people think twice about buying big suv's or trucks just because that is what they like.
Gas Prices Around the World Take a look at gas prices in Venezuela! I wonder if they sell Priuses(Prii) in Venezuela?
Venezuela has Prii there I have been a few times over the last couple of years. It is one of the only things that is cheap in that country courtesy of Mr Hugo Chavez He harges like 4+ dollars for milk but gives his people cheap gas! Ill take my 3.80 gas any day over that Sh%t hole . Have a home in Aruba and it is only a 20 mile trip by water to Venezuela only reason I have ever gone there!
Trinidad is basically the same but with a much better (yet still extremely corrupt) government. Nice place to go if you want to go off the beaten trail.
I don't know if you already knew but that is the pretty similar to the system we have in the UK. A Range Rover V8 is taxed at about £500 a year, a VW Passat about £200 a year (less for some diesels models) and the Prius is £0 The cost of vehicle tax for cars, motorcycles, light goods vehicles and trade licences : Directgov - Motoring Trouble is they don't exclude commercial use! Though there are some other tax benefits for commerical vehicles.
Saudi Prince wants oil to fall between 70-80 dollars to keep the West from developing alternative energy sources! Saudi Prince seeks lower oil prices - Commodities & Futures
^^ ABG finally picked up on this, days late. (Report: Saudi prince worried over increasing fuel economy standards and technology — Autoblog Green) I'm not sure where ABG or whoever got http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1105/29/fzgps.01.html got this part from: I skimmed http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1105/29/fzgps.01.html and didn't see any mention of that. The interview at doesn't mentioned anything about fuel economy standards either.
I'm not upset about the price of gas......In fact.......I'm thinking of selling my current stock & buying Exxon Mobil stock....the dividend is much better then I'm getting now. Then my dividend will pay for my gas........