1. Change car/truck to something more efficient?
- Back in October 2006, we gave our Honda Accord to our college-bound son and bought a 2003 VW Jetta TDI for a second car. My wife works from home, so I alternate between the VW and the Excursion. Roughly 2/3's of the time I'm driving the VW. The rest of time I'm in the truck hauling or towing or just letting it stretch its legs if it hasn't been driven for a while.
2. Drive less?
- No, not really. We've always consolidated trips to save time and fuel. What we have done is keep it below 60 MPH and drive like we've got an egg on the gas pedal. Yields about 25-30% in savings.
3. Take the little car instead of the F-350?
- When it make sense.
4. Now here is the big one. How many of you have written to your congressman or senator asking them to look into the speculation shell game which is actually driving the prices way up. Think about it, you all have a congressman and have a senator so how many of you have actually written or called your guy/gal?
- I've written and called both my state and federal elected officials. Not to look into the speculation shell game, but to steer us towards increased production and get out of the way. Like it or not folks, oil fuels 90% of the world economies and any suitable alternatives are decades off.
Bloomberg News is now reporting that "Emerging Market Oil Use Exceeds U.S. as Prices Rise". See
Bloomberg.com: Exclusive
In addition, emerging markets consumption will continue to spiral upward for the forseeable future. China alone is expecting to consume 62.5% more oil in 2020 compared to 2006. See "China's oil consumption to hit 563M tons in 2020" at
China's oil consumption to hit 563M tons in 2020
In other words, we are in a world of hurt.
With what the future holds, the only answer is to continue to develop alternatives to oil and significantly increase domestic production and refinement of crude to put downward pressure on the price of oil. We need the market to build us more efficient vehicles and factories (if there are any left) and we need to start putting more nuclear plants on line.
And like Dave said, kick EPA to the curb and may I add, throw a few tree huggers under the bus. We don't need extremists. We need people to look at this in an intelligent manner and apply a measured approach. Moderation is the key.
And IMHO, I don't want the government trying to fix this. All they will do is screw it up like they have just about every thing else.
The downward pressure on the dollar also affects this but that's for another thread I guess.
