Gasoline/diesel prices hit record highs

People complain about $3.50 a gallon? Over here prices have risen to about £1.07 a litre, that's approximately $9.70 a gallon.

As a result, people are doing the obvious thing and using their cars less. Kids have started walking to school again, the trains and buses are busy and the petrol stations much quieter. Admittedly ours is a much smaller country so things are closer together (120 mile round trip from work to school? That's ridiculous, don't they have any jobs nearer?) which makes public transport or walking a more viable option.

A lot of people are downsizing their cars too. The government is encouraging this by putting up road taxes on big engined cars and dropping them on hybrids and smaller cars. I guess what will eventually happen is a wholesale opinion change. People will stop seeing big cars as a right and see them as a luxury item you only buy if you can afford to run it. I imagine that'd take a while longer to sink into the American mindset though, you guys love your trucks after all.

For the future, most car companies are already looking at alternative fuel sources. There's already been a couple of fully functioning hydrogen fuel cell concept cars produced but the cost of the cells makes them completely prohibitive. I'm sure that sooner or later someone will produce an affordable one and we'll all forget we ever used petrol. I don't really think that digging up more oil is the answer. Unless governments start forcing the oil companies to drop their prices, no extra supply is ever going to have a significant effect on prices at the pumps. To believe that lower costs to the oil companies leads to reduced prices is naive. There are far too few oil companies and it's far too hard for new companies to enter the market so oligopoly pricing is in full effect. They simply don't need to undercut each other, it's a total seller's market.

I'd suggest that windfall taxes and the like will only serve to move the companies out of America. After all, the demand for oil in China and India is massive and if the companies can get a better price there, they'll sell to the Chinese.

As a short term measure, most diesel vehicles will run on used cooking oil with a minimum of modification and that's a damn sight cheaper than buying petrol.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Shonos

It wont stop China, India, and other modernizing nations from using fossil fuels.

Actually, China is (Relatively speaking) a far, far greener nation than most other developed countries. Their CO2 production per capita is a fraction of the US, they recycle pretty much everything, build carbon neutral buildings and have very efficient production methods. The reason they buy up so much in the way of natural resources is because they want to control it all before the west squanders it.

Even by digging up Alaska (An expensive proposition) and invading the rest of the middle east (Not cheap either), America and the rest of the west will struggle to find a supply of oil to match their insatiable appetites in anything but the very short term. No amount of legislation can fight off global market forces for long and people will eventually be forced to reasses their priorities and start finding ways to rely less on oil. Whether that's through driving less and in smaller cars or buying locally sourced food and goods with lower delivery costs is personal preference but as demand for less oil-dependent goods rises, so the impetus to invest in these methods and technologies grows too.

People can complain all they want but if they're too lazy to change their ways, I have little sympathy for them. As a country that is so fond of capitalism, America shouldn't really be too upset when market forces determine that their petrol gets more expensive.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by How Unfortunate

I've inherited a car from my folks that's a little gas-heavy. But fuck if I care. High gas prices or not, maintenance costs just as much, insurance half as much, and licensing fees probably a quarter as much. I'd rather have the gas-third of my costs grow than pay all that cash for a newer car AND spend more insuring it AND face faster depreciation.

What's to stop you trading it in for a car the same age as the one you inherited but with a smaller engine? Chances are your insurance would be cheaper too.

Also, citing depreciation as a cost of motoring is retarded. Who buys a car based on the potential future resale value?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.