Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Gas prices

spindles · 04-11-2005, 06:56 PM

A few points:
1. Anyone that has to own a 220hp "car" to get them from A to B is going to wait a lot longer for an energy efficient car. There are already petrol/electric hybrids available (in Australia the Toyota Prius link and the Honda Civic link are here). I read somewhere there is a waiting period of 5 or 6 months to get one of these, so the market is certainly there, though the money you save is not the issue - the extra price of the car would mean you break even in about 8 years time

2. We'll know that irreplaceable fossil fuels are at the right price when we spend more on petrol than we do on coke (the soft drink not the drug) or bottled water. I'm amazed at the short sightedness of people, who think that there is a magic oil tap somewhere that is going to run forever.
3. Australian energy companies are starting to move into areas like wind generation for electricity and hydro electric schemes, which will help to lessen our reliance on (in the main) coal fired power stations - you can, as a consumer, pay a premium to use this kind of power. Hopefully it won't be long before we produce most of our electricity this way - oil is not our only scarce resource!
4. Around half of what we pay at the pump is tax - I'm not concerned with this, except that the government gets to choose how that money is spent, and they choose not to spend it on road improvements or researching new methods of driving cars. In fact we get taxed twice - piles of govt duties and tariffs, then a GST on top of that.
5. I am amazed at the capitalists (and face it - most Americans are capitalists, and I guess I am too!) complaining that someone is making money off oil. It is a commodity - someone found it (and probably spent a lot of money proving it was there) - why shouldn't they reap the benefits?

BTW - I work from home, so no commuting for me. When I was working in an office, I took the train. My wife and I walk a lot (the nearest major shops are only 1/2 an hour away). When we do drive, it is a four cylinder car, which we chose because it fits our needs - it may not be the fastest, or most powerful, but it gets me where I want to go in comfort. Fuel economy of the car was a major selling point for us.

04-11-2005, 06:56 PM	#18 (permalink)
spindles Mine is an evil laugh Location: Sydney, Australia	A few points: 1. Anyone that has to own a 220hp "car" to get them from A to B is going to wait a lot longer for an energy efficient car. There are already petrol/electric hybrids available (in Australia the Toyota Prius link and the Honda Civic link are here). I read somewhere there is a waiting period of 5 or 6 months to get one of these, so the market is certainly there, though the money you save is not the issue - the extra price of the car would mean you break even in about 8 years time 2. We'll know that irreplaceable fossil fuels are at the right price when we spend more on petrol than we do on coke (the soft drink not the drug) or bottled water. I'm amazed at the short sightedness of people, who think that there is a magic oil tap somewhere that is going to run forever. 3. Australian energy companies are starting to move into areas like wind generation for electricity and hydro electric schemes, which will help to lessen our reliance on (in the main) coal fired power stations - you can, as a consumer, pay a premium to use this kind of power. Hopefully it won't be long before we produce most of our electricity this way - oil is not our only scarce resource! 4. Around half of what we pay at the pump is tax - I'm not concerned with this, except that the government gets to choose how that money is spent, and they choose not to spend it on road improvements or researching new methods of driving cars. In fact we get taxed twice - piles of govt duties and tariffs, then a GST on top of that. 5. I am amazed at the capitalists (and face it - most Americans are capitalists, and I guess I am too!) complaining that someone is making money off oil. It is a commodity - someone found it (and probably spent a lot of money proving it was there) - why shouldn't they reap the benefits? BTW - I work from home, so no commuting for me. When I was working in an office, I took the train. My wife and I walk a lot (the nearest major shops are only 1/2 an hour away). When we do drive, it is a four cylinder car, which we chose because it fits our needs - it may not be the fastest, or most powerful, but it gets me where I want to go in comfort. Fuel economy of the car was a major selling point for us. __________________ who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?