High gas prices are pure market manipulation.

station they were saying how gas prices were going to go up even more by May. I believe if those of us who can run our cars on ethanol will do so, it will put a big dent in their sales even if the ethanol is as expensive.

Ethanol might come out less expensive, but you might also see a reduction in mpg that might even it up. Something to keep an eye on.

I really dislike ethanol as I don't like the concept of using topsoil and water to produce fuel instead of food.

I'm cool with the fuels produced from byproducts, waste materials and such. But fresh food calories turned into a vehicle fuel seems sad to me.

I'm one of the niche cases where an electric vehicle works out, so I have driven 5300 miles, but only bought 24 gallons of gas since August. As the batteries improve, as more clean energy is available and becomes less expensive, gas prices will have to fall as fewer people buy it.

I've saved 200+ gallons so far. So, $600-$750 back in my pocket towards the car. Subtract the $100 in electricity I've spent to keep it charged, and I'm still $500+ ahead. Could I have save a ton more by buying a Prius or a normal efficiency car? You bet. But the electric car for the general populace can't hit until early adopters have shaken out the technology. I was in a position to jump on a Volt, and am loving every mile driven. I used to hate driving because I knew I was polluting. Now, I take the scenic route home. And when I charge, it's on wind power. So it stays clean.

My concern is if gas is so high now, how will it be when spring/summer comes on hard? If everybody thinks the world economy is going to improve, implying more demand for fuel, those prices will continue to rise. Higher fuel prices = higher transport = higher cost of goods = everybody suffers.

However, gas really has no competition to make it behave. This could be it.

Some gas engines have a lot of seals, gaskets and such that can be adversely affected by some of the materials in ethanol. So a lot of cars are excluded from using it at all.

I know it was very clear in my Ford Escape Hybrid's manual not to ever use it. I lived in corn country for a year, and was excited about using it, but figured I'd better be sure. Glad I checked.

I can go 40 miles without using gasoline. Which covers commutes, lunches and errands. I can charge at home. (and work as I'm lucky). There are a LOT of people who can do their entire routine in 40 miles. Eventually, the batteries will allow 75 miles, then 100.

Think of your daily drives. If you could spend $1.00-$1.50 for the first 50 miles, and only use gas for the miles after that, how much less gas you'd use. Then by extension all the folks who can charge at home. If we even hit 10% adoption of electric vehicles, fuel prices will fall. Millions of gallons a day wouldn't be burned.

We'll get there at some point. But it's probably 5 years out for a viable electric car for families. Then the clock starts ticking as people choose electric over gas, and those gas cars come off the market. The used gas car market will bloat, the crappy cars people stay driving will start to get replaced, and will go to the junk yard. I'm guessing we're 20 years out, but it'll happen.

Or, we could make gas cost what it costs, factor in military/subsidy/pollution costs and that could change a lot faster. I'm not supporting that because I know what that would do to the non-rich. But it would cause some serious market disruption.

but an electric car with a solar array, which I would need with it because my landlady complains about my electric usage as it is, would at the very least cost me $50,000. I have a ten year old car because I'm a little old lady on Social Security. I am aware of the fact that the seals and gaskets need to be changed and it would cost a bit, but not as much as a new electric car. Our school buses and the public transit in town is on ethanol but ethanol is not available to the public. We do have oil wells here so I wonder.

In a lot of places, she'd be paid for having it installed. Then you'd both have some clean energy.

When I finally put up a solar array, I will produce so much more than I consume, I would receive checks rather than send them.

And there's sure nothing wrong with a 10 year old car. If the Volt hadn't come out, and I hadn't received incredible incentives for buying it, I'd still be driving my 2005 Escape Hybrid for a long time.

cost. Evidently, she and her husband, had considered it. I still ventured to ask her if she didn't get enough incentives and that it would save her in the long run. She said waiting ten years wasn't a savings as far as she was concerned and she ended the conversation abruptly. I really don't think I could change her mind. She's very rigid in her beliefs.

Her loss.

It's a shame, because what they're really saying is that "I'm fine with steam power."

Coal burned to create steam.
Natural gas burned to create steam.
Nuclear power used to create steam.

It's 2013, and the majority of the world's power comes from steam.

She and her husband have a Mercedes, a V8 chevy SUV, a big Chevy truck, also a V8 and her husband has a couple of old cars from the fifties that he restored and drives, really big gas hogs. I tried to get her and her husband interested in our local nuclear plant problems and she just said, well it's better than burning coal.

it has less energy density than gasoline, so your mileage goes down, The costs have been artificially low at times due to heavy government subsidies, but without them its not such a good deal.

Factor in as well that you are burning a years worth of corn consumption in each tank of ethanol. Which might otherwise be food. The more ethanol we produce, the less food we have to eat; or, more practically speaking, the higher food prices go.

I ride a bicycle myself

to the store and doctor. (I live several miles over hilly country to get anywhere.) I ride it for exercise, on safe roads, but as a substitute for my car, it didn't work out as I hoped.

as a once-upon-a-time gas hauler I can put some perspective on the issue for you.

First consideration is where you live... if you live in an area where the stuff is produced it could be a simple matter of transport (but also the main concern in the third consideration below). It may also be that it is already premixed into the gas as an additive that is included in that little label on the side of the pump. Example: Idaho has a 10% (I think) premix that is often not proclaimed on the pump but is there due to some ordinance that the state has devised regarding their tax laws and road use. I think they keep it all so convoluted that even most graduate students couldn't understand it.

Second consideration is that if you are in the north central states (or any oil producing state), you are likely subject to the speculation monster that is struggling to bamboozle most citizens into believing that there is going to be a shortage because of the alleged "switch" of refineries to making the "summer" grade of gas. (But keep in mind that there is a glut of product coming from the region's oilfields due to over production in the preparation for the Keystone approval because they want people to think that it's not getting shipped off the continent once the pipeline gets built and the high prices are simply a punishment exacted by the oiligarchs as pressure to get their way as usual).

Third consideration is that some areas have what is known as "tank districts" where the type of tank that holds the fuel and the location it exists dictates what products can be stored in them. When I hauled gas in SoCal, I had to carry 3 three ring binders of tank district info so I would know what kind of tank and what size it was to know how to read the "stick" when I dipped it in the tank prior to delivery. Another element that also fits into the first consideration.

Fourth consideration is that the oiligarchs are out to screw us for every penny they can get so whatever you think might be a "no brainer" answer to your problem, they will do everything to thwart that concept for being heard in the light of day. They may also make the price too expensive for the retailer to obtain - especially if they don't have the proper storage tanks or need to have and expensive inspection/test conducted. Also note that most premium grade gas, the highest priced stuff, is already 10% grain alcohol - that's what makes it "premium" and was probably mixed by the driver who got it from the pipeline or refinery as they loaded it on the rig.

Also, boycotting one brand is a fruitless task as all transport operations normally buy each truckload by the hour, as in they dispatch the drivers to load wherever the price is cheapest at the moment of dispatch so you might even get unleaded regukar at one terminal and your other products someplace else or from another account with a different name brand regardless of where it ends up as far as name brand is concerned. It's all mix and match so you never know who actually made the stuff regardless of where you buy it. There are few exceptions and those are mostly relative to patented additives.

I know it's a complex explanation but that's how it all worked back when I was loading at refineries and pipelines and dumping it in the gas stations.


Hope that helps without giving you brain-freeze!

and in another month I will have another fuel rant. *sigh*

we are screwed until we can learn to live without this abomination of nature. Our economy has been based on it for decades now and we will be enslaved by this fact until we revolt and refuse to play the game. I felt like such a hypocrite when I did that kind of work, it was totally against my values and better judgement but when you live in an environment such as SoCal, there are few alternatives.

Rant on, I will read each one and back you up every time (and answer any question I feel confident enough to address).