Gas Crisis

Post by **Freakzilla** » 27 Sep 2008 16:14

I'm not talking about the price. It's a necessity so I have to pay whatever they charge, if I can find it.

Night before last, I had to call a buddy of mine to meet me with a can of gas so I could make it home because none of the gas stations along the way of my 55 mile commute had any gas. Gas stations have been taking the prices off their signs if they are out and if they have some they get mobbed so bad it can stop traffic and start fights. I'd say about one in ten stations have gas at any one time in my area. People are running out of gas everywhere.

Anyone else experiencing this?

What do you do to save gas?

I spend about $700 a month just do get to work, what about you?

Serkanner · Post by **Serkanner** » 27 Sep 2008 16:26

I can not afford a car or the petrol ...

Crysknife · Post by **Crysknife** » 27 Sep 2008 16:50

That really sucks, Freak. Nothing going on like that here but we always lag behind the rest of the nation on everything....it's like we're in a bubble in the mountains. We have our own refineries so maybe that helps.

I drive 30 miles a day, 15 to and from. I just don't go out much other than that. I've been driving a little 97 subaru impreza for about two years now and that has worked out nicely...they run forever and seem to need little maintenance. I spend about $30 to $45 every week on gas...couldn't afford much more. Plus it has AWD which is great for the snow around here.

I wish they'd come out with a cheap electric car soon.....probably couldn't afford it anyway.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 27 Sep 2008 16:55

Electric cars might help the consumer for a short time, but half our electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels, so we'd be back where we started before long.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 27 Sep 2008 17:35

Preview of things to come.

We've had decades to prepare alternatives, knew this was coming, so who's the stupid?

That doesn't help, I know.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 27 Sep 2008 17:44

I could do my job from home, if they would let me. I could see going into the office once a week to turn projects over to the CAD department and pick up new drawings.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 27 Sep 2008 17:58

Do you have to sign in or do a timecard punch thingy somewhere?

Companies that regimented would have a hard time dealing with work-at-home, I figures.

Sole Man · Post by **Sole Man** » 27 Sep 2008 18:09

Yeah, down here in Evans we're going through that too. Though me and my dad have noticed that all the interstate places are clean out, but the ones more in town are full. Hell, there was that had it for 3.99 a gallon and there No lines or anything. A few people fillin' up, that's a bout it.

Hopefully everything'll get better next week, or..or... I'll have to take the bus to school! The horror, The horror...

TheDukester · Post by **TheDukester** » 27 Sep 2008 18:46

Prices are actually down here, and there's never any lines. Then again, Reno's always been a weird place ...

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 27 Sep 2008 19:06

I haven't had the news on at all the last few days. What's the cause, a distribution failure? Surely shutting down those offshore rigs during Ike hasn't hurt the supply THAT much, has it?

Post by **Omphalos** » 27 Sep 2008 20:44

Prices are way down here in CA, to like $3.56/gal I think I saw yesterday. We have had no shortages at all, but we have several refineries between here and San Francisco. NorCal produces all grades for many companies, though distribution networks for fuel seem to be quite Byzantine, so I cannot say for sure if that means we would be affected by shortages last or not.

I commute about 20 miles each way, but I get over in the far right lane and drive at less that 55 both ways. I go in early and come home late, and we have and excellent freeway system here, so traffic jams are not much of a problem. I used to fill up once a week, but now that I am driving so much slower I can make a tank of gas last 12 or 13 days. Its incredible how much fuel you can save by driving under 55 on the freeways, and I drive a 1998 F-150.

We have a light rail system that is pretty much in my back yard, and will drop me at a bus line so I can take that if I want. Haven't done it much though, but I notice that use of public transport has spiked quite a bit since early summer here in Sacto.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 27 Sep 2008 20:58

SandChigger wrote:Do you have to sign in or do a timecard punch thingy somewhere?

I'm salaried. I work four ten-hour days now, that saves me $100 a month in gas.

There several reasons why more employers don't allow working at home but I think everyone who can should have the opportunity to try. If their production falls make them go back to the office.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 27 Sep 2008 21:03

SandChigger wrote:I haven't had the news on at all the last few days. What's the cause, a distribution failure? Surely shutting down those offshore rigs during Ike hasn't hurt the supply THAT much, has it?

It's a perfect storm kind of thing. Demand has been down so production was lowered. Then not only were the off-shore rigs shut down durring Ike, the coastal refineries in Texas were shut down too and they count for like on-fifth of the US production. I'm not even sure if they are still back up to speed. This is just news I've read, I haven't heard any "official" announcement of a reason.

Rakis · Post by **Rakis** » 28 Sep 2008 00:41

I think that last week's price explosion of the barrel pushed everybody at the pump and that drained many places at once...

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 28 Sep 2008 01:48

Damn Freak, I feel ya man. I commute to school four days a week, wavh day is 210 miles roundtrip, I know, you should see the Border Patrol Agents when I tell them that ignorant fuckers, lets see, the nice mountains or the shitty desert town, what would you pick? Back on topic. I drive a 2005 Toyota Corolla, I average 42 miles per gallon, dd in work, I'm driving a tad under 1000 miles a week. I've been pying $3.49 a gallon for the last couple of weeks in Las Cruces as compared to $3.59 a gallon in Alamogordo, this semeser i've been keeping my fuel costs between $340-360 a month.
I also religiously change my oil between 3,000 and 3500 miles, air filter etc. my university does have a branch college in Alamogordo but secondary ed is not fully supported and I had over 60 credits from my associates degree accepted towards my bachelors so I having to jump all over to get in my requirements.
I find the drive across the missile range to be a good decompressor after class, its easy for me to get right on homework when i get ghome from school.

Rob

Post by **Freakzilla** » 28 Sep 2008 17:22

Baraka Bryan wrote:there's a three month delay between the pipeline and the pump, so all this bullshit about potential shortages due to hurricanes is bogus. they wouldn't feel shortages at all, and if they did, they'd have plenty of time to adjust for it. huge hikes in prices in anticipation of problems is just another example of the consumer gouging oil companies are engaging in that have led to their world record high profits

Weird thing is, prices haven't been that high, been around $4.

I think KJA is behind this.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 28 Sep 2008 17:24

Rakis wrote:I think that last week's price explosion of the barrel pushed everybody at the pump and that drained many places at once...

It must be a combination of that and lowered production because of a recent drop in demand.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 28 Sep 2008 21:10

"We're beyond panic; we're into desperation," said Tex Pitfield, chief executive of Saraguay Petroleum in Atlanta.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/17575329/detail.html

People are lined up, sleeping in their cars at gas stations.

I have enough gas to get to work and back tomorrow...

Rakis · Post by **Rakis** » 29 Sep 2008 00:19

Ouch! For weeks? Are you gonna have to go outside the city area for gas? Can you get there?

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 29 Sep 2008 00:27

Freakzilla wrote:
Rakis wrote:I think that last week's price explosion of the barrel pushed everybody at the pump and that drained many places at once...
It must be a combination of that and lowered production because of a recent drop in demand.

I've also read that reduced demand has led many stations to not order, in part to also avoid the price hike some refineries tacked on after Ike.

Rob

Sole Man · Post by **Sole Man** » 29 Sep 2008 15:34

I'm still opting for a totally new fuel source.

Liquid Plasma that runs as smelly farts, activate!

Post by **Freakzilla** » 29 Sep 2008 15:39

I want a car powered by static electricity. To accelerate you rub a baloon on your head, to turn the lights on you take a sweater off really fast.

A Thing of Eternity · Post by **A Thing of Eternity** » 29 Sep 2008 15:50

I actually saw (and this is kinda un-related) an idea to build wind turbines into the meridians of roads with higher speed traffic to generate electricity from the wind cause by cars driving by. Kinda neat idea... who knows how much fossil fuel we'd need to burn to power the plants that built all those turbines though

I saw another on which would use the force of people walking around on the floors of a building to generate the electricity for that building (I assume it would involve piezoelectric transducers but who knows...)

trang · Post by **trang** » 30 Sep 2008 13:31

I'm waiting for the Wil E. Coyote vehicle. A giant acme rubber band wound up by a hand crank to provide force to your drive train. How many cranks per mile? who knows but ya get in shape while ya travel.

Perpetual Motion engine would be nice about now.

Maglev car? magnets down center of roadway lanes.

just a few thoughts to help the gas crunch.

Trang

A Thing of Eternity · Post by **A Thing of Eternity** » 30 Sep 2008 13:39

The Flintstones knew how to do it. We need holes in the bottom of our cars so we can push them with our feet.

J A C U R U T U

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