A comprehensive agreement between Iran and the West was always going to be extraordinarily difficult and would involve painful concessions on both sides. But there is some indication that a deal is there to be grabbed if the major world powers want it.
Fuel prices might be low now, but everyone expects them to rise again any day. When that happens, people on fixed incomes have to choose what’s more important. Rent, food, medicine?
Share your story…
An unsustainable fuel economy will make the future uncertain, too — unless we change it.
Even entrepreneurs who are used to solving problems on their own have to face the fact that there’s only one fuel they can put in their tanks. When that fuel costs more, their profit margin takes a hit.
When it costs more to ship broccoli, the cost of broccoli goes up. The same goes for literally everything in the economy. Permanently lower fuel prices would save everyone money.
There are ways around the frustration of volatile fuel prices, like taking public transit (if it’s available where you live and work).
Willis was so fed up with high prices he decided to leave the pump behind altogether and make his own bio-diesel!
If you can afford it, an electric vehicle could solve all your fuel price problems (lucky you!). The rest of us will have to wait — and work — for a healthier fuel economy.
Help us grow the fuel choice movement. Share your story.
Gov. Jerry Brown, standing on a patch of brown grass in the Sierra Nevada that is usually covered with several feet of snow, on Wednesday announced the first mandatory water restrictions in California history..
At least four people were killed and 16 workers injured when a fire erupted early Wednesday on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico belonging to Mexico’s state petroleum giant Pemex, the company said in a statement.
President Barack Obama’s pledge to the United Nations Tuesday to sharply cut greenhouse-gas emissions relies on being able to rebuff legal and legislative challenges — and the continuing availability of cheap natural gas.
So we’ve heard from Americans who say high gas prices have disrupted their lives and their work. Let’s shift to the people who are more than mad as hell. They’re mad enough to turn their energy into action.
Among these 10 ideas, what’s the most practical for your life?
“I just ditched my old 1998 Volvo S70 for a used Prius, and it is so much more fun to fill a 10-gallon tank than an 18-gallon one. And have it last more than a week of heavy Los Angeles commuting. It’s still new to me, so I still kind of giggle every time I fill up the tank. I’m thrilled to put the money I save toward better things.”
— Jennifer
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“We save a lot of money in the summer because my wife takes the bus to the south side of Madison to go to work, and I pick her up in the afternoon, about 4 miles south of our home. If I was to take her to work and pick her up, it would be 48 miles round-trip, morning and afternoon. The bus is cheaper.”
— Laverne F., Madison, Wisconsin
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“As gasoline was so high for so long, I made a bio-diesel processor from a old electric water heater and made my own fuel for the oil furnace and my old 1984 GMC van with a diesel engine. I still received 21 mpg. Begging for grease was the hard part.”
— Willis W.
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“I wish I had a good story for you, but my wife and I drive a plug-in Chevy Volt. We hardly ever stop at a gas station, except perhaps once every 6 weeks or while on an occasional trip. When we top the tank, it seldom takes more than 5 1/2 gallons, i.e. less than $20 worth of premium fuel. The main reason that we stop at gas stations these days is to get an automatic car wash.”
— David and Barbara G., Gaithersburg, Maryland
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“Still wondering how to convert my 99 Ford Expedition to NG?”
— Gary S., Laguna Woods, California
(We’re checking around to find a SoCal CNG conversion business. Will update later.)
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“I have not visited a gas station since September 2014, when I took delivery of my Tesla. However, I still pay for my daughter’s gasoline, suffer the financial cost, and contribute to the oil industry’s wanton environmental degradation. Savings at the pump could help me fund her college education.”
— Dr. George
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“Go electric. I did and am receiving my Tesla next week. No more gas at all.”
— Bob
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“Today we bought a 2014 Ford Focus, a flex-fuel vehicle which enables us to use E85 for fuel. A small contribution to energy independence.”
— David
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“We need a blender pump [for ethanol] in every station.”
— Melvin M.
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“I top off my cars with E85 when I can. I fill up once a month with a discount at Kroger. I am really pushing to get Kroger to provide ETHANOL pumps and shop at the same place!”
— Gerard R., Stone Mountain, Georgia
Incidentally, here’s a handy guide to flex-fuel vehicles on the market.
It looks like presidential hopeful Rand Paul has found a clever way to champion ethanol, with an issue that’s in harmony with his keep-government-out-of-the-marketplace mentality.
Last week we shared stories from people whose quality of life has been affected by the unpredictable ebb and flow of gasoline prices. Visit our Facebook page and read the great discussion riffing on our last post, about Troy Harper in Missouri, to get an idea of how hot-button an issue this has become.
Today we’re passing along sentiments about the work Americans do and how the cost of fuel makes that tougher.
Some workers get paid by the hour, others are salaried, and still others are in business for themselves. Gas prices take a bite every time.
Here are a few of the responses we’ve received:
“I have to work one and half days just to fill my car, just to get to my job. That’s what I spend a week. If they raise gas prices, they should be raising the salaries.”
— Jose G., Streamwood, Illinois
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“My wife and I both work at different times of the day, so we can’t carpool, and driving two cars every day gets too costly, at $3 to $4 a gallon. Not only us, but everybody that has to work has to give up something in order to make ends meet.”
— James
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“As a business owner (lawn maintenance), even a few cents per gallon makes a big difference in my profit margin. My company uses approximately 100 to 130 gallons per week, sometimes more. So the cost of fuel has a large bearing on our workload. Lower prices would really help our bottom line.”
— Keith M., Boca Raton, Florida
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“Gas prices affect me and my job, where most of my profits go toward fuel prices, [since] I’m on the road most of my time. Please lower the gas prices so we can get more out of our earnings, to spend more on family needs. There is no reason to have such high gas prices.”
— Frank C., Rancho Cucamonga, California
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“I am a self-employed courier. I work only part-time now, but the price of fuel for my car has a big impact on my business. You just don’t make as much. With high fuel, prices everything goes up in America. Were are an economy on wheels, as you can tell with all the over-the-road trucks out there today. Fuel affects almost everything and makes it much more difficult to earn a living.”
— Flip P., York, Pennsylvania
Related posts:
As Iran and the U.S. enter 11th-hour negotiations to reach a nuclear deal and ease sanctions, the Middle Eastern country is re-emerging as a potential prize for Western oil companies such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA and Total SA. The Chinese can also be expected to enter the race, while U.S. companies, more burdened by sanctions and legacy, will be further down the pack.
