Will People Drive Less if Gas Hits $7 per Gallon?
SodaHead News
2011/03/04 20:00:00
|
|
|||||
|
1,599 votes
|
|
80% | |||
|
391 votes
|
|
20% | |||
Everyone has a breaking point. Some people went full RedBox when movie tickets hit $10.50, others swore off coffee when the price rose above $5 a cup.
But with the continued unrest in Libya and the upheaval all over the Middle East, oil prices are on the rise again and experts are warning that Americans may start paying dearly at the pump. How dearly? If you thought the nearly $4/gallon of gas from 2008 was a drag, The Huffington Post reports that those days may soon feel like a picnic.
One of Wall Street's most prominent energy analysts, Oppenheimer & Co.'s Fadel Gheit, said this week that people are not fully getting the picture.
"There is no cure for what's going on," he said, explaining that the political upheaval in such oil-producing countries as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran could lead to, yes, $7 a gallon gas.
Those six countries produced about 21.2 million barrels of oil a day amounting to 27 percent of global oil supply. If political uprisings continue and lead to likely oil disruptions and higher crude prices, we might see the highest prices we’ve ever seen at the pump.
The domino effect could also jeopardize the fragile economic recovery if currently booming stock prices take a tumble due to fears of cut backs as a result of a gas shock. Until Thursday’s rally, that effect already seemed to be in place, as the Dow Jones stock index slid 322 points in the week’s first three sessions.
Prices for a barrel of oil reached their peak in July 2008 at $147.27, and while they’re now just under $100/barrel, experts say they’re headed to $100-$130.
The average gallon of gas is around $3.17 now, expected to climb to $3.50 by spring and possibly as high as $4.25 a gallon by July 4. And if things go haywire in Saudi Arabia, forget about it, $7 a gallon may be the low end of things.
Will you drive if gas is $7 a gallon?
But with the continued unrest in Libya and the upheaval all over the Middle East, oil prices are on the rise again and experts are warning that Americans may start paying dearly at the pump. How dearly? If you thought the nearly $4/gallon of gas from 2008 was a drag, The Huffington Post reports that those days may soon feel like a picnic.
One of Wall Street's most prominent energy analysts, Oppenheimer & Co.'s Fadel Gheit, said this week that people are not fully getting the picture.
"There is no cure for what's going on," he said, explaining that the political upheaval in such oil-producing countries as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran could lead to, yes, $7 a gallon gas.
Those six countries produced about 21.2 million barrels of oil a day amounting to 27 percent of global oil supply. If political uprisings continue and lead to likely oil disruptions and higher crude prices, we might see the highest prices we’ve ever seen at the pump.
The domino effect could also jeopardize the fragile economic recovery if currently booming stock prices take a tumble due to fears of cut backs as a result of a gas shock. Until Thursday’s rally, that effect already seemed to be in place, as the Dow Jones stock index slid 322 points in the week’s first three sessions.
Prices for a barrel of oil reached their peak in July 2008 at $147.27, and while they’re now just under $100/barrel, experts say they’re headed to $100-$130.
The average gallon of gas is around $3.17 now, expected to climb to $3.50 by spring and possibly as high as $4.25 a gallon by July 4. And if things go haywire in Saudi Arabia, forget about it, $7 a gallon may be the low end of things.
Will you drive if gas is $7 a gallon?
To get people to really make a change-- we need to suggest a positive behavior to switch to. Telling people-- "they are making a mistake, so stop doing that"--is not enough. People just resist that.
I cut back untill the price drops to back under 99 cents a gallon..
Over the last 12 years I reduced the miles I had to drive by over 90%. Considering we pump and refine our gasoline locally you would think we would get a price break, but no...
Gas prices are driven by the simple economic principle of "supply and demand." When demand exceeds supply, prices will rise. With that said, the people who can afford large, trendy, gas-guzzling vehicles are the ones who are increasing the demand for gas the most. Other folks who - either by necessity or choice - are driving smaller, more fuel-efficient autos (including some hybrids) don't contribute nearly as much to the same demand. Therein lies my belief, "Why should people driving smaller, fuel-efficient cars have to pay the same high prices that those driving the gas-guzzlers pay?" Here's my proposed solution....
Install weight-scales at gas pumps, such that the pumps would calculate the gas price by the weight of each vehicle. Accordingly, those driving the guzzlers would pay higher prices for gas than those who - by necessity or choice - drive much more efficient cars.
I'm very interested in hearing what you think about this. By the way, in an effort to stave o...
Gas prices are driven by the simple economic principle of "supply and demand." When demand exceeds supply, prices will rise. With that said, the people who can afford large, trendy, gas-guzzling vehicles are the ones who are increasing the demand for gas the most. Other folks who - either by necessity or choice - are driving smaller, more fuel-efficient autos (including some hybrids) don't contribute nearly as much to the same demand. Therein lies my belief, "Why should people driving smaller, fuel-efficient cars have to pay the same high prices that those driving the gas-guzzlers pay?" Here's my proposed solution....
Install weight-scales at gas pumps, such that the pumps would calculate the gas price by the weight of each vehicle. Accordingly, those driving the guzzlers would pay higher prices for gas than those who - by necessity or choice - drive much more efficient cars.
I'm very interested in hearing what you think about this. By the way, in an effort to stave off peoples' inquiries as to what I drive, I say that I don't drive at all. I'm physically unable to drive a vehicle anymore. But, I am still concerned about high gas prices, especially given that many folks cannot afford the luxury of driving large, trendy automobiles, let alone having to pay higher gas prices.
But what is good about making me a prisoner, priced out of the ability to travel around my country?
Not to mention that our economy will tank if gas goes that high. Remember-every single thing you buy gets to the store on a truck. And when fuel prices go up, delivery prices go up, and that makes product prices go up.
But for school...I think I'll be stuck driving the 1.5 hour drive both ways, unless I can find cheap housing off campus :/
Last-- who cares about the economy???? We are destroying the earth. Global climate change is a fact, not a theory, accepted by every scientist on the planet. Screw your economy, save the planet. I guess you don't care if your children have to walk around in space suits, as long as you can save money on gas...
Last-- who cares about the economy???? We are destroying the earth. Global climate change is a fact, not a theory, accepted by every scientist on the planet. Screw your economy, save the planet. I guess you don't care if your children have to walk around in space suits, as long as you can save money on gas. Wake up and smell the real world. People always talk about environmental problems as a future thing but it's not the future anymore. It's now. We are living in a time when we don't know quite how future generations will survive, much less flourish.
The infrastructure doesn't exist because nobody is funding it. It will take more money to develop but will save both money and the earth in the long run. It will provide cheap, clean, sustainable energy for everybody. What funds don't exist? What are you talking about? We have all sorts of money for projects like this, but we'd rather spend money on our military empire.
Our oceans and rivers are filled with waste. Many rivers are so polluted that we can't eat the fish that live in them. Here in China, rivers are drying out. The Yellow and Yangtze Rivers are almost gone. 40% of all wells in India are dried up. There are already wars over water, like in northern Africa, where there are tribal disputes basically over survival.
You can hide away in your bubble but eventually the real world will knock on your door.
Yes, China is the most polluted country on the planet, hands down. I have lived most of my life in Maine and New York--my hometown has 1000 people. Every day I've been here I've missed clean air and organic vegetables. I wish I could do my work here but live in the US. The pollution is a huge part of the reason I'm here. I am in the trenches, because I think that the future of the world is the friendship between the US and China. I think that, together, we can build a green future. I don't think we have to live in a cyberpunk dystopia when it's unsafe to breathe the air, drink the water, eat the food, etc.
Nowhere is the same as it used to be, even in my hometown in Maine. We're getting the updraft of smog that comes from New York and Long Island Sound. There are 100,000s of jumping carp in the Mississippi River that are so full of mercury that they are inedible. The Gulf Coast, for Christ's sake. I could go on and on but to say that the US is the same as it was 60 years ago is ridiculous.
China did the sam...
Yes, China is the most polluted country on the planet, hands down. I have lived most of my life in Maine and New York--my hometown has 1000 people. Every day I've been here I've missed clean air and organic vegetables. I wish I could do my work here but live in the US. The pollution is a huge part of the reason I'm here. I am in the trenches, because I think that the future of the world is the friendship between the US and China. I think that, together, we can build a green future. I don't think we have to live in a cyberpunk dystopia when it's unsafe to breathe the air, drink the water, eat the food, etc.
Nowhere is the same as it used to be, even in my hometown in Maine. We're getting the updraft of smog that comes from New York and Long Island Sound. There are 100,000s of jumping carp in the Mississippi River that are so full of mercury that they are inedible. The Gulf Coast, for Christ's sake. I could go on and on but to say that the US is the same as it was 60 years ago is ridiculous.
China did the same thing, but they have different circumstances. Although they have an uninterrupted 5000 years of history, they are still developing. The thing is, they are developing now really really quickly, and it's dirty development. They are building a new coal-burning plant every 5 days on average. The rivers are drying up from being diverted for a host of useless tasks, including irrigating lawns. If you want me to keep going I could write about China's pollution for days--4 of the world's 10 most polluted cities are here. Like I said, this is a battleground for me. Ground zero.
But generally, things aren't really getting better, they are getting worse, for sure. We're just trying to slow it down. I mean, scientists know now that we have already done severe damage to the environment that will take generations to clean up. That doesn't mean there isn't more damage happening every day though. If we could find a little Dutch boy to put his finger in the dike, that would be great, but it's just not the real world.