Gas and Transportation

Andrew

We are all witnessing the rapid reshaping of our society and the way we interact as the result of that. Procrastination, political obfuscation, the influence of greed and a lack of insight are the culprits. While our esteemed legislators squabble over what is the best method of addressing these issues the rest of us are having to make very real life changing decisions. If energy costs stay high or continue to rise I suspect we will see urban areas grow exponentially as suburban people relocate closer to areas with more services. Small towns that can provide no substantial work to its residents will probably suffer most as the residents relocate creating loss of property taxes and money that would support the local grocery, schools etc. The small towns will become havens for the wealthy further creating more distinctions between the classes. At the same time a resulting greater need for public services will take place in urban areas as you indicate. It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out. Will we be able to bring alternatives on line fast enough to avoid all this turmoil. Or will oil continue to dominate and insure a rapid reorganization of society. I think the next four years will be very telling.

BTW, Andrew, well written article, and thank you for the links to pertinent information on this topic.

Andrew good article. Myself Im glad to see the problems we as a nation are having with mass transit. It is a good sign.
I would think that eventually the funding for highway maintenance should level out as the roads are used less.

RickIl instead of relocating from a suburb to a city Ive done just the opposite and relocated to a small town, thinking everything I need is there and its within bicycle or walking distance. Housing is much less expensive, but your rights jobs are the issue.

David

I agree with your assessment of where oil prices will level off. I was discussing this with a friend and said that I figured prices would regress to the 3 dollar range for the same reasons you mention. Anyone who has been following the trend for the last nine years should realize that they are being manipulated. I actually prefer the word conditioned but most people have a problem with that notion. It just seems a bit too surreal and creepy for them. I have grown sick of watching the powers that be play with our sensibilities while presenting what seems to me as well planned deception, to appear as purely capricious events.

I just read that two large solar photovoltaic plants with a combined 800 megawatt capacity are going to be built in California. It sounds like the rate will be higher, but they expect it to drop over time. I personally would gladly pay a fair rate even if it is higher just to wean myself away from fossils

Our energy vulnerabilities aren't only gasoline related.
My neighbor got their electricity bill last week.
It was $472 for 1669 KWH (that works out to about 28.3 cents per kilowatt*hour).
I told them where to go to get it for 13.2 cents per kilowatt*hour (www.ChampionEnergyServices.com and ElectricityBid.com for evaluations and comparisons), which is still expensive, but the cheapest you can get around Dallas, TX. (also check out www.
Now the power companies are trying to see how much they can gouge consumers.
And huge rate hikes have occurred in the last two months. There's going to be some major complaining when people get their next electricity bill.
At these rates and the rate of increase, a solar power system is starting to look affordable.
How do your electricity rates and costs compare to mine?
Hopefully, you won't be next?

Once again, deregulation has resulted in many manifestations of unchecked greed. How can one electricity company in Dallas be charging 28.3 cents per kilowatt*hour and another be charging 13.2 cents per kilowatt*hour? There's some major gouging going on here. The coming months will be interesting to see when the voters have finally had enough of corpocrisy, corporatism, and other manifestations of unchecked greed.

So, let's see what we have going on here . . .

• Health care become unaffordable (and dangerous too).


• Then gasoline and fuel oils became unaffordable.


• Then houses became unaffordable as banks jacked up adjustable interest rates (doubling some peoples' monthly mortgage payments).


• Then food and other commodities are becoming unaffordable.


• And higher education is becoming unaffordable.


• And savings rates have fallen to an all time low.


• And electricity is now becoming unaffordable.

At any rate, the voters have the government that the voters elect. Keep rewarding incumbent politicians with 85%-to-90% re-election rates, and see what happens. Gee, maybe Congress will give itself another raise, like the 9 raises they gave themselves between 1997 and 2007 (while our troops risked life and limb, went without armor, without adequate medical, without promised benefits, and were forced to do 2, 3, 4, or more tours in Iraq and Afghanistan)?

David

I recall mention of the obstacles you had to go through just to build a home that was not in keeping with the norm. I wish I could lay claim to such a proactive and progressive approach. It is nice to see people actually taking action instead of just complaining.

And yes, I agree that these are very cool and exciting times with regards to new technology and the possibilities they present. It is people such as yourself who are willing to spend the money to obtain some degree of independence that will lead the way to a society not at the whim of those who control the energy assets. You are helping to build a viable and practical energy trend for the future.