July 24th, 2006

High Gas Prices

According to the Energy Information Administration, the average cost of gasoline per gallon in the U.S. increased 1.4 cents over the past week to $3 a gallon.

The average national price for regular unleaded gasoline increased 71 cents from one year ago and is quickly approaching the record $3.07 set last September, when Hurricane Katrina disrupted fuel supplies.

Some people think this isn’t such a bad thing. One such proponent of high gas prices is Matt Harrison at the Prometheus Institute, who penned an article stating three reasons that high gas prices are beneficial:

  1. High gas prices will repel us from oil development itself. Such a repulsion will dissolve the ties that now bind America to the affairs of the Middle East.
  2. High gas prices will encourage development of alternative fuels, making them more affordable (and more appealing) relative to traditional fuel.
  3. High gas prices make the United States safer.

This is all well and good, but I don’t buy it. In a theoretical world it might work, but I only forsee that happening if gas prices were to skyrocket to $5/gallon in a week. Instead, gas prices creep upward at a pretty slow rate, week after week, which reminds me an awful lot of the famed Sunday School lesson of the frog in boiling water.

Yes, I think gas prices should increase. But I think that if the high prices are to provoke a “call to action” and spur development and research in alternative fuel sources, gas prices need to increase at a staggering (and uncomfortable) rate. It sucks, but it needs to happen.

2 Responses to “High Gas Prices”

  1. Spencer Johnston
    July 24, 2006 at 10:19 pm #

    My older brother asked me if I knew a Connor Boyack. I told him that I did and I asked him why. He told me that there is a guy with that name who has been commenting on the bloggernacle. That is what brings me here… It is amazing; you look just like this kid in my old ward whose dad was the perpetual scout leader. Just amazing!
    Later,
    The older brother of Ian Johnston.
    BTW, My older brother’s blog is New Cool Thang

  2. Dale B. Adams
    August 23, 2006 at 3:15 pm #

    Is Our Government To Blame For High Gas Prices?

    Front and center in every form of media is the rising cost of oil and gas.
    It affects the lifestyles of every American and the costs of all goods and services we use. Many of us are shaking our fists and looking for somebody to blame. Before we start pointing the finger elsewhere maybe we should point it at ourselves.

    To our Governments credit, they realized the problem and have done something about it. They passed federal tax incentives that pay each and every American to make their home and business more energy efficient. Our government passes laws that benefit us financially when they want or need us to take action. Have you made your home more energy efficient and done your part to reduce our dependence on foreign countries?

    I’ll wager you that the percentage of Americans who have made their property more energy efficient and taken advantage of this tax break is very small. If most Americans took this simple inexpensive step (Almost paid in full by our government) we could dramatically reduce our oil consumption.

    There are inexpensive revolutionary new products now available to the public that can slash your prices of both gasoline and your electric bill. Almost all new homes being built now have these energy saving products. Doing their part, our Government continues to raise the energy efficiency requirements for appliances and other items via building codes.

    One of the best ways to slash your electric bill by 20% or more is to install radiant barrier in your attic. It reflects 95% of the heat before it enters your house. It can reduce the temperature in your home by almost 20 degrees. The average cost for a 1200 square foot home would be under $1,000.00. The government tax break allows a $500.00 tax credit. You could see a $400.00 monthly electric bill drop to around $300.00. It could pay for itself within a year and the government pays most of the bill. If every American took advantage of this, it would reduce our consumption and dependence of other nations by millions of barrels of oil. In turn, you would also save energy on fist wagging and the price of gas.

    In America almost 400 Senior Citizens die a year because of heat trauma. If every elder had radiant barrier installed in his or her home and it reduced the temperature by almost 20 degrees inside – I wonder how many lives it would save? I recommend you use the radiant barrier provided by Hy-Tech Thermal Solutions. The only incentive I receive by endorsing this product is the satisfaction of knowing that I provided you with a safe product that works.

    There is a new product called Enviro-Max Plus that is a fuel additive that actually works. When added to your gas tank it will increase your gas mileage by 30%. They claim that for every dollar you spend on their product you will save three dollars in gas. A friend used the additive on his way to Florida and he used two-½ tanks of fuel. On his way home he did not use it and it took 4 tanks of diesel to return home. It almost cut his diesel fuel consumption by half. A simple web search will inform you where to buy it and how to be a reseller to make extra money while helping our nation. I have noticed other copycat companies providing similar products and I would use caution.

    We now have a paint additive available that will reflect 95% of the heat away from your home. It is the same technology used on the space shuttle and jet engines on our airplanes. This ceramic technology has been around since the 1950’s but only recently available to the public thanks to the testing by NASA and Hy-Tech Thermal Solutions. It is the cheapest non-traditional insulation you can buy for your home with the average extra cost of only $120.00.

    By visiting the Department of Energy online you can learn many inexpensive ways to save energy in your home and cut your electric bill by 25%. They also provide testing results of Radiant Barrier from 1991. They should update these test results because radiant barrier products have improved.

    Other ways we can all do our part to protect our nation and environment is by recycling everything, install a solar backup energy supply, only buy from or invest in companies who are environmentally friendly and invest in innovative alternative energy, only install white reflective shingles on our roofs, buy energy star products and appliances, or by giving unwanted items away versus throwing them in the dump.

    We can also blame our media for our lack of knowledge of this new technology.
    Americans are suspicious of new untraditional products and it takes time for us to accept them. Several salesmen could tell us about them but we won’t adopt them until the mass media informs us. The media should be more problem-solution oriented. They will print information about the new tax laws, but don’t offer information about the new products it covers. When they talk about the high price of gas they should offer us ways to battle this problem with these new products. The media seems more interested in propaganda and the latest new widget versus their responsibility to inform and lead our nation in the right direction.

    We live in the greatest nation on earth. It is a free country that we had the luxury of being born in. For that reason we have the right to remain inactive, wave our fists at and blame our government or corporations all we want. I maintain that the status of our nation and the world requires action from each and every American to do our part to conserve our natural resources. If we don’t – it could very well lead to our demise. America can be defeated by its own citizens, as the Romans

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